Did things get better in the morning?

Yes, in a way.  Our perinatologist appeared in the morning, and announced that even though it wasn't yet the magic time of 10 a.m., we were out of the woods for the effectiveness of the betamethasone, so delivery today would be far from tragic.  So we could give birth today with relative confidence, although it still meant time in the NICU.  He pulled Ginger off of the magnesium sulfate because the side effects were now worse than the outcome it was designed to forestall.

However, the cervix hadn't further dilated beyond yesterday's top measurement of 5 cm.  This gave the perinatologist hope that he could switch back to the nifedipine and still control the labor.  The babies would be allowed to "cook" a little bit more, and we could be in for a few more days of bedrest in low-grade labor.  Not fun, but at this point the perinatologist has won our complete confidence.  So we settle in for a long day of watching the monitors to see if the contractions, which were still very tolerable, would subside on the nifedipine or worsen.  Either way, we were okay with the outcome.