3 Weeks Early?

Wow, I can't believe how much I'm getting done on our blog. Ben finally took Aidyn bc my back began hurting sitting here leaning over him to type. Let me just take a moment to tell how ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL Ben has been!!!! I honestly could not do it without him and have so much respect for single parents. I already knew their job was hard, but now I really know.

Ben has probably changed more diapers than me, or I definately know he did in the beginning. Since we are using bottles, he gets up at night to feed him so I can pump and go back to bed. Otherwise between feeding, pumping, and getting another bottle ready it takes about 90 min. With the cycle coming every 3hrs, that doesn't leave a lot of room for sleeping in the middle. It is very obvious how much he loves Aidyn and it has made me love him even more. He is amazing!

But now - let me explain this whole 37wks thing:

At the dr on Thursday the lactation specialist said, "There are several reasons I think he's struggling to nurse. One is your shape (which I won't explain on here, ha, but feel free to email me or ask me if you want me to explain). Secondly, his being tongue tied - but we got that fixed. And third, I think he's early."

Apparently the hospital does a test, not the Apgar, that measures a baby's age. They test muscle tone, flexibility, and things like that. Aidyn's results (even thought I had no idea this type of test was done) came back that with each thing he tested at 37 wks. She said that even though he has a strong suck reflex, he won't suck until something is PLACED in his mouth. He doesnt try sucking the bottle in, which she said was developmentally. And when we explained to her about how we didn't find out I was pregnant until much further on...and the ultra sound that was supposed to be our 8wk (to see a blob) turned out to be 16wk (and we saw an entire baby!) she was shocked. We told her the dr that did the ultrasound was too, ha...we all where.

They estimated his age at that time, and my due date, by his head measurements on the ultrasound. She told us that babies have different sized heads. If we had been monitoring his growth and progress from the beginning then that would be accurate. But since we jumped in at 16wks (4months), that really wasn't accurate and so he could just be early. She also commented on his size...not that he's overly small bc he isn't, just smaller. Knowing that I gave birth to a 7lb person makes me thing he's quite HUGE, haha.

I wasnt sure what to think. I was upset, but I guess it all made sense. But then I also added this last little bit in...Sarah, our friend from church who had her little girl 3 days after us, had Laurel 3 weeks early. She was actually suppsed to go for her 37wk appt that day and her water broke early that morning.

Anyways, Laurel (being 3 wks early) weighed 7lbs 1oz. The EXACT SAME as Aidyn. He was 2in longer, but really, they were exactly the same. So, who knows...maybe he was early.

All I know is, and I'm sure Sarah would agree, if they both were 3 wks early...I know for me that I could not have gone 3 more wks! I was becoming sooo uncomfortable and having such pressure pains at night that I just wanted to have the baby. Plus, with my small size (and Sarah's too), I don't know that with 3 more wks of growth we could have delivered these babies, ha. Seriously.

So we wont' really ever know I don't think...but it is a possibility.