First, let me just say that over the last few weeks I've developed a profound appreciation for what nurses do on a daily basis. Whatever your are paid is not enough and all of you are deserving of praise for the sorts of situations you face every day. It didn't take long to realize that neither my wife nor I have the sort of mettle needed to be a member of this profession.
I hope nobody minds this outsider posting to your forum. Here's our situation.
My wife is pregnant with our first. During a routine exam at 24 weeks 0 days, her doctor (who we both really like) discovered she was 1 cm dialated. She was immediately admited to the hospital. Here's what has gone down so far:
Day 1: given steroid shot should baby arrive early, strict bedrest starts.
Day 2: another shot. Ultrasound revealed cervix at 1.7cm with some funneling
Day 4: Ultrasound shows 2.76 cm with minimal funneling
Day 7: ultrasound shows 3.1 cm with almost no funneling. Doctor allows my wife to get up for bathroom breaks and to take 3 minute showers.
Day 14: ultrasound shows 2.74 cm with minor funneling, wife put back on strict bedrest (only allowed up to for BMs)
We are now at 26weeks and 2 days. During this time, there has been no change in dialation, still 1 cm. She has had no contractions other than the occasional Braxton Hicks and those are few and far between. She's pregnant with a girl, which I understand can be a plus.
After the last ultrasound, our doctor decided against sending her home until at least week 28. Her opinion at that time (now 3 days ago) was this:
"...28 weeks is extremely likely at this point and I think 32 weeks is very do-able."
I've done a lot of research and my concerns are what sort of long term problems we can expect depending on how far along we get. My feeling right now is that I don't want to subject a tiny baby to the tortures of heroic, life saving efforts.
I guess my question for those in the know is this:
- given the info I provided, what's your gut feel for a likely outcome, both number of weeks we can hope to get and the sorts of short and long term problems for our little girl?
