good news!
This morning the doctor came in, he told me that I'm down to 2cm and 60 (height of the cervix, which is good). Since 4-5cm dilation means you can go into labor at any time, 2cm is twice as far as 3cm. The nurse said that it was very unlikely to go below 2cm, so I'm doing as well as I can, which was a pleasant surprise, I didn't know that they could shrink.

The staff seem to be optimistic, but the doctor is remaining cautious, says that things could swing the other way. { Patri - note that she's still on IV magnesium, but only for the rest of the day - its a short-term medicine}. If things keep going well, I might be able to leave Sunday or Monday, on some kind of oral medication and bed rest for an indeterminate amount of time.

Tovar is kicking a lot, which the nurses liked at first, but now they don't because its hard to track him w/ the doppler because he keeps moving. I suspect that one reason he's kicking a lot is that I'm not moving, he always liked to kick when I lay down to bed. I've heard that they liked to be rocked to sleep by walking, so maybe that's why he's kicking more. But it's comforting that he seems strong and has a lot to say with his feet.

I managed to get about 4 hours of sleep. I'm on a liquid diet, which sucks. They took away the granola bars and crackers that Patri brought me. {Patri - bastards!}.


Landmarks:

24 wks - 50% of babies survive
28 wks - 1kg avg. week, can regulate own body temperature
32 wks - similar rate of intracranial bleeding as full-term

Lung issues are the biggest problem w/ preterm babies, and they get better every week. If I don't go into full labour in the first week, I have an 80% chance of going full-term. When I first came in, the doc thought it was 50/50 to avoid labor, I think the odds have improved but I don't know by how much, we'll see what happens when they stop the magnesium.

- Typed by Patri, dictated by Shannon