24 weeks.... aka VDay

No, its not Valentines Day. Although I wish it were....since I told Thomas he and I can chat about his arrival after Valentines Day. But no, not THAT Vday. Its viability day.

What does that mean exactly?

If Thomas were born today the doctors would attempt to save him and he'd have a 50% chance of survival. Some cases have been reported where a 23 week old was resuscitated....but you don't hear, and you wont hear, any stories about an IUGR baby delayed 2 weeks being born at 20 weeks and getting bagged. That's because its impossible for that child to survive.

Every day past today his odds of surviving birth increase 2-3% until 26 weeks....the percentage starts to slow down after that even though the odds continue to get better every day. I'm a reader and a researcher so of course I've been interested in stats on survival rates of babies born pre-term. Fetal_viability  is now saved on my Favorites list. Morbid maybe? I prefer to look at it as being informed. I can look at this chart each week and say "Phew....up to 70%" or whatever the number may be. Articles, research, etc it gives me a little something to calm my nerves. Lets face it, at this point, whatever works I should run with it.

While I don't want Thomas to be an outside baby just yet, it gives me a little peace of mind that if he gets antsy that there is a chance for him to come home. A chance is better than no chance. But like I said.....he and I have an agreement. The next Vday we will talk :)

He especially has been living up to his "little stinker" nickname as he lately has decided on taking a few vacation days. For a few weeks I'd feel him move here and there but throughout the day. Last few days he's been quiet but perking up at night. All day long I think about how he's not doing anything then 4am there's a party going on in my belly. Ugh, Thomas, you are a little stinker for sure.

Backtracking....   cue the fairy wand music here....


Last Tuesday the Share Group I belong to through Edward Hospital had a Holiday Remembrance for babies. It was held at the Lutheran Church by the hospital although it was a non-denominational service. They had a choir that sang a few songs then they read off each babies name and the family went up and hung an ornament on the tree and lit a candle in their honor. Thomas was kicking up a storm during the ceremony almost like he wanted to say hello to his brother too. I made Jack an ornament from a Pinterest craft I found and thought it turned out pretty good! Hopefully this can be  a tradition that Jim , Thomas and I can participate in each year to remember our Jack.

Thursday morning guess what? Internet went out.....again. I swear we've lived here two years and never had an issue with the internet once but the second I start working from home its out once or twice a week. Thursday was the last straw so Jim cancelled our service with AT&T and signed us up for Comcast. I figured as long as I couldn't get anything done I might as well drive out to Lisle for the labs I've been putting off. Nothing urgent, well yes they are but ya know what I mean, but I had a thyroid check and a metabolic panel waiting for me to get done. I drove out there, got the bloodwork, and worked at Starbucks the rest of the day.

Friday, the Endocrinologist's nurse calls. Thyroid is elevated again...but also the glucose was high. The nurse wasn't really too concerned because it wasn't a fasting lab. Unfortunately since I just last minute decided to get the bloodwork done it technically was fasting for me since I didn't eat breakfast yet. So then that became a problem. The nurse had to call back awhile later and when she did it was with instructions to have the 3 hr. GTT (Glucose tolerance test) done. This is a common test and all pregnant women at some point have to take it. My OB doesn't require this until somewhere 26-28 weeks and they start with the 1hr. test. If you fail that then they have you do the 3 hr. test. Well, not only was this getting bumped up a few weeks for me, we were skipping the 1 hr and going straight to the 3hr. I had mentioned that all my life I've had blood sugar issues but usually it was due to low sugars not high.

When I got to the lab on Saturday, they also had an order for an A1C level to be drawn. This is a new one to me, but from what I understand it measures markers in the blood for glucose. My mom explained it in that diabetics cant cheat and eat really well before they get a blood test because this A1C picks up irregularities in blood sugar. Basically they were going to check to see if I had Gestational Diabetes and/or actual Diabetes or prediabetic tendencies. Hopefully they will call me tomorrow with those results. I haven't been feeling great and haven't had much appetite so I guess something blood sugar related would make sense. If not, guess I'm just not a pregnant woman who likes to eat cartons of ice cream. I'd much rather have a cold glass of water....maybe some Oreos but nothing crazy :)

Today as mentioned, is Vday. Thomas and I decided we'd go to Target and start shopping for his brothers birthday. We managed to get a few things but the process of shopping for toys that should be being opened in 9 days by Jack was too much so we will have to go back or try and rush order something else online. Its a good start though and I'm happy that at least the children at U of C will have some nice new toys that they can play with. Its hard to see in the picture but they had two teacup pig board books. One was colors and the other one was numbers. I'm sure Jack knew I had to get those books for sure....momma loves her pigs!!....so we got one of each. One for donation and one for Thomas! Target also had a lot of really cute pop up board books in their clearance section so Thomas also got a few new books. I can't wait to read them to him....after Valentines Day of course.