Welcome to Stoneman 6

For those of you that don't yet know, that's the name of the hospital floor I am currently on at the Beth Israel Hospital.  I was admitted on Wednesday for bed rest and observation because my pregnancy isn't going so well.  The baby is doing just fine,  it's going to be another boy!  The problem is my cervix.  It's too short, and it's getting shorter... which is something that's only supposed to happen during labor/delivery.

If you think of the uterus as a blown up balloon holding the baby inside, then the cervix is the bottom opening of the balloon (too bad I can't tie mine up like the end of a balloon!).  So at 18 weeks they perform a normal ultrasound where they measure the baby, look for any abnormalities, and also measure the cervix.  With Zoë my cervix was marginally short at 2.4cm (the cut off for short is 2.5cm I've been told).  They just watched it more closely when I was pregnant with her, it never got any shorter.... and nothing ever came of it.  I delivered Zoë normally and she was a week late.  With this pregnancy my cervix was 1.5cm at 18 weeks, prompting my providers to worry a little bit more, start me on progesterone gel, and refer me to a high risk specialist to be followed.  They told me to just take it a little more easy, don't lift up the kids, don't do housework.  I went to the specialist 2 weeks later and my cervix measured at 1.17cm... so it got a bit shorter.  At least it didn't appear to be dilating, so it was getting shorter but staying closed.  The specialist told me the same precautions, and said he'd see me again in 2 weeks.  That was Wednesday Nov 2, when I went back and my cervix measured at 0.6cm.  Still getting shorter, and on the ultrasound it appeared that it might be dilating.  So that bought me ticket over to the BI hospital for his team of high risk specialists to check me out, and eventually I was admitted here for bed rest with shower privileges (thanks goodness for that privilege!).  They did do a manual exam and the provider feels my cervix is still closed tight and the baby doesn't feel like it's pushing out... so that's very good news.  So I'm being monitored to see if total bed rest stops the shortening any further.

It's only been since Wednesday, and it's already driving me sort of bananas being trapped here in the room, but I'm thankful I have good friends coming to visit, and they've brought me good books and activities to keep my busy.  Plus now I can keep updated on my blog!  The hardest part is being away from Mike and the kids (and organizing what to do with childcare in my absence).  They came to visit today and it was so wonderful to see them and spend time with them, the difficult part was when they left.  That was so very hard, watching them leave the floor, I started crying at this whole situation.

But I am going to keep a positive attitude, and every day that goes by that I can keep this baby inside me cooking, is a blessing.  My current goal is to just get to Monday, when I'll be 24 weeks pregnant.  24 weeks gestation is when they consider the fetus 'viable'... meaning it would have a chance to live if it happened to be born that early.  After Monday my next goal will jump to getting all the way to 28 weeks... I'm praying and visualizing my cervix staying put and keeping this baby in!  They haven't told me how long I might have to be here, it could be a week or two... up to months.  There are moms on this floor that have been here for several months!  I can't even imagine that right now.  There is one procedure they sometimes do, called a cerclage, where they actually stitch up the cervix, but they still think that is too risky vs. the benefit at this point, and there's no guarantee that it would stop the shortening.  I guess it's better at stopping dilation.  They also say the best predictor of what will likely happen is my previous history of labor/delivery.  Thankfully mine is good! 

So without any further adieu, let me give you a tour of my lovely abode (for the time being)

my lovely view of the city sky line

my ever growing library

my garden (thanks Naomi and Nonna!)

my kitchen/entertainment center

I call this my family room/work area

my bedroom

my guest room complete with sink

So come on down for a visit!  I'd love to have you!