World Preemie Day

Today is National Prematurity Day. I didn't know that until today when I saw something about it on facebook but I have actually been thinking about little preemie's a lot over the past week. I am 28 weeks pregnant right now. Ryan was born at only 27 weeks! So this past week we have been talking about when he was born and what it was like. I am very grateful that my little guy is still in there cooking away, but it is reassuring to know that if something were to happen at this point, he would have a good chance at survival.

We pulled out Ryan's baby book to look at the photos of when he was born. It was kind of neat (for lack of a better word) to see what my baby looks like right now at 28 weeks. I know he is in there, kicking away, and that he is the size of a 'head of cauliflower' (and who in the world decided that all baby sizing needed to be compared to fruits and veggies, lol), but its amazing to see those photos of Ryan and know that my baby looks about the same right now. :)

Here is baby Ryan at 27 weeks. He only weighed 2 lbs 12 oz! He was just a little guy.

10 Hours old. 2 lbs 12 oz. 17 1/2 inches.

Here he is 2 days old with his Mom and Dad. You can see how tiny he was. He fit in the palm of his Dad's hand.

9 days old. This photo is really dark, but you can see how teeny tiny his little bones are.

It really is amazing to think about how much of a miracle baby Ryan was and how many odds he overcame to make it. This is a little journal entry that his Mom wrote in the back of his baby book...

"Ryan was born three months premature. Before I gave birth I was told that he didn't have a very good chance of living. They told me about all the diseases he would probably have and how hard he would have to fight to live. But he did so well from the moment he was born. He flew to Primary Children's Hospital in a helicopter 20 min after he was born. I only got to see him for a minute before they took him off. I was so afraid that he would die before I ever got to to see him again. He was so beautiful and so small. The next day I got to go see him, and he was doing well . All the tubes they had in him made me nervous. And his tiny little body was fighting as much as it could. After only ten days he could breathe all on his own." 

And just for fun, here are a few pics that I found in his book that I thought were just too cute!! :)

Ryan's bike that he got for Christmas '84

He's been a lifelong handy man! 

His tool bench that he got for Christmas '86

And here is Ryan today, at 6' 7", with his own little baby boy at 27 weeks old.