It is funny – all throughout pregnancy, you have to be extremely cognizant of how many weeks along you are. Every Monday was our “flip” day, and Elliot and I would sit down and read the different tickers from baby gaga to hear how big Micah was growing and what developmental milestones he should be hitting. It was a little ritual for us, and we loved doing it. Once the contractions hit at 28 weeks, every week was another significant milestone – it meant Micah was a little safer if he was born early, and more likely to make it to full-term. I remember celebrating when we hit 36 weeks and felt we had left the “danger” zone for Micah.
Once Micah arrived, we continued counting in weeks. There was his actual age, and his adjusted gestational age (since Micah was a bit early, they often adjusted his age for hitting different developmental milestones). The weeks were important – for when he should return to his birth weight, for when breastfeeding (well, frankly eating in general) should be easier, etc. Then somewhere around 8 or 9 weeks, Micah hit the “2 month mark” and I haven’t looked back. I can tell you that Micah is over 2 months old now, but I generally can no longer tell you how many weeks. It is a graduation of sorts – we no longer need to think in weeks – we can think in terms of months!
Oh, in case you were wondering . . . I did go count on my calendar, and Micah is now 11 1/2 weeks old.