Incompetent Cervix - stitch/cerclage - threatened labour

[WTBmyBFP]

Baby Faith--congratulations on your pregnancy and for making it so far. It is amazing what the body can tolerate as far as cerclage, bedrest, and keeping babies cooking. I had mine placed at 23 and 2 days and am somehow still holding strong at 32 and 3 days with triplets.


Try to keep your chin up and stick to the medications as prescribed. Some folks don't believe bedrest works but I disagree. I've been on hospital bedrest for 9 weeks now, and it is trying but my motto is "whatever it takes." Find what works for you!!

 

[baby_maybe]

Welcome baby faith :wave: I'm sorry for your previous losses I'm currently on my 5th pregnancy, 4th with a suture in. My first pregnancy ended at 24 weeks due to the incompetent cervix I didn't know I had. I've never been out on bed rest myself, but am ever aware that I may end up on it in the future. You're already almost at the milestone of 24 weeks and 28 weeks won't be that far behind at which point you can breathe a little sigh of relief

Wtb - I can't believe you're still hanging in there, have your docs got any plans for a csection in the near future?

 

[WTBmyBFP]

Nope. The girls are going to just keep jerking me around. can't rush babies, evidently!

 

[baby_maybe]

I only asked because there was a girl expecting triplets on another thread I was on, no complications as far as I know and her section was scheduled for 34 weeks. She is expecting 3 girls and I'm waiting for a post from her to say she's had them

 

[WTBmyBFP]

Too fun!

 

[AmyLouise89]

Hi ladies - I am back but all of us have had a vile stomach bug which is
picking us off one by one

Rather than go back through all the pages I have missed, please feel free to post questions again if there's anything you need me specifically to give my thoughts on Missed you all and I hope everyone is still cooking and reasonabley stable

AmyL - Ich had a similar issue early on in her pregnancy but it was solved with some medication darlin. If there's a healthy heartbeat then the chances are good for your little bean, if the low progesterone is inherent in you then the meds should support it and fix the problem. Good luck honey xxx

Found out I'm not dehydrated. Just a side effect from progesterone. So you have heard of progesterone levels as low as 4.9 improving with premetrium? He has me on 200mg twice a day & also 300mg of clindamycin 4 times a day for the infection. It's so hard not to be scared & I'm cramping some but not sure if it's cause of that or cause of being so constipated. No bleeding so far luckily. I'm thinking if my levels were at 4.9 at 6 weeks & i haven't miscarried yet (i'm now 7 weeks 3 days) then maybe my levels went up? Guess we will find out next friday..seems like forever away though.

 

[ShelbyLC]

Hello, ladies. I'm not sure if I belong here as I haven't had a cerclage placed, though i was evaluated for one and it was determined that it would be too risky for me. I am currently on hospital bedrest with an extremely short cervix (measuring 0.7cm as of this morning) and at risk for preterm labor. I'm not sure where else to go to talk to other people in my position, or in a position similar to mine, so I hope it's okay that I'm here.

Just some quick background: this is my first pregnancy and I am carrying identical twin girls. Around 16 weeks I began feeling odd pressure low on my bump and I assumed it was normal and probably from movement of the babies. At 18 weeks it was discovered that I had some funnelling and shortening of the cervix. At the time, my cervix was measuring 2.2cm. I went back two days later at 18+2 to recheck and things looked much better at 3.2cm.

All was well until 20 weeks when I went for another cervical check and I was once again measuring 2.2cm. I was sent straight to the hospital to be evaluated for a cerclage. While I was there, I was told that the odd pressure I'd been feeling was in fact contractions. I was in the hospital for a week, during which time my contractions got more regular and my cervix jumped between 1.8cm and 2.7cm. It was determined that the cerclage was not a good idea because of the contractions and it is now no longer an option. I was sent home at 20+6 on Procardia to prevent contractions and strict bedrest. At 21+1 i was measured again and found to be stable around 2.6cm.

Well, yesterday I went for another check and my cervix was measuring 0.9cm. I am now back in the hospital and I've been told to expect an extended stay of 2+ weeks, possibly longer if they think I need to stay. I got my first dose of steroids yesterday and I'll get a second shot tomorrow. I've already been seen by two consultants about NICU procedures and to discuss my preferences for birth. I'm not currently having contractions on a regular basis, but I do have regular "irritation" tightenings.

I don't really know what to expect from here and I guess it's all up to my body.

Anyway, I hope I can either join you all here or get pointed in the direction of somewhere more fitting. I'm just hoping to find someone to talk to that understands what I'm going through and I'm not sure where to go to find that.

Thanks for reading and good luck to all of you

 

[Agiboma]

Shelby your strory sounds somewhat similar to mine i dont want to scare you but i was in the hospital also because of my short cervix and preeclamsia, ended up delivering my son @ 25 weeks, due to my secund stitch failing. good luck i hope you LO's keep baking for a while longer.

 

[lch28]

AmyLouise89 my progesterone at 6 weeks was a 6. I was immediately put on progesterone suppositories and here i am , 21 weeks tomorrow. Once you see a hb chances are everything will be just fine hun!

welcome baby faith, sorry for your losses and congrats on your pregnancy. I am now 20 weeks and I lost my daughter in February at 23.

shelby welcome to the thread hun.. good luck for u and LO's

 

[DMJ]

Thank you for the replys ... After resting all night in bed they eventually stopped and all seems ok this morning.
Have been to midwife and iv got a urine infection which I never knew I had as iv not had any problems passing urine :-/ but she said that's not always a symptom. I'm now on antibiotics for that.
Also iv been told to have the flu jab .. Anyone else had this whilst pregnant?

