A baby born at 32 weeks could not usually survive without NICU, unless there was some miracle.
A baby born at 32 weeks still requires specialized care for temperature regulation, feeding and breathing.
Although babies born at 32 weeks do have high survival rates, and may only require a feeder/grower setup, the standard medical practice still dictates that the baby born at 32 weeks be monitored in the NICU until they are more developed, until they are around 35 weeks to 37 weeks old.
Although 32 weeks is a positive milestone for babies being born, babies that are born at 32 weeks often spend 2 to 5 weeks in the NICU for monitoring and feeding support and most babies born at 32 weeks don't have any severe lung failure, although they often require temporary breathing support like CPAP or continuous positive airway pressure and they also often lack the ability to coordinate sucking and swallowing, which requires a feeding tube.
Babies born at 32 weeks are also usually placed in an incubator to help maintain their body temperature.
Even babies born at 31 weeks also have a high chance of survival, but also require NICU care.
A 31 week preemie is often as big as 15.5 inches to 16.5 inches long and weighs around 3 lbs to 4 lbs.
31 week old preemie babies are often also described as appearing small and thing, but yet they also often have most features developed and are beginning to fill out with some body fat.
Average weight of a 31 week preemie is between 3.3 lbs to 4 lbs, although some 31 week preemies can be slightly lighter in weight and fall into the very preterm category.
A 31 week old preemie may also have a head that is relatively large when compared to their body and fine downy hair or lanugo that covers them, with visible veins under thin skin.
And although the lungs of the 31 week old preemie is still maturing, they can often breathe on their own but frequently require breathing support and feeding help in the NICU.
Babies also born at 31 weeks will also require a NICU stay to work on regulating temperature, feeding and breathing and gaining weight until they become stronger and survival rates for babies born at 31 weeks are very high, which often exceeds 95 percent as a result of advanced neonatal care.
Your baby will most likely be ok if you deliver at 31 weeks as long as the baby gets proper and prompt care in the NICU.
With the advanced medical care today in the NICU a baby born at 31 weeks has a 90 to 95 percent change of survival.
A baby that is born at 31 weeks often stays in the NICU for 4 weeks to 7 weeks, although the average stay for a baby born at 31 weeks is around 35 days to 49 days.
Most babies that are born at 31 weeks gestation are also discharged often close to their original due date, as long as they have no other complications.
And some babies born at 31 weeks go home a bit earlier as they begin to learn to breathe and feed independently.
While 4 to 6 weeks in the NICU is common for babies who are born at 31 weeks, some babies born at 31 weeks may need to stay in the NICU for up to 11 weeks after birth if they have complications.
The care for the baby in the NICU focuses on breathing support through CPAP or ventilator as well as feeding tubes until the baby's sucking reflex strengthens as well as temperature regulation in an isolette and monitoring for apnea.
The NICU medical team often focuses on the baby being able to breathe on their own, consistently breastfeed, bottle feed, gain weight steadily and maintain their own body temperature.
At 31 weeks into your pregnancy, you're in your third trimester of pregnancy and are considered to be heavily pregnant during this time as your baby is roughly the size of a coconut for example.
At 31 weeks pregnant, you're also in your 7 month of pregnancy with around 2 moths left in your pregnancy to go and during this time you often experience backaches as well as significant weight gain and even reduced breath capacity.
When you're 31 weeks pregnant, your belly is growing rapidly and you likely can't see your own feet when standing and you often experience hip pain, heartburn, constipation and backaches, which are normal.
During the 31 weeks of pregnancy you may also feel exhausted and notice increased tiredness and it can be harder to catch your breath and your baby's kicks can also become quite uncomfortable and you may even feel some practice tightening's in your belly.
Many women also start feeling truly pregnant between 28 weeks to 32 weeks of pregnancy as their pelvic pressure increases and you may even begin to waddle.