Incompetent Cervix - stitch/cerclage - threatened labour

[lovenoel]

I just wanted to update...after having a cervix that measured anywhere from 2.8-2.2cm from 14-30 weeks....here I sit at 38+2, no cerclage, with no signs of labor. I'm 90% effaced but not dilated.

Hope everyone else is doing well!

 

[sprite30]

Oh wow Lovenoel so glad to hear you've made it so far. I'm hoping I can do the same. My mfm seems to think I've had a natural cerclage from scarring and maybe you have the same. I'd be interested to hear how your labor goes. My hospital has a 24 hour rule that if your water breaks and your not making progress within 24 hours they'll just go right to csection but I talked to the mfm already and he said as long as the baby isn't showing signs of distress and no fever is present they'll let me labor as long as they feel like it's going ok. So I really hope the same happens for you. Keep me posted, this is so exciting. I'm 33+2 today and didn't think I'd get this far so fingers crossed I make it full term too. Yay!!!

 

[truthbtold]

Any Cerclage graduates around? Im 36 weeks and my doctor will not schedule a cerclage removal because the baby is breech. Does anyone have any expereince with this. I really dont understand why not. I would rahter go into labor with a breech baby then to go into labor and worry about my stitch distroying my cervix. This is my 4th baby and second cerclage baby.

 

[sprite30]

Lovenoel, just wondering how everything went for you?

 

[Demotivated]

Hello lovely ladies...

I have a question on the IC and short cervix.. At my 19week appointment, my cervix came at 3.2mm. At 12 weeks, it was 4.3... so that is a big drop in 2 months...
My Ob did not seem to be concerned, but after reading literature online, i think 3.2 is low-normal...n with passage of time cervix shortens more... now if at 19wk, i had 3.2, i am worried if i ll have to go for stitch / bed rest etc. (which is nearly impossible for me)..

Really worried here

 

[mpg1502]

Dear Lizzie,

I just wanted to let you know about the safe arrival of our beautiful daughter Annabel. She arrived at 38 weeks and is in perfect health. The Shirodkar stitch held the entire time although it was down to 1cm from 14 weeks.

Thank you again for all your invaluable advice and kind words. You are a godsend to all who visit this thread.

Best wishes

M x

Wow honey that is brilliant news, so so pleased and thanks for letting me know Congratulations to you all, Annabel sounds beautiful.

Did you have her vaginally? Did you go into labour when the stitch came out, or did you have a section and have it removed then? Sorry for all the questions, my mind is reeling with your news and I'm sure your pregnancy success will give everyone here hope

Hi Lizzie,

I can't believe its 4 years now since I started this thread and goodness it's only taken me 18 months to reply to you!

All is well here and Annabel (dd2) is a rather naughty toddler (18 months of course!) but absolutely lovely. It's been a busy time for us moving house and two toddler but loving every moment.

I had Annabel by c-section (again!). Was pretty much an identical pregnancy. I went into labour several times (luckily all were mananged and stopped). Though I did have a repeat near miss at around the 5/6 month mark where we all really thought she would make an arrival (just as previously which is when I started this thread). However this time I was given no medication as the stitch was placed at 14 weeks as a preventative measure (so no emergency stitch).

My new consultant said that had he met me prior to all this he would have suggested a cerclage even before I started trying to get pregnant which would avoided all this. And if I was thinking of having more children he would have left a stitch in for the future. But I think I can safely say that this is my last!

They removed my stitch at 37/38 weeks and performed c-sec and stitch removal at the same time. I went home 20 hours later!

I honestly owe a lot to this thread, more than I can even begin to put into words. Knowledge, as they say, is power and without all your and others help on here I would not have had all the information I needed to get through this. And it helped me greatly with my second, very unexpected second pregnancy. I had the confidence to get whatever help I needed, I knew roughly what to expect and I wasn't frightened or embarassed to ask for more help or demand it on some occasions!

When it is the life of your unborn baby at stake a mothers love knows no bounds. My best advice for anyone on here, is do not ever feel a burden. It is always always better to ask for help or advice, push for it if you have to, demand it from the hospital! For even if it turns out to be a false alarm, it is always far better for you and the baby to have asked and be sent home with reassurance and advice than return without your precious baby.


