Incompetent Cervix - stitch/cerclage - threatened labour

[chistiana]

Mommymana I am so sorry to hear this..I had a 16 month old when I went on 5 months of strict bed rest and 2 Los when I went on 5 weeks with my third daughter..I know it's awfully hard and sometimes impossible..do you have any help at home?? All this physical activities can't be good at this point..even with a perfectly fine cervix..please talk to the people around you even if that is for a few hours a day.

Laila haha in pretty sure we have the same doc now! With dd1 I swore he'd tell me to relax bed rest every single time I saw him but every time he'd tell me to stay in bed no matter what my cervix did! It's good news your cervix stayed the same even if you still have to rest.believe m you ll miss it..mark my words

Sara yikes sorry hun..I hope it at least doesn't change much now and you can make it to safe weeks

Amk I am sorry but not sure what that means..as if you needed the added stress..so sorry..how's that cervix holding up?

 

[MummyMana]

It's just me and my daughter :/ she goes to her dad's and his mum every other weekend, that's really the only break I get tbh :/ the baby I'm currently expecting's "father" is a nasty abusive excuse of a human and therefore completely non existent, and I don't have any family who are able to help (mum works full time during the week, my dad works nights, my sister is only 14, plus they're about 45 mins away by car and only have one car between them atm and I don't drive).

I'm trying to find ways to keep Imogen occupied through the day without having to do too much physical activity, she's really into crafts atm so that's been a bit of a life saver (but Ive officially decided I hate whoever invented papier mâchè) but its not much use when she's in total meltdown...

Sorry to be so depressing today, I'm just feeling a little hopeless

 

[laila 44]

Chistiana- lol! Yup that's him. He won't budge that dr of mine. I even argued with him and he said he was just happy I didn't deliver yet. So I'm taking it easy as much as I can but boy am I getting antsy! As long as baby stays put I'll be happy though. I will soooooo miss this one day lol

Mamma- I'm sorry you're feeling down Hun just keep trying to put those feet up. I know having little ones around isn't easy. I struggle daily and hate asking for help.

 

[laila 44]

So my baby has dilated bowel at 24 weeks talk about added atress

Sorry to hear Hun but don't worry just yet until further testing xx

 

[chistiana]

Laila lol I know the feeling!! I ll bet you your lo will be over due!!!

Mommymana I m so sorry to hear of the situation hun..also sorry to hear about the "dad" although well done to you for getting him out of your n los life. I wish I could be close to come and help out..if you have to resort to good old tv to get some rest do it girl..I know many frown at tv as a means to keep them busy but you re pg n need the extra rest. When I was on those five weeks of bed rest with my last I lay on the sofa and the kids would bring literally every single toy in the house on the sofa to play. It was messy but it worked out. Could you maybe ask a neighbor with a kid to take them to the swings for a while if the weather is good? Don't know just tossing ideas..so sorry again

 

[Sarasab2]

Hi ladies. Hope everyone is doing well.
Mommymana, I really hope you could get some help and rest more. Have you had cervix measurements done recently?
Mrsamak, sorry about the not so good news, how's everything now?
Chistiana, thank you for all the tips and wisdom 😊
Laila, I find myself in your situation a month ago. So my cervix is now at 2.2 at 26.5 weeks. I wish I can manage to keep it at that for another month like u did lol My bedrest is somewhere between strict and modified and using progestrone, no stitch

 

[chistiana]

Sarah so good to hear your cervix is still holding up so well and 28 weeks is so close now!!!!
I know this is completely irrelevant but I have to tell someone and I know that if I told dh he'd just shrag his shoulders to me n miss me off..today is the day we lost our first angel at 11w1d. And 3 years after that on the 28th of match we lost our 3 rd angel..I hate April fools day n feel like I m missing a big part of me today

 

[Sarasab2]

Awe I'm so sorry Chistiana. I've had two early losses and it's natural to think of what could have been but I try to focus on what I have now- this baby. I know u miss ur Angels and I hope ur pain lessens with time. Your Angels are in heaven and watching over u and ur family. Hugs

 

[Sarasab2]

Ladies is it normal to have significant watery discharge? I've been having this constraint trickle of watery discharge for a while now but it just seems to get wetter.. Sometimes I feel something squirting out and sometimes I just see really wet patches (sorry tmi)
Is is amniotic fluid or just progestrone or something else?

