The Rollercoaster

We were coasting along just fabulously the last few weeks, I'm feeling fantastic and our last two ultrasounds showed nothing out of the ordinary. I love my new job and things there are going great as well. Yesterday was our third bi-weekly ultrasound to check cervical length. My OB started me on progesterone at 12 weeks and has been monitoring me closely to ensure that it was working to keep my cervix closed. After checking on the baby, confirming (again) that she is most definitely a girl and watching her suck her fingers (a habit that is so adorable but will surely be hard to break!) it was time to get measurements. That's when the floor fell out and the ride went into a free fall. I knew immediately that it wasn't good, as I've become somewhat of a cervical length expert in the past few weeks. When I saw 1.4cm on the screen and the look on the tech's face I nearly had a breakdown right then and there. She then put some pressure on my stomach and sure enough, cervix opened up. She reassured us that this is the reason we were there to begin with, to stay ahead of these types of hiccups, but as she went to get the doctor, Brett and I started to panic. The doctor took a look and confirmed it was somewhere around 2cm and shortened under pressure and said she'd be calling a perinatologist, who was a very good friend of hers, right a way. She sent me home for complete bed rest until further notice. The thought of months of bed rest completely overwhelmed me...what about work? Who would take care of my kids? My house is a disaster, I need to go grocery shopping, etc, etc.
My family and friends immediately rallied and assured me we would get through it. This morning we met with the perinatologist for the first time, he was so gracious and fit us in with less than 24 hours notice. He took a very detailed history, discussed some of the potential options and then we spent nearly an hour in ultrasound. After checking baby head to toe, getting a good look at all her organs and limbs, they took multiple cervical length measurements. The combined average ended up being close to 2.5cm rather than the original 1.4 we thought we were looking at yesterday. However that is still not in the normal range and was cause for concern, especially since I am already taking progesterone and it was a substantial change from two weeks ago. Ultimately Dr. Huls gave us the option to keep on progesterone and modified bed rest for a couple weeks and continue monitoring or to do a cerclage immediately. We didn't have to think long, as the idea of doing nothing and just waiting it out seemed like too much to bear.
We are currently waiting for the hospital to call and schedule the procedure, but will have it done by the end of the week. In the mean time (and in the weeks that follow) I will be on modified bed rest and see the perinatologist weekly. I'm extremely grateful to have a team of doctors that has things under control. They are genuinely caring people that understand our wacky, sometimes irrational fears and they truly want to carry us through to a positive outcome.
So for now, I figure out how to "modify" my life, prioritize my time and learn to just stick it out in bed some of the time. We are blessed beyond measure to have the support of so many wonderful people and look forward to sharing our baby girl with you in a few short months.