Thanks again Lizzedripping xxx

 

[Bentleylove]

My first son was born at 26weeks + 6 days. With my second pregnancy I'm experiencing now, they put a cervical stitch in at 13 weeks to reduce the chance of another early delivery. I currently take prometrium - progesterone vaginal capsules twice a day and 8 weeks after the cerclage was placed, I noticed that the stitch was getting closer to the opening of my vagina. I told my doctor and she immediately sent me for an internal ultrasound, this is when they quickly saw that my stitch had moved?
The doctor then took out the stitch and made an appointment for ten days after to see how my cervix is doing. I am preparing myself in case they decide to put another stitch in, but is this my body's way of telling me something? I'm getting quite nervous thinking all this invasiveness might stimulate labour and am trying to research other similar stories but haven't found any where their stitch relocated itself...
Hoping one of you ladies can give some insight, thank you kindly

 

[angiem76]

Hi, I am completely new to this forum and also hoping for some insights for those who have sadly experienced IC.

To provide the history - I had a loop back in 2001 and then had a normal pregnancy with my first son who I had at 40+3 by emergency c section due to malpresentation. I lost my second pregnancy at 11 weeks (cause unknown) followed by ERPC. I lost my third pregnancy earlier this year at 19 weeks due to, what I later found out, was IC/(unknown infection). The emergency stitch failed as I was almost fully dilated by the time I got to hospital.

I am currently 20+5 with my fourth pregnancy. I had an elective cerclage placed at 11 weeks and subsequent (heavy) bleeding for 3 weeks due to possible SCH. The bleeding has now stopped but my swabs have come back positive for BV. I am on Metrodinazole for the BV and Cyclogest suppositories to prevent possible contractions.

I was in complete shock at the consultant appointment as scan showed baby is fine, cervix is 35mm and closed and stitch is in place. I'm panicking that the BV is going to cause me to go into early labour again. If anyone has any experience of the above and has any insight I would be very grateful.

Thanks

 

[Jules2301]

Hello there,

I'm following this thread since january 2013 when we lost our son due to IC. I was 19 weeks 5 days pregnant at the time. I had a complete funneling of the cervix, membranes bulging out and 2 cm opening when I went to the hospital. I had no symptoms that something could be wrong, besides a bit of blood loss.

I have never written anything, because this thread helped me sufficiently to prepare for a new pregnancy, untill now...

At the moment I'm 18w5d pregnant, I got a preventive cerclage at 14 weeks With a double stitch. At my 16 weeks check up everything was great: my cervix was 3,7cm long, and I could continu working until 18 weeks after which I would have to stay at home and take iT easy. Last wednesday I was almost 18 weeks, and in the evening I had a tiny bit of bloodloss so we went to the hospital: baby still very fine, my cervix 3,4cm long, but on the internal Side, we saw a V-funneling. From the V towards the cerclage I still had 1,5 cm of closed cervix left, after the cerclage (so external cervix) still almost 1,5cm left. The cervix stayed closed under pressure, everything looked fine, so we could go home.

On friday I had my biweekly apointment With my gynaecologist and here it began: the previous bloodloss was probably linked to the funneling, so she put me on bedrest: I'm allowed to get up to go to the toilet, take a shower or eat and that's it. Then I got a specialised echo to see what really was happening with my cervix: still 3,4cm in Total, but under pressure my cervix opens in a U-funneling from womb to cerclage. This funneling had a length of 2,1cm. My cerclage is closed, and my external cervix is 1,3cm long and completely closed.

The doctor said I need to rest as much as possible, and it is up to my cerclage to do it's work.

Hubby and I really freaked out with this echo, because I have no complaints, feel good, and to see the cervix change under small pressure is so scary! I'm so scared to do something wrong...

I know this is a long story, but I just wantend to ask -with all the experience on this thread - for succes stories in cases like mine: still long cervix but with funneling to the cerclage... I have a long time of bedrest ahead and succes stories are very welcome!!!

Love,
Kat mom of Jules*

 

[Demotivated]

Jules,

stay positive.. as positive as you can..i have a short cervix myself and i am living in the constant fear of getting rusehd to the hospital and losing my lil one..

Keep holding onto your hope... hugssss

 

[honeyprayer]

Jules - my cervix was also funneled to the stitch. I had an emergency cerclage put in place at 20 weeks and was also put on bedrest for the remainder of my pregnancy. I had ultrasounds weekly or bi-weekly to measure cervical length and to check on baby. My cervical length varied from 1.2-2.1cm of closed cervix but I'm happy to say that I got all the way to 37 weeks until I had to be induced because my little girl wasn't growing as well inside anymore. She's now going to be 7 months old on Saturday so my stitch definitely worked. Hang in there - I know it's scary right now but having the stitch done preventatively early on was the best thing you can do.

