24 weeks!

Looks like we made it...to 24 weeks at least. This is a big day for us in many respects.

If our baby were to be born now, he or she would have a fighting chance at survival. As I said in a previous post this is still an incredibly early gestation, and our child would be considered a micropreemie. We would have a lengthy NICU stay followed by the likelihood of some long-term health consequences, but it still means the possibility of life over death. We of course are still fervently praying to make it to 36 weeks, but 24 weeks is a good place to be.  

This day is important in another regard, because today I'm not in the hospital. When my amniotic sac ruptured ten weeks ago, we were told that if my membrane did not reseal I would be re-hospitalized at 24 weeks. At this time I would have been given antibiotics to further protect the baby and me from infection, and I would have started to receive steroid injections to help the baby's lungs develop. (I received these while I was in labor with Isobel, but she was too ill from infection to benefit from them.) I could have been hospitalized for days or months--there is no way of knowing.

Thanks to your prayers, the skill and diligent care of our doctors, and the grace of God, I am writing this post from the recliner in my house instead of from a hospital bed hooked up to IVs. Because my membrane was healed, this morning instead of driving to the hospital to check in for what could have been a potentially long and unpleasant stay, I was able to sit on the porch and eat cereal with Caden and later watch him dance around the living room with his tractor. This gift is huge.

For the blessing of healing and the grace of 24 weeks, I am overwhelmed with gratitude.