# Weak/Incompetent Cervix



## tcinks

I am trying to find other women who have lost babies because of this. It happened to me three days ago. :cry: Looking for support and encouragement, and hope that there are ways to have a healthy pregnancy after this.

I'd love to hear your stories.


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## Andypanda6570

:hugs::hugs::hugs::hugs::hugs::hugs::hugs:I haven't been through Weak/Incompetent Cervix,but I wanted to say i am so deeply sorry for your loss.. It is just devastating :cry: I lost my Ava at 22 weeks, I gave birth in my home.. She passed on 3-3-2011 and it still aches in my soul, but it has gotten better , thank God.. Hope you get some answers to your questions, sorry i couldn't be of more help... 
XoooXO <3 :hugs::hugs::hugs:


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## yellowyamyam

tcinks said:


> I am trying to find other women who have lost babies because of this. It happened to me three days ago. :cry: Looking for support and encouragement, and hope that there are ways to have a healthy pregnancy after this.
> 
> I'd love to hear your stories.

I've lost my baby son at 16wks5days and daughter at 12wks5days due to incompetent cervix. I had a TVC done at 12wks with my daughter but only to lose her 5 days later. We did post mortem on her and that was how we found out her gender.

Feel free to ask me any questions.


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## tcinks

Thanks for your response! And sorry for your losses. :(
Are you trying again?

What is a tvc? Like a cerclage, sewing your cervix closed? And it didn't even work, I'm so so sorry.

Since it was my first, they didn't exactly declare it an incompetent cervix. They plan to monitor me closely though if/when I get pregnant again.

Did you have any signs or symptoms? When I think back to a few days before it happened, I always wonder if these were signs I should have talked to my doctor about and if it would've changed anything. :/ But they assure me there was nothing I could have done. I started having contractions on a Tuesday afternoon and my baby came Wednesday night. It was so sudden. I didn't even realize they were contractions, I just thought bad cramps. Earlier in the day I had a sonogram done and saw his heart beating strong and he looked healthy and beautiful. And then just a few hours later he was gone. :(


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## tcinks

*bump*


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## yellowyamyam

Hi,

For my first baby, I had no pain. Earlier on the day, just like you... I heard his heartbeat for the first time and the midwife said it was strong. I asked her about the backache I had for about a week and she said to take paracetamol if it gets unbearable. That was it.

4 hours later, while sitting down while waiting for dinner to heat up, *pop*! I was home alone because my hubby had his work christmas do that night. Cut story short, I rang 999 and ambulance came about 40 minutes later. Baby was out before they arrived. But because placenta was still stuck in me, I was taken to the hospital and admitted for 2 nights.

Saw the consultant a few weeks later and he said "chicken & egg" situation. Either the miscarriage happened to due incompetent cervix or bacteria infection the cervix caused it to open. Anyhow, next pregnancy he said TVC (vaginal cerclage) is most likely needed and I got it because when I was 8 weeks pregnant with my 2nd one, my cervix was measured at 1.8cm. When they did my TVC at 12 weeks, I was already 1.5cm with slight funneling. 

The consultant said for baby #3, he would advice for the wait and see approach. He suspected perhaps it was the surgery that introduced bacteria which caused the cervix to weaken further. I couldn't accept that. I went against his advice and sought out 2nd opinion. I read about transabdominal cerclage and only a few drs in London do that. Lucky for me, the dr agreed and said I definitely need some kind of cerclage and best to do it pre-pregnancy. I did it. 

But because of the miscarriages, I wasn't ready to be pregnant again so we took 2 years off and now, I am 6 weeks pregnant with new hope. I am putting myself on bedrest, so to speak. I stopped my work and have been in bed as much as I possibly can for a 5 days now. I'm just paranoid. The cerclage is suppose to give women with incompetent cervix chance to live like normal, but yeah... I'm paranoid. My husband agrees I'm paranoid but he knows he can't talk me out of it. :)

TVC does work. It has about 80-90% success rate. I was given 95% success rate with TVC plus antibiotics and progesterone suppositories but unfortunately, I fell into the 5%. So don't brush off TVC if your dr suggests it. How many weeks pregnant were you? I must say a lot of women with incompetent cervix suffer from water bag broke before any pain comes. Gravity is our enemy. Depending on how weak your cervix is, really. Mine was further damaged when baby #2 tore through my stitch when I lost her. 

Hope you are getting on okay.


