28 Weeks

11/23/24

 
 

We did it!! We hit 28 weeks!! The 28 week mark is where birth defects and difficulties decreased astronomically so this was a major milestone. Baby’s brain and lung function is so much more developed and we have a round of steroids on board. Baby is still very little and we want to keep them cooking, but this was a very exciting milestone for us to reach!!

On top of reaching our major goal of 28 weeks, we got more exciting news today! Throughout the past couple weeks I had noticed I was losing less fluid. When my water initially broke around 20 weeks, I was losing a good amount of fluid each day. I would notice it more if I stood too long, laughed, coughed, or moved around more than usual. In the last week I had started to track my loss of fluid, as well as keep note of the fluid measurements on our Monday ultrasounds. When I first went to the hospital because of leaking fluid, they performed a Rupture of Membranes test (ROM) and measured the largest pocket of fluid around the baby. At that time I had around 3cm of fluid, and the ROM test came back positive for amniotic fluid; which caused my admittance.

Well, a little over seven weeks after my admittance baby has looked amazing on all of our tests, I have felt great and haven’t gone into labor or gotten an infection, and my fluid never went below 3cm. Because I hadn’t been losing fluid, I wondered if there was a possibility I could have resealed. So on the morning we hit 28 weeks the doctors came in and said that we could repeat the ROM test and check the fluid around baby. My mom had just gotten into town for the holiday and we had planned a little hospital party for our 28 week celebration, but as we were sitting there deciding what we wanted to do for dinner that night, my ROM test result came through on my phone, and it was NEGATIVE!

I didn’t get too excited because one thing I have learned about reading test results, is that I have no idea how to read test results. It was barely five minutes before my whole high risk team of doctors came in with the ultrasound and measured all of the fluid around baby. The ROM results being negative meant that there was no presence of amniotic fluid, and when they measured fluid on ultrasound, I had a little over 13cm. With the combination of these two results, they said it is likely I have resealed and it was reasonable that I can monitor from home and go full term!

This was shocking because I thought I had about 8 weeks left in the hospital. I was so excited I forgot to ask any questions and just started packing all of my things. I did learn that I would be able to go back to my regular OB for check ups, rather than see the high risk team for all appointments. My doctor said this doesn’t mean this is a regular pregnancy now, and we aren’t going back to “normal,” but we don’t have to treat it quite as risky and I would not need to be admitted anymore. So the plan would be to go “to term” which is 36-37 weeks in a more risky pregnancy. We will also see the high risk team for ultrasounds, but I will see my regular OB for usual check ins. Other than that, I can go home and lay low, stay vigilant for any changes (and also watch for my water breaking again as this is likely), and try to have as normal a pregnancy as possible!

Unfortunately, this exciting news lasted about three days before we got our next lovely update…

 
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27 Weeks