Viability!

In the Medical world, once a pregnancy has reached 23 weeks, the fetus is considered to be "viable".  This viability means that, if I went in to labor, should Phillip and I choose to do so, we could have the baby resuscitated and the newborn could live (with the aid of many physicians, machines, medications, etc.).  This is a huge milestone, truly, a surreal one.  Or as Phillip put it, "there's no turning back now."

Perhaps the most difficult part of this "viability" is the fact that if born at 23 weeks gestation, the infant has over a 90% chance of having a major handicap.  This handicap could include physical, developmental and learning, just to name a few.  So this would be the point where life must be looked at as quality over quantity (occasionally I wonder if we are not trying to play the part of God's role here in the medical world).  As a nurse, I know that I should not choose to resuscitate my baby if born at 23 weeks, but I've never had to make that decision from the position I'm in now.  It's hard to imagine saying "do nothing" for this little tiny nugget I feel nudging me right now as I type.

So... for the next few weeks (really until 28 weeks, the theory here is that if delivered at 28 weeks, they could still go to and graduate from Medical School.  We see a significant decrease in major handicaps if carried to this gestation.) we could use just a few extra prayers that this little one will behave and stay just exactly where she is.

Here are some of our photos of our little nugget from the official sonogram on December 3rd.

So, of course I realize that sometimes these are a little difficult to decipher... so allow me to explain.  This photo is perhaps one of my favorite, this is a profile photo of her little face.  You can see her forehead, tiny button nose, chin, and then her chest.  Also if you double click on the photo, it should make it larger, which may make it a little easier to view.

(Phillip saved this photo as his background for his Blackberry phone... I think it's pretty cute that even while he's busy at work taking care of all that grain, when a call comes in, his little girl is the first thing he sees :)

Now this one is almost unfair to post, because it's so very difficult to understand.  However, this is our little girl's private parts.  If you double click on this image you can see a little hand cursor pointing to the spot that makes her... well... a her :)  The way we determine gender in the medical world is that if you see 3 lines (or what we call the "hamburger sign") in the groin region then it's a girl, if you look very closely, you certainly can make out those 3 lines!

The following two images are of her face.  She is looking directly at the camera, or ultrasound wand, here.  At 19 weeks, everything is fully formed, the fetus just doesn't have very much fat on her body, making her appear somewhat like "skeletor" or just downright "creepy" as my sisters have said.  But you can clearly see her eye sockets which is pretty amazing to me!

Yesterday, I signed Phillip and I up for a birthing class, which should be interesting and I'm hoping that it will be informative and helpful too.  If for no other reason, than to aid Phillip in learning more about the labor and delivery world.  So we will be taking the class over the course of two Saturday's in March.  I'm really excited to take it will him.

My next project is to get a hold of Dr. Larry Hund, my pediatrician from when I was born at Wesley Medical Center 27 years ago.  He is still in practice, and is one of the best pediatricians in Wichita.  My hope is that he will come see the nugget in the hospital after she is born.  After we return to Salina, we will then have another primary pediatrician that lives in town to take care of our sweet little princess.  I'm hoping to get in with Dr. Alisa Bridge, though rumor has it, she's not taking any new patients (sometimes working as a nurse along side of these doctors can help them make an exception or two :)

Dr. Larry Hund

Mid Kansas Pediatrics

Wichita, Kansas

Dr. Alisa Bridge

Mowery Clinic

Salina, Kansas

In other exciting news, we are happy to announce that Phillip's sister and brother-in-law, Chris and Erin Ovrebo are expecting their little "gummy bear" of joy on July 27th, 2011.  So we will have cousins just 3 months apart!  What a fun and busy year 2011 will be!

I think I hear Phillip rousing on the couch.  He only had to work a half day today so I'm going to go enjoy time with my favorite (after my daddy's and poppa's of course :) man...

In my next post, I'm hoping to include some photos of some of the AMAZING and super cute Nugget gifts we received for Christmas.

Until then... all our love!