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## tcinks

Oh I'm so glad you are pregnant again and have hope! I'm sure that if/when I am, I will be just as paranoid as you! :) Did you quit your job altogether or just took time off? I actually decided to quit mine because my recovery has been so unpredictable, and in preparation for getting pregnant again, I want to be as cautious as possible.

_*"Saw the consultant a few weeks later and he said "chicken & egg" situation. Either the miscarriage happened to due incompetent cervix or bacteria infection the cervix caused it to open. "*_

That's where I'm at too. I found out last week that there was an infection, but don't know which came first. :/ My ob will monitor my cervix next time. I'm so scared to have a cerclage though. I know they have a pretty high success rate, but also can cause more problems. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it!


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## tcinks

Anyone else go through this?


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## xMissxZoiex

I have a IC cervix and lost my little boy at 18 weeks and my waters passed through my cervix into my vagina and it was 2 days before my son died and was born.

I'm currently pregnant and had a preventative cerclage (shirodkar) put in a 14 weeks I'm currently 16+2 (tickers wrong) and things seem to be going well. But as I'm approaching the point at which I lost my baby boy I'm starting to get nervous and freaking out a little. But keeping everything crossed that I'll get to term with this one.


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## tcinks

Sorry for your loss Miss Zoie :( But so glad you're pregnant again and have hope!

I'm just so confused! I've seen quite a few different medical professionals and they ask have different thoughts. Some think definite incompetent cervix, others say very unlikely. I have another appointment next week, this time with a perinatologist. Hopefully she can give better insight.

One big there seems to be debate about with incompetent cervix is contractions...Some say it happens without any, but I had contractions for about a day and a half until the baby came. Anyone else have this? Or did your waters just break?


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## xMissxZoiex

I had the same people telling me it was 100% IC and others saying as I had no cervical trauma it was extremely rare and very very unlikely, the doctor that fitted my cerclage gave me the choice I either went ahead with a planned preventative cerclage or I can wait and see how my cervix copes and if it is IC hope we catch it in time for a rescue cerclage.

With my loss my waters never broke at all my son was born in his sack and all was intact, my waters had passed into my vagina (6 cms of sac and waters was intact in my vagina) by the time I had gotten to the hospital. No pain at all not even a single cramp! My second day in hospital I started getting some pains which the nurse said were contractions and this was happening because my body was trying to go into labour because of the strain. The next day I had a scan and it showed my son had died so the put some little tablets into my vagina and I started having strong contractions very quickly and he was born 45mins later.

It's not the same for everyone. :hugs:

I'm currently 18w1d pregnant (a day further than i got to with my first baby boy) and everything is going really well baby is healthy and the stitch seems to be doing its job perfectly. X


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## LilFooshFoosh

My story is here: https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/second-trimester-losses/2147363-our-sweet-angel.html

In my hospital release papers it was written as incompetent cervix but the post-mortem showed I had chronic inflamation and that there was an infection in the placenta & membranes (chorioamnionitis). No one can say for sure what happened, I was also given the chicken and the egg metaphor.

When I got pregnant again my OB said he could do a preventative cerclage or if I wanted he could refer me to a Maternal Fetal Medicine clinic for high risk pregnancies. I opted for the MFM. OB gave me progesterone suppositories until 13 weeks which is when I was able to have my first MFM appointment. We discussed everything with the high risk doctors and decided the best course of action for us was weekly monitoring (my cervix was over 4 cms long at that point and very stable), no cerclage. I was moved to bi-weekly appointments at 22 weeks (my loss was at 17w2d if you didn't read the link). My cervix stayed stable at just over 4 cms the whole time. I am being released back to my OB for the remainder of the pregnancy (Jan 8th is my appointment with him) because after 28 weeks cervical length is supposed to shorten and it gives them no further benefit to continue checking it. My "graduation" from the clinic is on Dec. 23rd, I will be 27w2d.

:hugs:


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## ems1981

I lost my twin girls 2 weeks ago by going into premature labour. I started getting cramps around 7pm one night and as they got worse we decided to head to the hospital. By the time we arrived and they did an internal I was dilated and the membranes were bulging. I was told nothing could be done to save my girls and we had to deliver them knowing that they wouldn't survive - the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Still waiting for the results from the placenta to see if there was infection etc. I remember having some pressure down below about 3 days before the cramps started so I wonder if I had started to dilate then and only realised once the contractions started. We'd like to try again in future but I'm just so very scared that this will happen again


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