Eight weeks ago, I had little faith that I would make it to this week. The majority of information that I heard from doctors was that there was little I could do to help my son survive or get to this point of "viability". Viability is loosely defined in the medical world as the point at which they can consider the baby able to survive outside of the womb. So, making it to this day is truly a miracle! When we looked forward to this day 8 weeks ago, we were in a mindset of hope. Hope that we could make it this far and that our baby would grow how he is suppose to. But now that we have reached 24 weeks, we can move out of living in hope and move into living in reality. There is now a better chance that our son will survive when he is born and that is exciting but also scary. Sometimes living in hope is easier than living in the reality of a tough situation. But, I know that God will continue to give me His strength as we enter into this new phase of pregnancy.
Over the last week and a half, there have been some ups and downs. I have had a little more bleeding, and some other pains that have continued to make me thankful to be here in the hospital. Even with all the downs, there have been some pretty good ups. Friday the 9th, was the first ultrasound that I had where I really believed that there was a great chance that our sweet boy was going to be ok. It happened to be my dad's birthday, and he was here eating lunch with me and some family. They hadn't done my ultrasound yet, so I asked the nurse if it was possible for her to squeeze us in before my dad left to go back to work. This was the first time my dad was able to see our boy and it made a great birthday present for him. She started to look around and we saw that he had the hiccups! This is a great sign because it means that his diaphram is working correctly. However, the best part of this ultrasound was that she was able to find a pocket of fluid big enough to measure! This is the first time since my water broke that we have had measurable fluid! Every time they find a pocket, they would like for it to be between 1 and 2 cm deep, and on Friday it was 1.69! Praise the Lord!
The next Monday rolled around and this week I was going to get 3 ultrasounds (which is one more than usual and one more day I get to get up and walk to the ultrasound room...about 20 extra steps more than my walk to the bathroom). To sum up the week a little quicker with my ultrasounds, each time we went in there was always a pocket of fluid to measure, but the size varied each time. Monday I only had 0.5cm, Wednesday there were 2 pockets each measuring 1.0cm and Friday I only had one pocket that measured 1.2cm! Each time we go in, they also look to make sure there is fluid in his stomach and bladder (they are almost always full which is great!). I have been trying hard to not focus so much on the centimeters of fluid that they find, but more so if there is even a pocket to measure. So this week I consider to be a good week fluid wise!
Friday they were able to get some measurements on our boy and he has certainly grown in the last 2 weeks! He now weighs about 1.2 lbs which is equivalent to 528 grams! Even though we have now made it to 24 weeks and weight over 1 lb the next big goal is for me to be able to make it to 26 weeks and for him to get over 2 lbs. The longer this boy can stay inside and growing the better chance of him doing much better outside of the womb.
One of the biggest reasons why making it to 24 weeks was such a big deal was that I would receive a round of steroid shots that will help our boys lungs to grow. Since there is still very little fluid in my uterus, he needs all the help he can get to help those lungs get big and strong. Depending on how much longer until I go into labor, I will get another round or two of shots but that all depends on how much longer he can stay in! These shots really can make the difference in how he will do when he is born, so I am incredibly thankful for all the advances in medicine that make it possible for babies to survive at such a young age.
For the first time in almost 3 weeks, I was able to get out of the wing that I am living on and go for a wheelchair tour through the NICU at Kosair. I was so thankful to be able to get out and see other parts of this hospital, but mostly for getting to see and meet some of the nursing staff that will be caring for our baby. I know that as soon as he is born, he is going to be in some of the best care. We were able to meet and talk to a few of the moms that were there with their little ones and I was so encouraged. Everyone was so sweet to tell me a little about their story and give us some good advice.
On a different note, Jordan and I are still working out some things with sweet boys name, but we have decided on his first name! Our sweet boy will be William Ellis, but we will call him "Liam". So happy to finally be able to call him by name.
Prayer requests:
-Liam's lung development
-More fluid pockets
-My heart. As we get closer and closer to Liam coming into this world, I have just gotten a little more anxious about our future in the NICU and for his health.
-Sleep! I am starting to have some trouble staying asleep, which makes the nights I am here alone pretty hard.
Thank you so much to all those who have prayed that we could make it to this point in our pregnancy. We continue to ask for your prayers as we go day to day from this point on!
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