Incompetent Cervix - stitch/cerclage - threatened labour

[DAYDAY24]

Alliko so sorry for your situation you are in my prayers your great spirits are wonderful.

 

[DAYDAY24]

Ladies I have placed myself on strict bedrest.no getting up besides bathroom breaks which hubby got me apotter potty thing thats in room. My doc wants me to come in once a week but this week I have anatomy scan at peri office so do you guys think I should go to my regular Ob. I dont know if thats to much walking

 

[wunderful78]

Alliko praying for you there is a group specifically for PROM ( premature rupture of membranes) on https://community.babycenter.com/ some ladies have gone weeks and weeks sadly all cases are not the same but you could find the site useful, I had my first baby at 30weeks and drs wouldn't help me this pregnancy either with the stitch , they refuse to acknowledge IC until you have lost two or more babies , I was right on top of my situation and was lucky enough to get a stitch in time ! I just think its sad doctors think its ok to wait and see , pray for you and your baby , keep well hydrated Hun and don't be scared to put on your bossy pants and fight for your baby

 

[wunderful78]

https://pprom.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/supplement-information/ here's another link alliko , best thing us arm yourself with knowledge

 

[Agiboma]

@Aliko i will truely be thinking of you and wishing you all the best. Wunderful said it best the sadest part is dr waiting for reoccurent losses befor they diagnoise IC, and also to fight for your baby. GL and

 

[mme]

@aliko....I hope you make these next few days and beyond.
Good luck to all you strong ladies

I will not be going into work this week. I have 10 more sleeps until my next scan and I feel more nervous each day. I will rest up but not full bed rest as if I full bed rest I will not know if the bed rest or meds are the reason for my next measurement if it turns out to be the same or better.

 

[Agiboma]

good call mme

 

[Tink_0123]

Welcome to the thread June, mme, and Aliko.

mme, glad dr's are monitoring your cervix at this point. Please have your dr's prescribe some kind of progesterone. It has really helped stabilize my cervix since I have no stitch.

June, yes, the cervix can continue to shorten if no action is taken. Please have your dr. sign u off work and push for a stitch and/or progesterone.
In my case, I had funneling at 17 weeks but CL was well over 3 cm, at 22+6 weeks it went to 1.7, 3 days later at 23+2 it was 1.2 cm and one week later at 24+2 it went to .9 cm. Since I was already 24 weeks, dr's opted to not place a stitch as the cons outweighed the pros at that point, so I was started on vaginal progesterone suppositories, complete bed rest, only allowed to use rest room, quick showers and dr appts every 2 weeks. The bed rest and progesterone have helped me tremendously, just had a scan last week at 28+4 and CL was 1.5 cm. I am to remain on bed rest till 36 weeks, which now doesn't seem too far away. Please take it easy and rest as much as possible.

Aliko, I am very sorry about your previous loss and what you're going through at this time which sadly could've been prevented had dr's acted early on based upon your previous history. As the other ladies have already said, having a leak basically makes it impossible to have a stitch placed as the infection risk is very high and can make your water completely rupture. There have been women who've gone weeks with ruptured membranes and no labour; however, there's only a certain amount of time dr's will leave the baby in there for risk of infection. I do hope that your leak doesn't progress any further and you're able to hold off labour for a few more weeks and give time for dr's to administer the steroids for the baby's lungs. I had steroids administered at 23+6 and 24 weeks (24 hours apart) since my ffn test came back positive and was kept in the hospital 3 days for monitoring.

Please keep a positive outlook, babys born as early as 24 weeks have high survival rate. Please read the preemie section, there are many stories on there of women who have delivered early and their babies have done great. Also, don't hesitate to put ur story on there, the ladies there are very supportive and have a lot of experience with preemies as they've been through this journey themlselves. I wish you the best of luck!!

Wunderful, Happy belated V-day!

Hope, love the belly pic!

Prayer, how are you feeling today?? Hoping better!

Lizzie dear, hope you're doing well.

Penuche, been thinking about you and the twins, please let us know how you're doing.

Baby and Ich, how are you ladies doing? Not much longer to meet your princes'.

Abigoma, hope you're doing good.. When is your c-section being done??

Hope I didn't miss anyone and if I did I'm sorry, hope you're doing well too..

Firehol, so glad Amber did so well and was in the NICU for such a short period of time.

AFM, I'm hanging in here, bed resting as usual lol. Tomorrow is my one year marriage anniversary. Cant do much, but shall celebrate once Audrey is here with us. Hugs n kisses to all

 

[lch28]

Alliko im so sorry for the loss of your son and im so sorry you are in this situation. I lost my daughter at 23 weeks in February of last year. The same thing happened to me, i began to bleed and to my horror was 5cm dilated and my membranes were bulging. I conceived again in May. I ended up finding a new doctor because my old one didnt want to do a stitch. I had a stitch placed at 12 weeks and I am now 36 weeks. I am praying for you sweet heart, you are in my thoughts, Lizzie and many other women have had 24 + weekers and they are now beautiful, healthy children. They will not give steroid shots until you reach 24 weeks. Ask for them the day you are 24 weeks hun. Many women with PPROM make it weeks and weeks before labor hits, and i truly hope this is the case for you.

