28 Weeks!! Yeah baby!!

I just finished enjoying a celebratory breakfast - scrambled eggs and waffles smothered in maple syrup - not because I passed the glucose test, but because today we reached 28 weeks which is a HUGE developmental milestone for the baby. When I had the cerclage surgery Dr.S (surgeon) said there were no guarantees that we'd be able to see this pregnancy through to a safe stage because my cervix was among the worst he's ever seen. He and Dr.N explained that I had to get to 24 weeks to reach viability (if the baby was born before 24 weeks he would not be likely to survive and hospitals generally don't go to great lengths to save them that early), and 28 weeks to reach an even better place where his lungs would be developed enough to thrive with the help of modern medical intervention if born at this stage. Boy micropreemies and preemies do not do as well as girls or as well as non-Caucasian boys, so reaching 28 weeks was especially important for our baby boy.

Here's a little bit about babies at 28 weeks --

Your baby is growing and developing at an astonishing rate! Eyebrows and eyelashes are now present, and the hair on the head is growing. The eyelids open, and the eyes are completely formed. The body is getting plumper and rounder, weighing approximately 2.25-2.5 pounds and is composed of around 2 to 3% body fat. Muscle tone is gradually improving. The lungs are capable of breathing air but if the baby is born now, it would struggle to properly breathe without assistance.

Here are links to a couple of websites that provide statistics regarding babies' survival and disability rates at various weeks of gestation:

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/2077/table.html

http://www.meriter.com/living/preemie/survivalnew/survival.htm

Needless to say, we're super excited we've reached 28 weeks but every week counts so much toward Baby O's chances for a healthy life without medical complications.

11 weeks of bed rest completed so far, 8 weeks to go before the cerclage is removed at 36 weeks. Yay!