Good luck!

 

[Jules2301]

Hi HP,

Thank you very much for your reply: Reading that with funneling and a CL as mine you got to 37 weeks really lifts up my spirits. I'm hanging on here, but it's hard.
I have no symptoms, except some sharp pains down under, but my doc said this is no problem. So I hope that as long as my symptoms stay this way, everything is okay and my stitch is holding strong!

Thx also demotivated for your message: keep hanging strong over there!

 

[honeyprayer]

The pains down under are soooo normal. There were days I swear it felt like she was just going to fall out! Dr said it was normal and not to worry. They got worse the heavier the baby got but still, normal. Stay in bed as much as you can - I think that really helped. Some say bedrest does nothing and some Drs don't even put their patients on bed rest but I am definitely one of the believers that it works!

Bedrest is so boring lol get some good books and start watching a new tv series But as I look back, time went by quickly so your baby will be in your arms before you know it!

 

[RaspberryK]

Hi ladies I hope you don't mind me joining in, obviously I've not read many of the posts here!

Today at 22+5 a scan and internal exam showed my cervix length was 3.2cm, however soft and open 1cm. At 20+3 cervical length was 4.3cm and no funneling.
I've been given 400mg pessaries to insert 3x daily and return visit to the consultant in a week.
Xx

 

[xMissxZoiex]

Hey girls I'm going in to have a preventative cerclage in a couple of weeks. So nervous.

What was the procedure they do for actually putting the stitch in??

I'm worried that the proceedure will it's self make me loose the baby

 

[Radiance]

Hi everyone! I'm back. I haven't been in the this thread since 2013. I was here while pregnant with my son Elijah and he was stillbirth. My OBs' have never watched my cervix even though I have a pprom and preterm history BECAUSE I went to term with my first pprom baby and my second was close to term.

A little history

1st: water broke at 29+1, admitted twice, preterm labor several times
2nd: amniotic started leaking at 19+5, dilation started early (can't remember the exact weeks)
3rd: Everything was good but I felt something was wrong. I got sharp stabbing vaginal pains often. I didn't know until after he died that my cervix had been changing drastically and was 2.8cm, 10 days before he was stillbirth; my last ultrasound of him alive- three weeks before that it had been 4cm so big change.
4th: miscarried due to pprom

5th: chemical (early mc)
6th: lost another son to a very rare infection. We were suppose to start injections at 16 weeks.
7th: either a chemical or blighted ovum

8th: my current! New area and doctors. So far so good... with everything! They are my first doctors to take in my pprom/preterm issue!! YAY! They have started watching my cervix already. We talked about doing a stitch in the future and then of course the injections will start at 16 weeks.

 

[RaspberryK]

Hey girls I'm going in to have a preventative cerclage in a couple of weeks. So nervous.

What was the procedure they do for actually putting the stitch in??

I'm worried that the proceedure will it's self make me loose the baby

I'm sorry I don't know much but I do know that it's deemed safe and procedure benefits outweigh the risk when done nice and early.

Xx

 

[RaspberryK]

Radiance- I'm very sorry for you losses, so heartbreaking. I'm glad you are being cared for better this time.
Xx

 

[tcinks]

Hello ladies, I am new here and I hope I can find some support.
I lost my baby five days ago due to incompetent cervix (well that's what some doctors said, others just spontaneous abortion.)

I'd been feeling pressure in my pelvis for a few days, and the day before it happened I started getting bad cramps (which I was later to find out were contractions). This continued until the next night, when my little baby came at 14 weeks.

Now that we know about this, I'm hopeful that next time I'll be able to deliver a healthy baby by taking the necessary precautions.

I'm wondering if any of you ladies were able to have a successful pregnancy without the cerclage? I've read some places that bedrest and progesterone shots can really be helpful. I know every woman is different, just trying to get some thoughts.

 

[xMissxZoiex]

Hi tcinks

Massive hugs so sorry for the loss of your baby

I have no advice as I'm currently pregnant after losing my little boy at 18 weeks in February and I'm waiting for a cerclage.

I wish you all the best, we are on different sides of the world but if you want to talk please message me. Take care xxxx