 

[FTM16]

Hello everyone,

Looking for some reassurance/advice, so I just thought I'd join in by introducing myself. I'm a first time single mom 20w1d pg with a baby boy. Last monday I went in for my anatomy scan and while baby looked great, it was found that my cervix was measured 2.5cm with funneling down to 1.5cm. I met with a high risk perinatalologist straight after the scan who discussed the risks and benefits of a cerclage with me, ordered me to start on progesterone shots, and recommended that I follow up with a larger university hospital to see a perinatalologist there to get a second opinion on whether to do the stitch. She sent me to the waiting room to wait for my shot while she contacted my regular OB. The plan was for me to go home after the shot. Luckily my OB instead admitted me to L&D for monitoring. As a bit of background I have had issues with uterine fibroids, and had surgery to remove 3 large fibroids 4 years ago. Since becoming pg I have grown at least one more, and at 17 weeks I developed severe pain and contractions which my OB attributed to the fibroid outgrowing it's blood supply causing it to degenerate. At that time I was told my cervix was still closed and long. I suspect the 3 days of intense contractions may have weakened it however, and now that baby is larger it has become incompetent. So she felt it best to monitor me overnight for contractions and then maybe discharge me to see the other perinatalologist in the morning. The next day she came in to check in on me, and said she had been thinking of me all night and thought we should just proceed with the cerclage. I agreed and I was prepped for the surgery that day. Thank God she did because by the time I got on the table my cervix has completely funneled and my membranes were bulging! That was in less than 24 hours and on bedrest just with breaks to go to the BR. Amazingly my OB was able to pull my cervix down and still place the stitch. So now I am in the hospital still on bedrest praying and hoping my baby can stay in as long as possible. I'm just so scared since I am a whole month away from viability. I've since had an abd scan which shows the cerclage is holding and my CL is up to 1.5cm. With this good news I have been allowed to have BR price privileges to get up to pee (no shower in a week ugh lol). I am tentatively going to be sent home in 2 days, a week after my cerclage was placed, but my OB is thinking about keeping me in until I at least reach 28 weeks since the stitch was placed on essentially an open cervix and she is worried it might not hold well. I'm basically losing my mind with worry, although I have luckily had no pain, bleeding or discharge since the cerclage was put in. Not to mention the stress of suddenly finding out that I can't work anymore and I have basically no savings and no means of earning income besides going to work. Ughh. Just looking for some encouragement and a place to chronicle this crazy new journey. Thanks for reading this long novel and thanks in advance for your support!

 

[chistiana]

Sara I remember driving myself crazy with these wet patches!! I always got them in the morning but sometimes during the day too and as you wrote sometimes it felt like little gushes..I think every time I saw my doc (which was every 2 weeks) I expected him to say I had no amniotic fluid..my amniotic fluid was always excellent! Very embarrassing to say but it's probably wee or just the extra discharge! I am pretty sure that you can buy special panty liners that change color if it is amniotic fluid! Or you can go in and get it checked! I m sure it's nothing but if you re too worried and you re driving yourself crazy just have it checked!!

FTM ow my what a story! I m so so happy your doc caught it! I can't even think what would have happened if you had just been discharged! Anyway..if I were you, given that even if you go home you won't be able to go back to work, I d just stay in the hospital until 28weeks. Do you have to pay for the hospital stay?? Thing is if you go home, you say you re a single mom so who will take care of you? Do you maybe have your parents close to come help if you decide to go home?
I m so sorry you find yourself in this very difficult situation, I wish I could give you a better advice but this is what I d do if I didn't have other kids to look after. Or maybe at leat until 24 weeks which is viability??

 

[FTM16]

Sara I remember driving myself crazy with these wet patches!! I always got them in the morning but sometimes during the day too and as you wrote sometimes it felt like little gushes..I think every time I saw my doc (which was every 2 weeks) I expected him to say I had no amniotic fluid..my amniotic fluid was always excellent! Very embarrassing to say but it's probably wee or just the extra discharge! I am pretty sure that you can buy special panty liners that change color if it is amniotic fluid! Or you can go in and get it checked! I m sure it's nothing but if you re too worried and you re driving yourself crazy just have it checked!!

FTM ow my what a story! I m so so happy your doc caught it! I can't even think what would have happened if you had just been discharged! Anyway..if I were you, given that even if you go home you won't be able to go back to work, I d just stay in the hospital until 28weeks. Do you have to pay for the hospital stay?? Thing is if you go home, you say you re a single mom so who will take care of you? Do you maybe have your parents close to come help if you decide to go home?
I m so sorry you find yourself in this very difficult situation, I wish I could give you a better advice but this is what I d do if I didn't have other kids to look after. Or maybe at leat until 24 weeks which is viability??