 

[Prayerfulmom2]

Sorry I've been missing. I have irritable uterus... Not BH and they hurt like the worst menstrual cramps!!!!!! Getting better. I don't know the trigger but I catch naps between the pain... Even in the middle of the day. Hope everyone is alright. I just want to see 30 weeks... Holefully ill be better by then and desire 32 weeks... �� Hope everyone is well. I've been reading but feeling to awful to write...
Welcome everyone new. Word of advice, the issues you have now wont be the issues you have 10 weeks from now when you're all still pregnant! ��Hint hint!
I had an emergency cerclage at 17 weeks I had No cervix and I was funneled! I went from no cervix to 1.2 cm down to .4 at my last. It can be done. Sucks, but its possible. Be encouraged and life with out sciatic pain and contractions lol ahhhh the joys lol
Xox to all
Tink you're holding Holding up well keep it up
Ich, wanna trade due dates? Lol happy for you Hun
Baby maybe almost!
Agiboma... You rock keep it up
Shelby.... You mother of two beautiful twins u! How's it going?
Penuche??????
LizZie the holidays are over. What's up?? Lol miss ya

 

[ShelbyLC]

Prayerful - Sorry you're having so much pain Will Tylenol help any? I mean, I know you don't want to take it all the time, but maybe once a day or once every other day, just to give yourself a few hours of pain-free time? Or does that not work?


And I agree - all of the worry, the pain, the confinement and sacrifices...it's all worth it in the end!


As for me and the girls (thanks for asking!) - we're great! I'm getting used to reading their cues and anticipating their needs and they're getting used to screaming whenever I'm not fast enough I've been trying to find a balance between the NICU way and the Mommy way. The NICU wakes babies for their feeds and for the first few days Tegan was home, I was doing that too, and it was killing me - and she was still hungry after eating because I was only giving her what the NICU said to give her. So now I let them tell me when they're hungry, I give them as much as they want as long as it doesn't make them sick, and we're all a lot happier!

The girls have all of us wrapped around their fingers, including their new biggest fan -

https://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab294/shelabama/IMG_3519small_zpsede3b25a.jpg

 

[Firehol]

Well done shelby. It's great to get them home.

I've struggled with what the hospital does and what I should be doing too. Plus everyone says something different!
Now I am gradually getting there but she's a bit older than urs her gestational is 38 weeks now so starting to treat her more like a newborn. Although she gets away with a lot more than my first did!!

 

[Firehol]

Hi ladies
Only just come across this thread. Its been very emotional reading some of the posts on here.
My story so far.....
Back in 2005 I had pre cancerous cells so had to have laser treatment. The results came back that the cells had in fact already turned into cancer therefore I had to have a cone biopsy. I was 22 at the time and was not ready for children. All I was told is that I would most likely not carry full term maybe around 37 weeks and not too leave it too long to have children. I did not think anything further until I saw a doctor at my 12 week scan. He told me that the 2 operations I had meant that i would need my cervix closely monitoring as its likely I will have the baby early. At 16 weeks I had my first cervical scan and measured at 20.5mm. My second at 20mm, my third at 19mm and on Wednesday just gone was my fourth at 17mm. My third scan was 2weeks before so I basically lost 2mm in 2weeks. My doc decided to start me on cyclogest 200mg once a day in the evenings. I have to go back in 2 weeks for another cervical scan to check the length. I was offered to be signed off work but told the doc I was ok because 1) I don't have a physical job that I only sit in front of a computer and 2) I didn't realise how serious this could be until I looked at this thread. I was told to just take it easy. I have been resting up since then. Now I'm quite worried, I have only just realised how serious this is and I'm scared for my unborn baby that my cervix is not strong enough.

Hi mme
This is a long one!!

Your story sounds pretty much the same as mine. I had the lazering procedure twice as the smears and biopsy showed up glandular cells but when they carried out the procedure first time they didn't find anything so I had it done again and still didn't find anything!!

I had bleeding at 11 weeks and it was thought this could be due to the procedures so they started monitoring my cervix every 2 weeks.

I started off quite normal length and then at week 22 was 20mm and the sonographer didn't report it so at week 24 it was 18mm.

