Viability!!!

We've reached 24 weeks today which is BIG. It's the day when our li'l babe has reached an acceptable (to me) level of viability. Yay! They're saving babies earlier and earlier these days but it's maybe not always a good idea...of course if actually faced with it I might make a totally different decision. However, over 40% of babies born at 24 weeks have a great chance of surviving into adulthood with no severe disabilities. Amazing. And now we're there which, given our history, is a good place to be. Of course we'd like to keep going for 15 more weeks or so, but exciting nonetheless.

Also, now that we've reached 24 weeks we need to come up with a bit of a plan. The hospital where Easton was born and where we hope to deliver again doesn't really do deliveries before 30 weeks (if they can help it). And, even if we were 30 weeks Jason and I are still a little bit hesitant to go back there should our baby be a preemie needing interventions again. Easton was born normal and healthy (for a 33-weeker) and hole-less. Somehow one of their interventions (we'll never know which) caused the pneumothorax (the hole in his lung) which made him need to be on the ventilator with a tube sticking out of his chest wall and transferred away and such. We don't want to do that again. So, I think the "plan" is even if we have to deliver before 34 weeks we'd find somewhere else. The problem then becomes: where the heck do we go? Our insurance has changed their contracts and I can no longer go to the hospital where my perinatologist delivers, even though I can still see him in his office. Dumb, huh? We don't know what the best hospital would be for our baby and that's what we want. Boulder (where E was born) is great for families and minor NICU issues but not where you want to be in the event of a crisis...especially like the crisis we had before. God was totally watching over us because we really lucked out (if you can see the "positives" in the situation): by the grace of God there just happened to be a neonatologist visiting from Children's Hospital that day. He often came on Mondays to see the NICU kids. Jason recalls that the moment that doctor (Dr. Rosenberg) took over was really a turning point in Easton's resusciatation. He really did figure out what was wrong with Easton (the pneumo) and at that point they were able to get him stable for transfer to Children's. Lucky lucky lucky. Thank you, Jesus. Our own doctor and the neonatal nurse practicioner were doing their best but it wasn't enough. So, since they don't have all the expert resources 24/7 that a bigger hospital might have, we need to look elsewhere in the event it becomes an issue again.

Anyhoo, at our appointment on the 20th we plan to talk to the doctor about it a little bit. I also have a friend who is an L&D nurse in the area and I'll have to ask her where they'd send their micropreemies. All good things to know just in case. Please know we're not counting on anything happening, Jason and I just know enough now to be realistic about it all. We're still thinking quite positive.

Let's see...onto non-pregnancy things...Easton slept in till 8 this morning which is always great. The dogs don't get let out as early on weekends either...typically. So, we were able to sleep till 8 too. Yay. We went and did a bit of furniture shopping and then Easton and I shared some Noodles before his nap. Just like with our oatmeal bowl the other day, I simply set the bowl between the two of us so we could each dig in.
Sharing...

Spearing...

Salivating...


Jason enjoyed leftover chicken tacos from last night. I have made quite a few winning dishes lately. My crock pot beef the other night was quite yummy as was my homemade pico de gallo to go with our tacos. Mmmmm. Too bad it involves so much chopping. Otherwise I might make it more often. Anyway, we have no other plans for the day other than some LSU tonight. Saints and Broncos play at the same time tomorrow so we may (sadly) have 2 TVs going in the living room at once. We shall see.