Hi Chistinia, thanks for the quick response! I'm not sure what to do exactly, since I'm not sure what the costs will add up to be for such a lengthy hospital stay. My mom and sisters live very close by and have been super supportive. They all work during the day of course. But at the end of the day whatever it takes to deliver my baby safely at a healthy gestational age is what I'll do, and sort out the bills later. So for now I'm taking it day by day and sitting on pins and needles until I can make it to viability.

 

[laila 44]

Just wanted to update everyone. Bedrest has helped! My cervix is now measuring 3.2?! Weird but good. Stayed totally stable for 6 weeks. I'm almost 32 weeks... Here's hoping I make it to my csection.

FTM16 - so glad your dr acted quickly! Sorry you are going through this... I don't have any experience with IC that early in pregnancy as mine only started at 26 weeks but I'm sure many ladies here can offer better advice. Sending you good vibes! Hope u stay stable and get to go home soon xx

 

[laila 44]

Hi ladies. Hope everyone is doing well.
Mommymana, I really hope you could get some help and rest more. Have you had cervix measurements done recently?
Mrsamak, sorry about the not so good news, how's everything now?
Chistiana, thank you for all the tips and wisdom 😊
Laila, I find myself in your situation a month ago. So my cervix is now at 2.2 at 26.5 weeks. I wish I can manage to keep it at that for another month like u did lol My bedrest is somewhere between strict and modified and using progestrone, no stitch

I was exactly the same. Bedrest was strict yet modified for first 2 weeks... I was also loosing bloody mucusy discharge that I later found out was my plug! I was terrified. Honestly I'm not as strict with my bedrest now as things have been stable and cervix looks like it even grew! But I still try to take it easy as much as possible. Main thing is I don't walk for long... I been on modified rest since 26 weeks I'm now almost 32. I'm sure you will be fine just take it easy! And the progesterone was a life saver! It stopped the contractions and tan coloured discharge.

 

[FTM16]

Hi Laila, so glad to hear your good news. I'm sure that's a huge weight off of your shoulders it's also very encouraging to hear a positive result from maintaining bed rest. All the best of luck with the remainder of your pregnancy!!

 

[laila 44]

Thanks girl. It's definately not easy! Hospital bedrest must be tough but your dr is taking such great care I think that's incredible. Things will go fine, I'm sure.... Now you just need to get through the next 6 weeks and you will feel much more confident! Hang in there! Xx

 

[MummyMana]

Hey guys thought I'd give a quick update! I'm 24 weeks today! my cervix is measuring 2.6 which is really good as it means it hasn't changed ^^ I had my first steroid shot today and gotta go back for another one tomorrow - stingy!

My last appointment was a complete shambles as my consultant was away and no one seemed to know what they were doing :/ he's back now though and I haven't got to see him again until 27 weeks.

I've had a few run ins with a really creepy nurse though :/

 

[MrsAmk]

Anyone feel lots of pressure when they are up? I'm 27w today and now have so much pressure it feels like she could fall out if I walk down the hallway

 

[Sarasab2]

FTM: sorry you are going through so much, I hope ur cervix behaves and stays put for a few weeks. I would definitely stay at the hospital and if not possible then strict rest at home.
Chistiana, I did end up at the L$D and it wasn't amniotic fluid thank god. There's jusy so so much water coming out it's annoying and stressful.
mrs.amk where do U feel the pressure? Inside where cervix is? I felt some pressure last night in my lower bump and I think it was gas
MM and Laila that's awesome than the lengths increased!!! I don't expect mine to go over 3cm but all I'll be happy with it not shrinking!! 2.2 is not great at 27 weeks but I'll be so relieved if it stays like that for 3 more weeks!!
MM why did u get the steroid shots so early? 2.6 is still pretty good! Mine was 1.9 at 24 weeks.

 

[chistiana]

Amk I remember having to hold my bump and feeling she was going to fall out..I think it's pretty normal but do rest more when it feels that way.

Mommymana that's great news girl, so so happy for you! Don't get too excited and overdo it ok? (That's what I did and my doc kept telling me off with my previous to maya pg!)

Laila yaaayyy! All good news today! You re in the he run!!

Sara phewww! Good to hear you went in and it was nothing. I can't reassure by saying it will soon stop cause for me it didn't but it's good knowing it's nothing up worry about!!

FTM happy to hear your family is around and supportive. And I like your attitude! Stay there until w24 and then re evaluate! We re here to chat when you re bored