home from the hospital

So yesterday I was sent home from the hospital. I'm SOOO happy to be sleeping in my own bed, and SOOOO glad that everything seems to be calm and stable.

The emergency cerclage was done on Saturday and because my cervix was only dilating and not really shortening the Dr was able to get the stitch in 2.5 cm up from the bottom of my cervix which he said is really good. They rechecked my cervix on Monday morning it measured 3 cm so it was closed .5 cm above the stitch which the Dr seemed to be pleased with, and then they re-checked it yesterday afternoon one more time before they discharged me, and it was 3.5 cm so EVEN BETTER!!! Hurray!

I am so glad that the stitch seems to be doing it's job and that my cervix has calmed down and decided to behave better.

I've been feeling baby boy moving a lot stronger in the last week and last night was the first time I felt him nudge so strong I felt it with my hand on top of my belly. I thank God every moment he is still safe, and that we made it through this. Now we just hope and pray he stays put long enough.The Dr told me that it is unlikely I'll make it to full term and I should just take every week as a blessing, he went over all of the preemie survival and disability stats with me too. Right now I'd be ok with him going to the NICU as long as he comes home happy and healthy, I just hope he doesn't have to.

The only thing that is still a bit of a worry is that my C reactive protein (indicates inflammation) is still too high. The Dr almost kept me in the hospital longer because of it, but since everything else looks good and I haven't shown ANY signs of infection since arrival, and since I'd had zero contractions since entering the hospital he decided to send me home on an anti-inflammatory pill twice a day for a week and then once a day for a week and we'll see how I do.

They sent me home on complete bedrest, only up for bathroom and one short shower a day. It's gonna be hard because my bones are already stiff and sore from the last 4 days, but I'll do it. I've been trying to move around my feet and legs and arms when I can to keep blood flowing but it's my back that is sore.

My next appointment is this Friday, they will check my cervix again and give me my progesterone shot. I'll be seeing the Dr once a week for the next bit until they decide I have stabilized.

For some reason I just have this feeling like everything is going to be ok, and that I'm going to hold this baby in my arms alive and healthy. I hope that my hope and optimism transfer to the little one and do some good. One thing I can say is this one is a fighter! He is so active and took no trouble from anyone. He gave everyone a hard time at the hospital, every time the nurses tried to find his heartbeat they had to chase him, cause he was running around all over my belly playing hide and seek, and even the ultrasound techs were having to chase him. The other REALLY funny thing is that after the tech told us he was a boy, a few minutes later the tech started laughing and when we asked why he said because the baby was playing with his boy parts, he zoomed in and there he was holding onto it like it was a joystick lol. I think I'm going to have a real goofball on my hands and I can't wait to meet him.

We also gave him his official name a few days ago. It is a bit of a tribute to Gabriel. It starts with a G too and it is one of the names we were seriously considering for Gabriel until he became our Angel baby and then we really wanted him to have an angel name. So Teddy Graham's official name is Griffin :) We really like it. A griffin is a mythological creature that is part lion (king of the forest = courage) and part eagle (king of the air = speed) we thought it was SOOO fitting. We haven't decided totally on spelling yet but we'll work it out soon enough.

Thanks again for the support and prayers, I'll be sure to keep the blog updated on our progress.