23 Weeks

Emily is now 23 weeks! She can weigh up to 1.25lbs and is about a foot long!! Quite a long way from the dividing ball of cells she once was! She now resembles a newborn! Emily is still piling on fat which will help her stay warm when she's born. Surfactant is now beginning to develop in the lungs. This will allow the air sacs to remain open when Emily takes her first breath and ensure her lungs keep work properly. Amazingly, a baby born at 23 weeks has a 16% chance of survival (with the right medical treatment), but every day in the womb counts...and the chances rise to 44% at 24 weeks!!! We're shooting for at least 37 weeks!!!!

It really hit me this week that Emily could be here in as little as 14 weeks!! We are still dealing with the lawyer and trying to get our paperwork started. I contacted him at 18 weeks and he was supposed to send us a packet of information. When I hadn't received anything after about 2 1/2 weeks I called him again. He said he hadn't forgotten about us but he was tied up in an ugly probate case and would send us our stuff soon. Well, I still haven't gotten it. So, we'll be calling him tomorrow to let him know if we don't have anything by next Wednesday, we'll need to find another lawyer. Luckily, since he hasn't sent us anything yet, we haven't paid a retainer fee or signed any contract. SO, we'll see what happens. The adoption process and paperwork is what is stressing me out the most. I'm mentally prepared to bring Emily home and I know I'll have everything I need when she gets here. I'm just paranoid that somehow the paperwork won't be done. I would hate to have to put Lori through that!!!!! So, one way or another...things will be getting done by the end of next week!!!

Lori has sent me a few more belly pics and I'd like to share them. I think she looks beautiful, and I'm so excited to see Emily growing!