Need Input from the Pros

I can only imagine the stress and fear you and your wife are both feeling right now.

I'm a L&D RN. I've seen alot of similiar situations as I'm sure most of us have. It sounds like the doctors are staying on top of things and your wife is a very smart lady. Lots of patients wouldn't say anything about a "feeling". She's gonna be a great mom. The shots they've given her are wonderful and are to help with the maturity of the babies lungs.

My favorite premie story to tell is one of a patient here who had problems very early in her pregnancy and was on bedrest and givem the shots you speak of from about 23 weeks on..... she was eventually discharged to be on bedrest at home from a hospital 1 hour away that has a NICU. She would come to our local small hospital weekly for stress tests and monitoring and to get her shots weekly. She made it to 32 weeks and came in on me on a Sunday night around 11 pm and delivered a small, pink perfect baby girl who now carries my name as her middle name. She scared me that night, did I mention she was born in the bathroom as her mother stood up from the commode, I caught her foot just before she hit the water and laid her mother on the floor with the baby over her thigh. This little girl is 10 now and plays sports with my daughter sometimes. She's a perfect little girl with no longterm effects from the problems her mother had during her pregnancy.

I will add you and your wife to our prayer list and look forward to updates from you. We never know what the end result will be even in "normal pregnancy" without any complications. Follow your doctors advice , encourage, love and be patient with your wife, and most importantly pray. There is only one who knows what this outcome will be.........God.

Supply your wife with books, magazines, cross stitch ( I cross stitched my son a blanket and bibes while on bedrest), funny movies, laughter is very healing, and lots of friends and family. Tell her we are all cheering for and praying for her here. Maybe copy our replies for her to read.

This little baby will be just fine because it has the support and love of great parents. Being a good parent isn't about having all the answers or knowing everything, it's about knowing where to find the answers and who to ask when you need help.

Good Luck and God Bless

Rie

Just an update.

My wife had another ultrasound yesterday. Her cervix was unchanged at 2.75 cm but the doctor did have some concern over a slight increase in the funneling. Apparently it wasn't much but they would have preferred not to see any change at all.

She's now at 27 weeks with the last 3 on bedrest. I just hope we can hold on until 32+.

I agree with llg. Sounds like things are going relatively well. Your wife's received several celestone shots by now and she has some great support from you. Sounds like she's got pretty good doctors too. Hang in there, keep us posted and try to smile....just a little.

Just another update.

We had another round of ultrasounds today. Tomorrow is officially 28 weeks so we're not technically there yet.

Anyway, the ultrasound measurements came back at 2.8cm, up from 2.7 the previous two weeks. In addition, the doctors saw no signs of funneling at all this time. Her primary doctor stated that she considers things to be in, or very near, the normal range. To date, there have been no contractions.

For the first time, her doctor kicked around the idea that there's a chance she may go to full term. Some of the nurses that I quizzed thought there was an outside chance of approaching term as well and all believed we should get to a minimum of 30 weeks. Honestly, I'm just focused on getting to 30 weeks for right now.

So, my wife is headed home today for continued strict bedrest. As her mom volunteered to stay with us during the week while I'm at work, that takes a lot of pressure off of us.

So that's my update. God has truly blessed us in this matter. I continue to pray for a happy outcome. :)

Congrats on a big milestone! 28 weeks is huge, and definately something to celebrate! It sounds like you could very well have a baby you can take home with you from the hospital!

You will continue to be in my prayers, your wife will need a lot of encouragement to follow drs. orders at home--again, bed rest is very difficult, but totally worth it.

Shannon

Continued thoughts and prayers your way. Please keep us posted!!

best wishes to you and yoru wife. take good care!

I just wanted to add my best wishes as a midwife in the Uk, I decided not to comment as practise here can be different to the US but nonetheless I can assure you we all need to know how the 3 of you get on. My thoughts are with you both.

I wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to reply to my posts and the kind words over the last few weeks.

My wife had a level 2 ultrasound this past Friday with a high risk specialist. In addition to running her own clinic, she's also an associate professor at Drexel University and a doctor with Hahneman in Philadelphia. So she definetly comes with credentials.

Anyway, Friday's ultrasound showed cervical length at 3.4 cm with no funneling, even with pressure against my wifes lower belly. This is up from the prior two weeks when it was at 2.7 cm. The doctor indicated to us that she was still concerned about my wife's cervix being a bit fragile as she pointed out a tiny gap about halfway down. Her opinion is that the gap was left over after it closed back up from it's shortest length of 1.7 cm.

The plan is to stay on strict bedrest at home and, once we get to 30 weeks, allow her to go downstairs once during the day if she prefers to spend time reclining on our sofa. The doctor was unwilling to give any sort of gut feel for how much longer my wife could go (which I comletely understand), but I'm hoping that her request that we come back in 4 weeks for another ultrasound is an indicator of what she expects. She did say she was generally optimistic. She's also not convinced my wife has the traditional IC.

All that said, my wife's normal doctor was very pleased with the latest ultrasound. She called us same day as a follow-up. Her opinion was that we *should* see 32 to 34 weeks and was beginning to think there was a chance she could get to term.

Tomorrow is 29 weeks...a long way from 24 but not yet out of the woods. God continues to bless us and I'm starting to think we may have a positive outcome.

Glad to hear the encouraging news! Continued best wishes to you all!