My friend is at her 33rd week and because of some bleeding earlier in the pregnancy, there isn’t room for the baby to grow any further in utero. He’s about 2 lb 11 oz. She is getting pumped full of steroids in the next couple of days to give his lungs their best shot, and then they will induce tomorrow night.
Sending positive vibes to A and the little bean 
Just in October our dear friends had to induce early when she was carrying twins. The girl was 3 lbs, 13 oz. and the boy 4 lbs 14. In ICU for several weeks, they’re now home, eating well and cute as two little buttons.
Best wishes for your friend. Go, little bean, go!
My water broke at 35 weeks, and my son was 4 lb. 1 oz. He had no problems whatsoever (other than looking kind of like Gumby because I had a large fibroid that was pressing on his head!). He’s now 12, is normal as normal can be, and he’s never had anything but the typical childhood illnesses. The little bugger is healthy as a horse.
Sending good vibes their way!
:: checks in from the other perspective, so to speak ::
I was 2 pounds 2 ounces when I was born three months early, 44 years ago, and I’m still here.
Mind you, I was in an incubator for those three months, but I lived.
Good luck to gigi’s friend-and-family!
If his name is Pokey I’m gonna scream!!! 
I was a 2 month premie. Here’s hoping little bean doesn’t end up like me!
My brother was a 3 lb something preemie - 48 years ago! He’s 6 ft and very healthy. Sending good wishes!
I was born on 10/27/67 and was supposed to arrive on Christmas day. I weighed 4 pounds, 5 ounces. Luckily, the hospital had just purchased an incubator, where I stayed for a month or so. Doing fine!
My nephews (twins) were born at 28 weeks gestation. They were so tiny (I forget the actual weights/lengths) that they are uncircumcised – their little fellas were too small for the smallest scalpel. They are both doing fine now (due to graduate high school next year), to be sure, they both had a few developmental delays, but caught up with their peers by age 10 or so. I was a preemie @ 34 weeks and did just fine – after I got out from under the bili lights. It’s great that the doctors are concerned with the lungs – sounds like your friend is in good hands.
My nephew was born via emergency C-section 11 weeks prematurely and weighed just 1 lb. 7 oz. When they were able to bathe him, they used a tub about the size of a three-pound butter bowl. His mother’s wedding ring could go over his arm all the way to his shoulder.
He is now an unbelievably rambunctious six year old and doing well in first grade!
Please give your friend our regards and best wishes for a positive outcome, and keep us posted!
Friends of ours have a daughter whose birthday is Oct. 14. Was supposed to be mid-January. She did spend about six months in the hospital and had some setbacks, and I know she had some physical therapy for a while when she was a little one, but she’s a senior in high school now, plays in the marching band, and you can’t slow her down.
Good thoughts and good wishes to bean and mom.
My hubby was born just before Christmas, but he wasn’t due till after Valentine’s Day. He spent a month in the hospital before he could come home. He grew up to have more drive and determination than anyone else I know. He also ended up being quite a bit taller than either of his older sibs.
Best wishes to your friend!
My cousin was born 3 months premature about 8 years ago. He was the lightest baby ever on record at the University of Michigan hospital --1.5 lbs. I will never forget the day I went to see him in that incubator – and you have to understand something about me, I am not really into babies.
But this kid wasn’t even the length of my hand. He was so incredibly tiny, soooo incredibly tiny I couldn’t even believe it, I was in absolute awe that this was a human being. He had 9 surgeries on his eyes and some other surgeries on his stomach within those first 3 turbulent months.
Now he is a skinny, loud-mouthed, incredibly active 8 year old kid who bounces off the ceilings and walls and rides dirtbikes and talks incessantly. He’s not so little anymore either.
My nephew was born 2 months premature, and is now a happy 28-year-old, who still aggravates his mother. But he’s doing fine.
Moon Unit was a 34 weeker and is just fine (aside from her emotional issues which I think are genetic rather than due to preemiehood). She did not have the steroids your friend is getting, so she actually had a rougher time lung-wise and has, in fact, developed mild asthma at this juncture (not unexpected with a preemie who was on a ventilator). On the whole, I’ll take asthma as her one lingering issue :). No lingering intellectual deficits… my dear daughter tests out as “very superior” in most areas and is in a gifted&talented program at school.
Your friend’s baby may have a bit more of a challenge, in that it sounds like he’s a bit growth-retarded (that’s a small size for 33 weeks; Moon Unit was a bit of a moose at 5.5 pounds/34 weeks). At 33 weeks, though, the prognosis is pretty darned good. Once he gets some meat on his bones, I’d bet he’ll be perfect!
I have friends whose first child was born at 28 weeks due to severe pre-eclampsia and she’s doing beautifully (she’s Dweezil’s age).
Oh - and another friend whose child was born at 24ish weeks… kid excels at everything and is roughly the size of a linebacker. I think his only lingering complaint (if memory serves) is he has slightly fewer permanent teeth than the standard 32 most people are issued.
Thanks so much for all the encouraging tales! We saw her last evening and her blood pressure was high. And apparently the bean was 33 weeks but the size of a 26-week-old because of the cramped quarters. She was supposed to be induced tonight but … voila!
Clayton was born at 4:40 this morning, weighing in at 2-11. Yay Clayton! Go, go, go!
Yay Clayton, yay Gavin, yay Khai. November babies rock.
My sister’s niece was so small when she was born that she’d fit into the palm of your hand. She was – literally – the poster child for preemies. The one time I met her she seemed like an extremely normal teenager.
My little 4lb 12 oz went with me shopping today. We call her Godzilla. In between annoying hte piss out of everyone, she charmed the rest.
Yesterday, she showed my friend how good she could climb.
Perfectly healthy. Well developed, strong like bull.
They are far, far stronger than we think.
Best of wishes to all involved, and all those concerned.
(FWIW, I was 2 months premature and I’m pretty ok. :O)
The Better Half was the 4 lb. half of a pair of twin preemies back in 1954. He and his brother could fairly be said to be “now-thriving”.