viability @ 21 weeks?

Mrs. Destructo · September 2009

I was just talking to somebody from my mortgage company on the phone, and we somehow got to talking about kids, and she told me a friend of hers delivered triplets at 21 weeks, and they're now several weeks old and the docs are saying they're going to make it.

Could this possibly be true? 21 weeks?

franciscaz · September 2009

I've heard it mainly depends on the weight of the premie. If they are certain weight the rescue measures can work. My hospital said VDay really was 23 at earliest... but you never know.

preemieparent · September 2009

I supposed anything is "technically" possible. The youngest babies that I have heard truly surviving are 22 weeks. And that is few and far between.

My guess is either the person you were talking to was incorrect about age or the gestational age of the babies was incorrect (meaning althought they though they were 21 weeks they are really 24 or 24). Did she say how much they weighed?

My neighbor had her son at 34 weeks because they did an ultrasound and freaked out that a 38 weeker was only 4 pounds. They thought he was in distress so they did the c-section when they didn't need to. Oops.

Clotho! · September 2009

w/ technology these day maybe. like pp said it would depend on their weight but they will have a long road ahead of them.

Mrs. Destructo · September 2009

She said they were just over a pound each. That's pretty huge for 21 weeks, isn't it?

Whatever is going on in that NICU, I hope those 3 tiny babies keep on fighting. Freaking prematurity

lemen99 · September 2009

I don't know. I had to be such a skeptic, but I'm very skeptical. Even if the babies were large for their age, that wouldn't help their lungs to be any more mature. My guess is that the chances of survival with modern medicine would be very very slim at best, and even so, probably lots of long term side effects.

If they survived with no long lasting problems, which I pray is true, then I would tend to think that maybe their due date was off and potentially they were really more like 23 weeks!

happyhoopla · September 2009

Very doubtful that they are 21 weeks. Prior to 23 weeks, the capillaries that carry the blood through the lungs to get oxygen are not in contact with the alveoli (the small air-filled sacs in the lungs), so there is no way for the blood to pick up any oxygen.

ijack · September 2009

I guess anything is possible, but my hospital wouldn't perform life saving measures before 23w and even the 23rd week was pretty iffy. When I was admitted st 23.5w we were told that we needed to choose how far we wanted to take our intervention

sweetpea18 · September 2009

Mrs. Destructo:

She said they were just over a pound each. That's pretty huge for 21 weeks, isn't it?

Whatever is going on in that NICU, I hope those 3 tiny babies keep on fighting. Freaking prematurity

I'm guessing they had her dated wrong. DD was only 12 oz at the 20 week anatomy scan and she consistently measured 2 weeks ahead.

lemen99 · September 2009

ijack:
I guess anything is possible, but my hospital wouldn't perform life saving measures before 23w and even the 23rd week was pretty iffy. When I was admitted st 23.5w we were told that we needed to choose how far we wanted to take our intervention

Our hospital told us this even if we delivered at 24w (they thought we were going to), but luckily we made it to 26w!

southphilly · September 2009

like the others said, viability at my hospital was 23 weeks at best, and 24 more realistically. at 23 weeks it was up to us how much intervention to do-at 24, the doctors intervened as a matter of course. I was admitted at 22 weeks.

jlc071903 · September 2009

There was a set of twins at our NICU who the mom SWORE up and down were 24 weekers, but I heard through the grapevine that they were guessing that she really was closer to 21.5 weeks and that she'd said she was further along so that they would take rescue measures for the babies...sadly one of the twins left and the other was in the NICU for 8 months...he also had to have several surgeries.

He was being discharged when my girls went back for one of their many follow up appointments in April. I cannot imagine that long of a NICU stay..esp. since the parents lived 45 minutes away....they were moved to the room across the hall from us after they lost their other twin.

Flyswmer · September 2009

ijack:
I guess anything is possible, but my hospital wouldn't perform life saving measures before 23w and even the 23rd week was pretty iffy.

ditto. My daughter was born at 23.5 and only weighed 15oz. But her weight wasn't her issue, it was her lungs. They were pretty big for being multiples and only being 21 weeks. I guess anything is possible?

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