At what stage of pregnancy is baby "viable"

tankgirl1

zaksmum wrote: »

My daughter's 31 weeks pregnant with her first baby - she sadly suffered a previous miscarriage at about 9 weeks.

I'm desperate for this baby to get here safely and have heard there's a stage of pregnancy beyond which baby is considered to be "viable"...presumably meaning it'd have a good chance of survival if born on or after this date.

Please does anyone know when this would be?

Hi
I haven't read the rest of the thread, but I have a lil man, Zach, now 5yo and doing brilliantly at school, who was born by emergency c-section at 31 weeks! So I kinda had to reply

I had pre-eclampsia hence the prem birth. Lil man was in SCBU for 6 weeks - there was nothing actually wrong with him, he was just too teeny tiny to come home! The docs suspected an emergency c-section might be on the cards when they admitted me 48hrs beforehand, and so I had to have steroid injections into my legs, which helped little man's lungs develop in case he came early.

31 weeks is definitely viable! Congrats and good luck to your daughter!
xxx

slightlyconfused1

To join the pre eclampsia discussion.

I had threatened pre-eclampsia with two of my children and was kept in hospital and monitored and blood pressure medicated. I had pre eclampsia with my last child, again kept in hospital medicated (but this time in and out of intensive care) until they could no longer control my blood pressure (I broke the spig) and delivered my son at 32 weeks. The hospital take it very seriously as eclampsia can kill you and the baby.

OP My son is 6 and is heathy, happy and extremely clever with the cheekiest grin and a female fan club all of his own!!

clairehi

think there is a bit of confusion here

Pre-eclampsia is a condition which may lead to eclampsia (pre- in this case meaning "before")

Eclampsia is a medical emergency, characterised by a seizure/fit and the only treatment is immediate delivery of the baby.

tiamai_d

clairehi wrote: »

Eclampsia is a medical emergency, characterised by a seizure/fit and the only treatment is immediate delivery of the baby.

Or a chemically induced coma and lots and lots of drugs if you have already had the baby.

The issue wasn't over what the condition was, it was over whether it was 'real' or not and what the treatment or management is.

donteatthat

I'm sat cuddling who is now 16 weeks old but was born at 28 weeks after I went into labour literally hours after my 28 week check where everything was normal! He's done very well so far and didn't have the benefit of steroids for his lungs. In the delivery ward when I was panicking I was told 28 weekers do really well these days, and at 30 weeks prognosis is amazing. Each day makes a huge difference so to get to 31 weeks - your daughter will be just fine!