Incompetent Cervix - stitch/cerclage - threatened labour

[mum2rugrats]

Bellezza I'm also not great with lengths, but agree that it's shortened very quickly, the problem with incompetent cervix is it can show no signs to the pregnant mummy until its shortened and funnelled to much. I'd be tempted to do bed rest, hopefully lizzie will be on soon to answer better for you she is a god send xxx

 

[sunnylove]

I tried to read some of the past posts to catch up, but there are so many pages that I gave up.

I'm 22 weeks with my first baby. I had a routine ultrasound at 21 weeks and everything looked good except that baby and an echogenic focus on her heart, so they sent me to a high-risk doctor for a more detailed scan to rule out any heart defects. I had that scan yesterday at 22 weeks. The baby looked very good and was measuring perfectly, so they told me not to worry about the echogenic focus because they are fairly common... BUT I was told that they were a bit concerned because my cervix was only 2cm long. I asked them what it was at my 21 week ultrasound so they looked through the papers and said that it was 4.7cm a week earlier.... now, perhaps I'm being naive, but it seemed awfully strange to me that my cervix would go from 4.7cm to 2cm in one week. And if it wasn't for the echogenic focus, I would have never even been sent to another ultrasound so I would have just gone on with my pregnancy as usual.

I haven't had any bleeding or cramps, there is no history of preterm labor in my family, and I guess I'm just skeptical that they didn't just mis-measure yesterday. But anyway, the doctor put me on progesterone and scheduled me for weekly appointments to go back in and get my cervical length checked.

So here's my question... have any of you ever hear of a cervix fluctuating that much in one week? Should I be nervous that it actually did shorten that much so quickly?

I wasn't told to go on bed rest or anything like that, but I was told that they didn't advise I go to Maryland for a training course that I'm signed up to take in 2.5 weeks. He said the class wasn't what worried him, it was the flight... he was worried the pressure would cause me to go into labor. I'll be 24.5 weeks by then.

Thoughts, advice, or even just prayers are requested.

Did they measure your cervix the same way each time? They can measure it abdominally via ultrasound, or transvaginally. The former is not at all accurate, so that could explain the gap in measurements.

 

[geordiemammy]

Reggie one week today

He is gorgeous x

 

[jadey_fae]

I tried to read some of the past posts to catch up, but there are so many pages that I gave up.

I'm 22 weeks with my first baby. I had a routine ultrasound at 21 weeks and everything looked good except that baby and an echogenic focus on her heart, so they sent me to a high-risk doctor for a more detailed scan to rule out any heart defects. I had that scan yesterday at 22 weeks. The baby looked very good and was measuring perfectly, so they told me not to worry about the echogenic focus because they are fairly common... BUT I was told that they were a bit concerned because my cervix was only 2cm long. I asked them what it was at my 21 week ultrasound so they looked through the papers and said that it was 4.7cm a week earlier.... now, perhaps I'm being naive, but it seemed awfully strange to me that my cervix would go from 4.7cm to 2cm in one week. And if it wasn't for the echogenic focus, I would have never even been sent to another ultrasound so I would have just gone on with my pregnancy as usual.

I haven't had any bleeding or cramps, there is no history of preterm labor in my family, and I guess I'm just skeptical that they didn't just mis-measure yesterday. But anyway, the doctor put me on progesterone and scheduled me for weekly appointments to go back in and get my cervical length checked.

So here's my question... have any of you ever hear of a cervix fluctuating that much in one week? Should I be nervous that it actually did shorten that much so quickly?

I wasn't told to go on bed rest or anything like that, but I was told that they didn't advise I go to Maryland for a training course that I'm signed up to take in 2.5 weeks. He said the class wasn't what worried him, it was the flight... he was worried the pressure would cause me to go into labor. I'll be 24.5 weeks by then.

Thoughts, advice, or even just prayers are requested.

Hiya. That is a big variance. It could happen but?
If the scans u had were done abdominaly they wouldn't have been accurate for assessing cervical length, The only way to measure cervical length is a trans vaginal scan.

