24 WEEKS! WOOT, WOOT!

For those of you in the medical world and those of you who have had pregnancy problems you know the IMPORTANCE and EXCITEMENT of this milestone! Tau’aho (and Lady Hiva) has made it to 24 weeks! Tomorrow she will be 24 weeks and 1 day! WOOHOO!

In the medical world they estimate 24 weeks, or 6 months, the thresh hold of where modern machines can help a baby survive. Any time before that they baby has no chance of survival outside of the womb. So, it is an exciting milestone to hit. The next milestone will be 26 weeks—the quality of life is better at that point and Vaitafe was born at 28—those dates will be 1 May and 1 June respectfully. (For more on our story and our journey with Vaitafe and our past pregnancies you can read WHITE LILIES IN AUTUMN)

We want this little guy to cook as long as he can, but are happy with the progress and celebrate as we can!

We recognize that this is the farthest Lady has made it without problems or being admitted into the hospital and are thankful for it. We end each day with gratitude. From here on out, Tau’aho only gets stronger and increases his odds for survival as each day passes.

We had an ultrasound (our every two week visit) and Tau’aho is healthy…Lady thinking he is doing gymnastics in the morning and at night. Lady Hiva is also doing really well. There are no signs of labor! YAY!!! It is a nice feeling to have the doctors look at us and say, “Well, you are doing great, see you in two weeks” with a look of I-don’t-know-why-your-worried-it-all-looks-fine… In fairness they have done everything they can to prevent pre-term labor. AND IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING! (With the help of all your prayers, thoughts, positive energy, cheers and encouragement etc…this is a team effort of course and we thank you for being part of our journey!)

In the hospital they always do the 3D scans. Lady Hiva and I have looked at literally thousands of ultrasounds over the years so we are OK just reading the regular ones with the doctor. I think they are not used to ‘regular’ people being able to do that so they jump over to 3D and are so happy to show us “our baby.” Both Lady and I agree, it is just creepy! Depending on how far away or close they are it looks like a face with no eyes, or they scan in too far and get half face and half brain so Tau’aho looks like Nacho Libre…but we smile appropriately and act excited with them.

Here are some photos of the visit on Friday. The one thing that seems to be obvious is that Tau’aho has a wide Polynesian nose not a “pointy Bradshaw nose” as Lady Hiva calls it.

So here is celebration that Lady Hiva is staying pregnant and Tau’aho is still doing gymnastics hopefully for another three months!