23 weeks, 1 day!

How we got here.....

Welcome to day 5 of our unexpected hospital stay! Earlier this week we were your normal, happy pregnant couple, now we are delving into the fast-paced world of "high risk" and NICU acronyms. First news first, Acorn (aka Baby E) is doing fine and still in the oven. He is quite the ornery little fellow who takes way too much joy in evading ultrasound machines and hiding from nurses seeking heartbeats.

The start of our adventure probably began last Monday, but I'm not sure I can pinpoint it for sure. Monday was the first full day of my 3 month residential training program for work. We thought we had all the prenatal appointments set up and our weekend visits mapped out, but it seems that God wanted Noah and I to be living just a touch closer. A rather rough Monday led to an uncomfortable Tuesday. After some prodding from friends and my body basically refusing to cooperate, I decided to go AWOL and run away from training (thanks to those who helped fix my AWOL status and literally rescued all my personal belongings I left behind!). Noah and I were so convinced that I was just having a rough time adjusting to my new schedule and surroundings (what me? A rough time adjusting to a new schedule? Never!) that Noah wasn't even going to come to the appointment. Boy am I glad he surprised me! About 5 minutes into the appointment we were prepping to go to the hospital. Still not too worried, we were convinced that it would be an in and out visit and we were making plans to order pizza and take advantage of my AWOL status for the night....unfortunately things did not go as planned.

So here we are 4 nights later. We are very excited to announce that we've crossed the 23 week line. This is a huge accomplishment and cause for much praise! According to the wonderful folks from NICU, at 23 weeks we've now entered the realm of "slight survivability" in case Acorn decides to make an appearance. I know that doesn't sound too positive, but we've embraced 23 weeks with such thankfulness and relief. It is truly amazing how just a few days can make such a big difference. Of course, we are hoping for many more weeks past 23, but each day is a wonderful gift!

Alright, as seems to be my new normal, I'm being overtaken by a wave of fatigue. No worries though, I will have plenty of time to finish this story later (the doctors are predicting weeks to months in the hospital!). Have a good night and thank you for the prayers!