 

[DAYDAY24]

Hey everyone hope u all are doing well . Congratz to all those who had their lil angels so happy for you. Sorry havent been on real busy with my two but read a lot of the post just too tired to comment but u ladies are in my thoughts.

 

[Twinkle 3]

Jadey cobgratulations on the birth of zachery
Hope your both doing well.hes gorgeous.

shanny little reggie is so cute bless him. i really love his name!

How do you attach photos ?

 

[shanny]

took me a while have to go advanced post and use the attachment thing like an e mail x

hows alfie?

 

[TLM21]

hello everyone

ok let's see if I was able to finally add a picture of Diego.after 11 weeks



Diego with his grandfather


my magic shirt has to be close to.him when I leave for work, lol

thanks shanny for the instructions on how to.add pictures
hope everybody is doing well. hugs
xx

 

[mum2rugrats]

this my stitch success Alfie at 21 months old

 

[Srrme]

Popping in for a moment in hopes of some advice!

Did you girls with IC have it through all of your pregnancies? I have a history of preterm labor (28.6 weeks and 35 weeks) and had bi-weekly cervical scans during my last pregnancy that showed my cervix was a good length and not shortening. This time around I had my cervix measured during my 18 week ultrasound to measure baby (abdominal, not vaginal) and it measured only 2.8 cm. I am having another scan next Friday because the technician was new and my Doctor said she could have measured it wrong. I am hoping that is the case, but I don't know.

 

[geordiemammy]

Ask for an internal scan not an abdominal one x

 

[bellezzajess]

Hi again. For those of you who asked, both scans (4.7cm t 21 weeks and 2cm at 22 weeks) were done transvaginally, but by different techs at different offices.

 

[katyb1982]

Popping in for a moment in hopes of some advice!

Did you girls with IC have it through all of your pregnancies? I have a history of preterm labor (28.6 weeks and 35 weeks) and had bi-weekly cervical scans during my last pregnancy that showed my cervix was a good length and not shortening. This time around I had my cervix measured during my 18 week ultrasound to measure baby (abdominal, not vaginal) and it measured only 2.8 cm. I am having another scan next Friday because the technician was new and my Doctor said she could have measured it wrong. I am hoping that is the case, but I don't know.

Hi, I could be wrong but I think that 28/35w is late for IC. In my first pregnancy I had my twin boys, who sadly died when they were tiny, at 24w and was told that was quite late for IC. This pregnancy I was monitored as they weren't sure IC was the problem. My cervix was normal until 20w when it started to shorten a bit. (2.6cm) then it shortened significantly at 23w when I had my stitch put in. Again I was told that this was pretty late and that they didn't normally Put in stitches after 24w. Fast forward almost 10w and I am almost 33w pregnant, again with twins.

If I was you I'd maybe ask for another scan at say 21w to look for changes but 2.8cm is more the short end of normal than anything diagnostic so I wouldn't stress too much! Kx

 

[sunnylove]

Popping in for a moment in hopes of some advice!

Did you girls with IC have it through all of your pregnancies? I have a history of preterm labor (28.6 weeks and 35 weeks) and had bi-weekly cervical scans during my last pregnancy that showed my cervix was a good length and not shortening. This time around I had my cervix measured during my 18 week ultrasound to measure baby (abdominal, not vaginal) and it measured only 2.8 cm. I am having another scan next Friday because the technician was new and my Doctor said she could have measured it wrong. I am hoping that is the case, but I don't know.

Yes, once you have IC, it is typically always recurrent in all subsequent pregnancies. But even though you had two preemies, it sounds like your cervix was a nice length with them, so IC wouldn't be the culprit. I would say 2.8cm at 18 weeks can be somewhat typical for third pregnancies. But I would definitely continue getting cervical scans to see how things are progressing! However, that 2.8 reading probably was not accurate if measured abdominally.

