2.7 and holding!

Today was my weekly check up with Dr. Mann. My cervix is measuring 2.7 cm, which is only 1mm shorter than last week. This is great news.

The fluid problem, however, is much worse. It's measuring 31cm, which is about double where it should be. Dr. Mann says the fluid is way down low in the pelvis and is putting even more pressure on the cervix. The baby is also head-down, which is additional pressure as well. She feels confident that if we can get the fluid under control, then it will help slow the cervical thinning.

To try and lessen the fluid, she is putting me back on another 72-hour course of Indocin. We did a course last week but have no way of knowing if it was helpful at all. One of the unwanted side-effects of taking Indocin (for those with "normal" pregnancies), is that it can reduce amniotic fluid. It does this primarily by slowing the baby's renal function (kidneys), literally making them urinate less often. Since amniotic fluid is primarily composed of baby's urine, then less urine = less fluid. So for women with normal amounts of amniotic fluid, this side-effect is a dangerous concern. For me, since I already have too much, this side-effect would actually be a desired outcome. Indocin also helps calm contractions, since it's a NSAID drug and relaxes the muscles.

She also wants to give me a fetal fibronectin test (Ffn), to assess my risk for delivering within the next 14days. I had this test done with Gracie, so I'm pretty familiar with it. Ffn is a glyco-protein that is usually only found in the cervix when delivery is immanent. So if we find the proten present (+ result), we know something is much more likely to happen within the next 14 days. Conversely, if we don't find the protein present (- result), we know we have a very good chance of making it at least 14 more days.

The purpose of the test is really to give doctors a better snapshot at the time-frame they are facing, to determine if more intervention is necessary. When I had the test done with Gracie at 33 weeks, it came back positive. At that point I was hospitalized again, and given the steroid injections meant to boost her lungs in preparation for an early delivery. As it turned out, she was in fact born roughly 2 weeks later.

Dr. Mann was unable to obtain the Ffn sample today at my appointment, because she had already completed a vaginal ultrasound, and by doing so had compromised the "sterile environment". Eww. Because of this, she's calling my super-fab OB, Dr. Garcia, who I'm already scheduled to see this Friday, and asking him to collect the sample and run the test at that time.

Soooo .... until then I'm still stuck here in bed, praying for a negative result on Friday so we can relax a bit.