Baby Lumps and Viability!

I want to start off by congratulating the boys on reaching viability! Different sources vary on the exact date but it's usually anywhere from 24-26 weeks. So I'm calling it at 25weeks. What exactly is viability you may wonder? Well it's when the babies have a good chance of surviving outside the womb. However I wouldn't feel very good about having them this early just yet because the boys would be faced with many many complications. Our first feel good goal is 28 weeks when the boys have 95% chance of surviving without any long term complications. It's estimated that one day in the womb equals 3days in the NICU, so every week they stay in me means they get to spend three less weeks at the hospital.

I apologize for the crappy scanning job I did on the two pictures above. I posted them cause it's cool to see how far along the boys have come compared to a full term baby. Of course the pictures aren't to scale but you can at least see how big of a difference 34 weeks versus 40weeks makes (our best case scenario would be to make it to 34 weeks). After the trips, all newborns will look enormous to me.

So I've gotten pretty good at identifying the different lumps that appear on my belly throughout the day.

A) Big lump: it makes my normally nice spherical belly look lop-sided, this is usually a whole baby popping out. I'm guessing that he is arching his back and trying to stretch out. Or maybe his brothers are pushing him to one side. It pops out so much I can kind of hold on to it. I would sometimes give them a little shake to see what he would do, usually they would just retract but then one day they retaliated and beat up my bladder so I don't do it anymore.

B) Medium sized lump: usually a head. At least it looks like the right size.

C) Small lump: definitely a foot. You can kind of feel the shape. If I put a little pressure on it it usually retracts. But if I rub it a little they'll keep it there for a few seconds, they must like it. Once there were three distinct lumps in a row and I could tell they were feet. This is the first real evidence, besides the ultrasounds, that there is more than one baby in there.

JP