Hi again. For those of you who asked, both scans (4.7cm t 21 weeks and 2cm at 22 weeks) were done transvaginally, but by different techs at different offices.

I would definitely get another measurement as soon as possible. If those were accurate measurements, that is drastic cervical change, and I'm unsure why the doctor didn't find that worth following up on asap. However, losing 2.7cm of cervix within one week does seem highly unlikely!

 

[Srrme]

Thanks, girls! You guys have made me feel a little bit better about the situation. I will try and request a trans-vaginal scan to get a more accurate measurement on Friday.

 

[bellezzajess]

Had my cervix measured again today... it lengthened a little bit and is now 2.3-2.5cm. No funneling or dilating. So now I just have to take it easy, refrain from standing/walking for too long, and I need to work from home about 50% of the time for the next couple weeks at least until I reach viability. I'm still on progesterone suppositories, so hopefully they will help either lengthen it more or at least keep it steady. I go back on Friday for another check.

 

[katyb1982]

Had my cervix measured again today... it lengthened a little bit and is now 2.3-2.5cm. No funneling or dilating. So now I just have to take it easy, refrain from standing/walking for too long, and I need to work from home about 50% of the time for the next couple weeks at least until I reach viability. I'm still on progesterone suppositories, so hopefully they will help either lengthen it more or at least keep it steady. I go back on Friday for another check.

Hey hun if it goes down much more I would ask about having a stitch as they don't seem to routinely do them after 24w. My cervical length was 2.6cm with no funelling at 20w and dynamic tunnelling between 2.3 and 1.3cm at 23w when they put the stitch in. I know there is a risk involved but I'm now 33w with twins who weigh about 5lb each so I'm glad I had it done. Also on progesterone which seems to keep giving me thrush.. just a heads up

 

[bellezzajess]

Hey hun if it goes down much more I would ask about having a stitch as they don't seem to routinely do them after 24w. My cervical length was 2.6cm with no funelling at 20w and dynamic tunnelling between 2.3 and 1.3cm at 23w when they put the stitch in. I know there is a risk involved but I'm now 33w with twins who weigh about 5lb each so I'm glad I had it done. Also on progesterone which seems to keep giving me thrush.. just a heads up

Thanks for the advice. My doctor mentioned putting in the stitch if it got any worse but he wanted to wait a bit longer and see how the progesterone does on its own. What did your doctor have you do between 20 and 23 weeks? Were you taking progesterone, put on bed rest, etc? Or just taking it easy?

 

[katyb1982]

Hey hun if it goes down much more I would ask about having a stitch as they don't seem to routinely do them after 24w. My cervical length was 2.6cm with no funelling at 20w and dynamic tunnelling between 2.3 and 1.3cm at 23w when they put the stitch in. I know there is a risk involved but I'm now 33w with twins who weigh about 5lb each so I'm glad I had it done. Also on progesterone which seems to keep giving me thrush.. just a heads up

Thanks for the advice. My doctor mentioned putting in the stitch if it got any worse but he wanted to wait a bit longer and see how the progesterone does on its own. What did your doctor have you do between 20 and 23 weeks? Were you taking progesterone, put on bed rest, etc? Or just taking it easy?

Hey, I finished work and just took it easy. Have a job that is quite physical might have been OK just cutting back a bit otherwise. Didn't start the progesterone until I had the stitch placed.
Kx

 

[Twinkle 3]

For the lady that was asking if you can have ic but have late premies then the answer is yes. I had my little girl at 29weeks but didnt think it was ic. then i went on to have a little boy at 22weeks.
The doctors still didnt think i had ic and wanted to monitor me in my 3rd pregnancy but i refused and pushed for a stitch. i had the stitch placed and carried to 38weeks. so proves i had ic all along.

Ic generally happens in the 2nd trimeser but can show in the early 3rd trimester like mine did.
With each pregnancy your cervix gets weaker and also its not as tightly closed once you have had a baby already, so if your problem is ic your babies would be born earlier and earlier, like mine