I saw doc straight away who told me they don't put stitches in after 24 weeks (I was 24+1!!! I'm in the UK) she started to tell me I would have my baby early. She'd be happy if I could get to 28 weeks it would be great if I got to 32 but I wouldn't make 36. I was precribed cyclogest progesterone suppositories I opted for 400mg once a day rather than doing 200mg twice a day! I would take rectally at night. She also carried out a Ffn test (fibronectin test which detects if likely to go into labour in next 2 weeks. Negative test is 95% accurate a positive one is not so accurate) mine was negative.

I was told to rest. I got signed off work. Even if you don't do much you want to be lying rather than sitting as much as poss as it is less pressure on cervix. I didn't stay in bed the whole time would also go on the sofa!! But no lifting, cleaning or cooking no walking for more than 5 mins max, try not to bend too much also. It's not easy but if it keeps baby cooking its worth it!! I did start doing a bit more as I progressed in my pregnancy.

When I went back 2 weeks later my cervix had stayed the same. At 28 weeks it had reduced to 17mm. But still the progesterone certainly slowed the shrinking down.
Twinks has actually gained some so they really work.

I then had Ffn tests as they don't carry out cervical scanning after 24 weeks usually as the cervix does naturally start to shrink and in case if infection. At 31 weeks the Ffn test was positive. They gave me the steroid injections just in case.

My waters broke and started trickling out at 32+4. I went into hospital and stayed in being monitored. I was discharged when I was 33+1 as all looked ok. To return in the evening with contractions!!

My daughter was born the next night after 20 hours on labour ward!! She weighed 4lb13oz. She never needed a ventilator and was in NICU for 19 days.

She is now 5 weeks old and weighs 5lb 6oz and doing well.

So mme. REST!! Drink PLENTY of water, Take your suppositories. Stop caffeine. (I was told to and did, dunno if it helped) and good luck!!! Xx

 

[Firehol]

Just a thought for you american ladies as they don't do it in the UK.

If you can get tested for strep B then do! I am a carrier I now found out which is why they think amber may have contracted meningitis. I was given antibiotics anyway as my waters broke days before I gave birth which has hopefully helped her.

I was told if I have anymore I should have antibiotics throughout the labour in case gets passed into baby again. So you might want to check to see if you can get the antis during labour also.

Just a thought. Don't want to worry anyone!!!

 

[Alliko]

Wunderful - thank you so much for the links on PPROM - they have been both extremely helpful and encouraging.

And Tink and Ich, thanks for your great advice, I will definitely ask about steroid shots as soon as I can see the doctor again.

Another new day has arrived, bringing us one day closer to that 24-week milestone. Thanks to all the support and great advice that you ladies are giving me, I'm actually feeling more confident that we will make it until Thursday. I have occasional weird little slightly painful twinges in my belly, which are of course scary, but not anything like labor cramps yet. For now I'm trying to drink as much water as I can and eat oranges for vitamin C and stay focused on happy thoughts. I'll keep you all updated if anything new develops!

 

[lch28]

Hi ladies its five am waters have gone will update asap

 

[baby_maybe]

Morning all, welcome to the new ladies :wave: I don't have any extra advice from what the other ladies have already given, but I am thinking of each and every one of you and praying you reach viability so your babies have the best possible chance

AFM - 34 weeks today Sorry I've not been replying much, I have still been reading and keeping up with everyone though. Just struggling with the weight of all this water on my hips and not sleeping at all well now, which makes for a grumpy me! We have managed to sort a lot of stuff for the baby though, I finally got my (our) bags packed, baby's is completely done and mine just needs some nice comfy underwear and my nursing bras and I'm done His room is nearly done now, the cot is up and the crib is together, just need to get some chest of drawers which I've chosen but not ordered yet and the blind which I'm picking up tomorrow and then it's done The light shade and wall stickers are on order and should be here in a week or so.

I'm so ready to be done and meet this little man nowm although the closer it gets the more nervous I am about some of the complications with having the extra fluid. I know they're rare and my consultant has told me not to worry, but I still have the little niggles at the back of my mind. My stitch removal is 2 weeks tomorrow and I've started really hoping that I go into labour soon afterwards, I don't think I could cope going overdue again!

 

[baby_maybe]

Oooo lch just seen your post, good luck hun

 

[Agiboma]

@shelby the girls are so lovely, when i took my son home i pretty much threw out the NICU routine i let him take the lead and fed him when he wanted to within reason i would not let him go 8 hours without a feeding also gave him as much as he wanted pretty soon he started to cluster feed for those growth spurts and we feel intoour own convernient routine.Its great you are listening to their cues and letting them take the lead.
@tink happy anniversary mommy
@ich congrats on 36 weeks yeah!!!
@prayerful hope the pain subsides
@penuche really thinking about you and the twins

As for me i got my 30 week appointment today gonna have an ultrasound and check for the last time cervix length YEAH!!!dr. says she is gonna take me off teh antibiotics and orgesterone @ 32 weeks.

 

[Agiboma]

OMG Ich i am soooooooo excited for you