We have made it to the third trimester! I can hardly believe it! In so many ways, this has felt like the longest 28 weeks of my life. And yet at the same time, it doesn't seem possible that we are reaching the end already. A part of me is actually sad about it. J has become an integral part of my daily life, and eventhough I know our relationship will continue long after the babies are born, I also know it won't have the same level of intensity. She has her family and I will have mine, and constant texts, phone calls, and emails are not sustainable over the long haul. I will miss that. But mostly, I am so overwhelmingly excited about finally meeting our babies face-to-face! I literally lay in bed at night and fantasize about what it will be like. I can't wait to welcome them and shower them with the love that we have held in reserve over the past three years.
While 28 weeks is generally considered the "safety zone" because survival rates of babies born after this point are better than 90%, I have feared that average survival rates don't apply to our babies due to their small size. Indeed, I have read that the four factors most closely related to chance of survival are gestational age, birth weight, singleton versus multiple pregnancy, and the baby's gender (males fare worse than females). This would put both babies at increased risk, especially Baby A. I recently found a great study that considered all of these factors in calculating survival rates. The tables below present the data for male twins (top) and female twins (bottom).
Among both male and female twins that measured in the 10th percentile, the chance of survival didn't reach 90% until 30 weeks.
Another issue that I am concerned about is length of NICU stay. Eventhough babies born after 28 weeks have good survival rates, many still face an extended NICU stay, which I can only imagine is torturous for the parents. I recently found another study that examined length of NICU stay by gestational age at birth.
The length of NICU stay began to decline significantly starting at 29 weeks, eventhough it was still 60 days on average at that point.
Thus, while I am thrilled that we have reached the third trimester, I won't feel like we have really reached higher ground for another two weeks. Not much longer!
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2 comments:
Congrats on making it to the third trimester! Not out of the woods, but getting there.
Every day, every week still counts. I hope the babies do well in the coming weeks until they're ready for the world.
Great job to you all for making it this far! I know you are super-excited to be nearing the end.
You might check out Stacie's blog at "Here Storkey Storkey", if you don't already read her. A few days back she had a list of helpful items to have on hand for the NICU. Her and her hubby went through a long NICU slog almost 3 years ago now. She'd be a great person to hit up for NICU info. :)
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