3 More Weeks!

This is a hard time period for me. Reaching 20 weeks of pregnancy is a great milestone. We're halfway there! And, you may not know this, but in any kind of emergency most hospitals will NOT send you to labor and delivery unless you are at least 20 weeks pregnant. Crazy huh? So it's good to know that if, God forbid, we had a problem this early on I'd go straight to L&D instead of the ER.

Sadly, between weeks 20-24 we're in limbo. Many women in my May birth club are due in early May and have been celebrating reaching Viability! Viability is a magical week...week 24. The week that, should your baby arrive that early, they have a chance to survive.

In my anxiety, I found a chart that was really helpful:

COMPLETED WEEKS OF GESTATION AT BIRTH (using last menstrual period)	CHANCE OF SURVIVAL
21 weeks and less	0%
22 weeks	0-10%*
23 weeks	10-35%
24 weeks	40-70%
25 weeks	50-80%
26 weeks	80-90%
27 weeks	>90%
30 weeks	>95%
34 weeks	>98%

Now you can see why these next 3 weeks are so nerve wracking for me. I know God is in control and that He has a plan and I am still taking things one day at a time.

But boy, I can hardly wait until I reach that 24 week mark!! I'll be able to relax just a little bit more. :)

I am impressed with the many stories I've heard about earlier babies surviving, and hospitals being able to stop preterm labor as early as 20 weeks. We're truly living in amazing times when it comes to medical technology!