Xx

 

[lch28]

ive had no symptoms with uti's as well hun. i hope u feel better

curri i also love your avatar!

lizzie i have a question and anyone .. my cervix stayed the same length as last week! actually 2.7 cm. i am still on bed rest, but the doctor said everything looks great and he is very confident about my pregnancy. feel like i can relax a tiny bit.

weird thing though.. they said i dont need to get it checked again until 28 weeks. do you think i should request it checked sooner? he said if i was getting ready for labor it would have shortened significantly in the past week and it didnt. i just feel like id rather know exactly whats going on

 

[ShelbyLC]

I had my second shot of steroids today and finished a 48 hour course of Ibuprofen. I had a lot of discomfort/tightening during the early hours of the morning but by the time they put me on the toco (2pm) I wasn't feeling much. There was one spot that looked like a real contraction and the rest of my print-out showed just irritation. When I was admitted on Wednesday I was taken off the Procardia, which I'd been on for almost two weeks...Before I was taken off of that, I wasn't having any regular irritations - only when I did too much moving around. But I guess the doctors know what they're doing.

Tomorrow I'm getting a dose (course? bag?) of Magnesium. I don't really know what to expect, but I've heard the side effects are awful. I'll apparently be moved to an observation room while I recieve the Mag. I don't know how long I have to stay there. None of the doctors have really told me much.



lch - That does seem like kind of a long time to me, but maybe because you have a stitch they aren't worried about much happening? I'm sure if you start feeling like something's not right, they'll check you right away.

 

[lch28]

yes they told me if i feel pressure, any increase in discharge or cramping , just very uncomfortable to come in. what is the magneisum do hun?

 

[ShelbyLC]

yes they told me if i feel pressure, any increase in discharge or cramping , just very uncomfortable to come in. what is the magneisum do hun?

It's supposed to stop contractions. I'm not sure how well it works - from what I've read about it, it sounds like it's used mostly in short-term situations. It's also supposed to have some pretty nasty side effects (such as nausea, vomiting, headache, muscle weakness, and a lot of women complain of feeling overheated while on it). I guess it's worth a try, though, if the doctors think it could help.

 

[WTBmyBFP]

Shelby, it isn't the same for everyone. But I HATE magnesium. It is like having the worst flu of your life with another flu on top of it. I couldn't keep ice down, and I felt so hot I seriously laid around with my gown open and cold washcloths but none of it made a difference. I was also achey and had a horrible headache. My vision was aweful, as in double vision. It relaxes all soft muscles so it can make it hard to breathe and even your eyelids won't really bother to stay open.

Now mind you, I'm super sensitive to medications and had about every side effect in the book. The good news is they rarely will keep you on it more than 48 hours. For me it didn't control contractions, but cleared my receptors allowing my body respond again to terbutaline.


I hope it is better for you; several of the girls refer to it as "devil juice," but it serves a good purpose. It also helps protect babies from neurological problems!

 

[ShelbyLC]

I've taken in a lot of information over the last few days, so I may be wrong, but I want to say I was told I'd be on it for 12 hours. I'm not sure, though; like I said, too much info in too little time with not enough time to ask questions.

 

[WTBmyBFP]

I will pray it is just 12 hours. I've been on it two separate times. Once just over 48 hours at the highest allowable dose, and another at a much lower dose for 20 hours. 12 isn't bad, but at 11 hours and 59 minutes you may be asking "where is my nurse?? Turn this thing off."

Did they tell you you would have a Foley catheter? It is pretty normal to do because it becomes very hard to move. They may also make you use a bedpan for the other stuff. I have a mental block against bedpans so I had them bring a portable potty which I, luckily, only had to use once.

 

[ShelbyLC]

I haven't been told much of anything, honestly. When I was admitted, my doctor mentioned that she wanted to try the mag, but I haven't seen her since then. I've only seen whatever doctor has been on call during the day. Which, so far, during the two days I've been here, has been two different doctors. Each time, they spent less than a minute in the room, basically asked "How are you feeling? Any changes?" and then they get out as if the place is on fire. I always get flustered when they're here because this is a teaching hospital and they are always accompanied by 2-4 other people.

The shift change for nurses just happened, so I should be seeing my nurse soon when she comes around to check things. I'll have to ask if she knows what normally happens and what I can expect. At least the nurses are happy to stick around and talk me through things.

 

[Katece]

The one good thing about mag is it gives you a lovely glow. I love the pics of me on mag, in Trendelenburg. Never had such a rosy glow!

But I'm just being silly. In other news, I had a referral appointment to the doctor who I thought would do a transabdominal cerclage for me, for my next pregnancy.

My MFM doesn't do them, so she referred me to another doc who does. I thought the discussion we would have was just whether he would do it for me now (pre-pregnancy) or wait until I was pregnant again. It blew me away that he actually advocated the "wait and see" approach about whether I would need a cerclage at all!

Is he out of his mind? I've already lost one child to the wait and see approach! I'm getting my cervix LOCKED DOWN next time around. The good thing is he helped to resolve any ambivalence I had about getting a transabdominal cerclage before pregnancy. I simply don't trust my caregivers enough that they would be aggressive enough to save my next baby. I begged for a cerclage as I was funnelling and shortening around 2.9 cm this last time around, and didn't get one until a week later when my cervix was .8 cm. If I get a cerclage in advance, then I won't have to worry about being denied again!

 

[Alisa F]

Shelby - sorry to hear you're going through this. It sounds like docs are doing everything humanly possible to keep your bubbas cooking longer and will be prepared to look after them if they arrive very early. Keeping everything crossed for you x