Anonymous wrote:At 35 weeks you may even avoid a NICU stay, right?
totally depends. My son had jaundice and so had to stay a bit (about days). I will say, as a preemie mom who is pretty active in other preemie communities and who talks to a lot of other preemie parents, I think the long term and shorter term risks, developmentally-wise, of delivering early and having an IUGR/small baby are not always made clear to parents. My son was late to walk and now is late to talk. That is pretty common for preemie boys, I have found. I would say maybe half of the parents of late term preemies I know (as in after 34 weeks) have dealt with delays and/or learning issues. These things are obviously better than the alternative and by no means true for all preemies, so no need to chime in with a but my kid/my neighbor's kid/etc., but they are much more common for early kids and I don't think parents are made comfortable enough with that fact. I am an anxiety nut, though, and I do have to say that now that my son is here, and 2, the fact that he is delayed is less scary than the possibility that he might be when he was born at 34 weeks, if that makes sense.