Update on Baby Grayson

We had to go to the hospital again today--a mid-Thanksgiving trip of excitement.

Grayson is completely healthy, growing at perfect proportions with a very strong heartbeat. I'm just the issue, as always. Turns out, my body just doesn't know how to stay pregnant. It's just about as impatient as I am.

Basically, the doctors are worried that I'm showing too many signs of preterm labor, which is plausible since I went into labor with Tyler at 32 weeks. Thankfully, Tyler wasn't born until 36 weeks, which is the hope we have for Grayson.

I'm currently 22 weeks and 6 days pregnant. I started having contractions several weeks ago. The doctor attributed it to dehydration. Thus, I began measuring my daily water intake, which needs to total 100 oz. On Saturday, the contractions kicked in hard. I was in severe pain, off and on, for three days. I went to see the other doctor in our OB practice on Tuesday, since my doctor was on vacation. She immediately sent me to the Maternity Observation ward in the hospital. They monitored me for several hours and confirmed that I was not dilated or effaced.  However, they found that my cervix had begun to shorten. The normal, non-laboring range is 3.5 to 4 centimeters. Mine had shortened to 2.8 cm. At 2.5 cm, a woman must be hospitalized. They were unable to provide more information, but told me to page the on-call doctor if I had a single contraction prior to my OB visit on Monday morning.  I was sent home and ordered to stay on bed rest, most likely for the remainder of my pregnancy.

After eating Thanksgiving lunch today, I started to feel the pressure and tightening again. They were not in the form of painful contractions, more like uncomfortably tight hugs around the belly. After a couple hours, I decided to page the doctor. The on-call doctor told me to go to the hospital again for observation. Unfortunately (or fortunately), while I was there, they were unable to detect any of the contractions on the monitor. Most likely, this was because they were way too light, as I suspected. They said it could have also been growing pains, since Grayson is in the middle of his first huge growth spurt. Again, I was sent home and told to page the doctor if they got worse before Monday.

The main reason they are not being extremely proactive is a little disheartening. Most hospitals, including Baylor, have a policy not to intervene in a "non-viable" pregnancy. Grayson is currently considered non-viable. We must make it to 23 weeks in order for the hospital to make any attempts to save his life. Thankfully, I'll be 23 weeks tomorrow. If I have to go to the hospital again, it will be a completely different story. They will run more tests and be significantly more aggressive. They explained that my OB will be able to provide more details on Monday and develop an action plan, which could include injections, medications, hospitalization or continued bed rest. Our prayer is that we can keep the contractions and preterm labor at bay until 36 weeks. Here are some of the pregnancy milestones you can keep in your prayers:

24 weeks: 50% survival rate, although half of those babies will have permanent medical problems

28 weeks: 80% survival rate with minimal risk for longterm medical conditions

32 weeks: 90% survival rate

36 weeks: Safe delivery threshold, although still considered "late-preterm"

37-40 weeks: Full-term

In addition to gestational age, babies with higher birth weights have an increased chance of survival. Babies who weigh between 1.1 and 1.5 pounds have a survival rate around 40%; babies between 1.5 and 2.2 pounds have a survival rate of about 70%. According to the last sonogram I had, Grayson is measuring a little over a pound.

I'll know more on Monday morning, and I'll try to keep you updated.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.