*gentle hug* What a difficult situation... but like others have said hang in there and keep hope. pff doctors
My situation was similar. By 20 weeks I was diagnosed with iugr, my baby was already weeks behind and I had almost no fluid. By 24 weeks I was hospitalized due to preclampsia. I had multiple detailed scans at the top-notch neonatal hospital in the city. They said despite their best equipment he was so small they couldn't even guess at his weight. They also said the estimates were always approximate anyways, so your little one could easier be bigger than they think.
By 27 weeks, still in the hospital getting daily scans, we reached the point where the blood flow to the placenta had started reversing. So the doctors decided he had to come out before he grew weaker. Like you, scans confirmed what blood he was receiving was going to the brain and heart. Isn't nature amazing that way? They measured his cerebellum, the small area at the back of the brain that controls breathing and other such important reflexes. It measured for 27 weeks, which confirmed the theory. So that was our small glimmer of hope. His brain was indeed receiving bloodflow.
Everything else was bad news though. His overall weight was still too low to be estimated. He measured length wise at about 23 weeks. We finally have the Talk with the ethical committee. They said at 27 weeks they usually don't even have this discussion. But being so small, his odds were so bad - about 25% chances of surviving with light or moderate health problems - that they asked if we wanted to try to save him, or just give him palliative care.
It didn't take us long to decide. But still the situation was just hell. I had to keep repeating myself I was strong enough to look after a severely mentally and/or physically handicapped child. I would doubt our decision. Then of course feel guilty for it.
I had a c section at 27 weeks 0 days. The 'classic', more invasive kind where they cut in a T, not the 'modern' kind which is just a slit. The specialists thought he wouldn't survive a modern one. He was tiny! The nurse told me later she could hide him with just 3 fingers' width. He weighed 570g - 1lb 4oz. Bottom 2nd percentile for weight, so severe iugr. I heard his cry briefly (the best sound in the world) before they whisked him away. You can see a sequence of pictures in my sig below.
The first week was very, very hard. The first time I went to see him, he was in cardiac AND respiratory arrest. The screen was a series of flat lines. They were having trouble ressuscitating him. He was bleeding heavily from the nose - he had a severe pulmonary hemorage due to the pda. It took them 3 hours to stabilize him, and then he was hooked up to the strongest ventilator they had. It was huge, the size of a fridge abd it made his tiny body shake like a leaf. That sight will haunt me for the rest of my life.
He had many other complications. Many blood transfusions, a few serious infections, etc etc. It's only weeks later after doing research that I learned that it's very common for preemies to need ressuscitation at least once.
Why am I telling you all this? Well fast forward 105 days and he left the hospital with a healthy weight of 7 pounds. He's now 9 months (6 corrected) and so far he is doing GREAT, only minor issues. He had some muscle stiffness that we're doing physio for, but that's it. Of course he might have other problems when he starts school but we're trying to keep positive - take THAT 25% odds of survival - he showed YOU!
I mean look at him! Does he look like he weight 1 pound?
https://nova.polymtl.ca/~miadel/vincent/vincent_noel2010.jpg
Hang in there, keep hope - nature (God?) is amazing.
