I had to look back to see when I got my cerclage with my other two babies. Hannah’s came at 19 weeks, and Colin’s at 22. This baby, I get it at 15.
I’ll back up a little bit in case there’s some folks out there who are confused. For those who are unfamiliar, I have a uterine malformation called Uterus Didelphys. Instead of one uterus and one cervix, I have two of each. Here’s what it looks like…
Because of this, I’m at risk for miscarrying during the 2nd trimester. People with my anomaly are at greater risk of having something called an “incompetent cervix”. My cervix, essentially, starts to shorten and give out before I actually go into labor. My high risk doctors watched me very closely during my pregnancies with my son and daughter. Both times my cervix started to shorten dramatically, so the stitch was put in.
This time, since it’s happened twice before, they are just going to put the stitch in early. Tomorrow, doctors will be sewing my left cervix shut in order to reinforce it. This will not, however, keep labor from happening. As I learned with my son, your stitch can be in and your water can still break. He came at 35 weeks.
I’m nervous, because I’m going to a different hospital and different doctors than I’ve ever seen before. It’s not that my other doctors weren’t great… but my previous OBGYN doesn’t practice Obstetrics anymore. 😦 That means she doesn’t monitor pregnancies or deliver babies. I can’t blame her. She’s got 3 awesome kids of her own and being on call is hard on the family. But it was sad for me because I was faced with a choice. Ultimately I chose to go to a small practice closer to home. I know I made the right decision for me, but change is always scary.
After a bleeding episode and loads of questions I am sure I’ve made the right decision. My regular OBGYN is having me see a high risk doctor (perinatologist) to get me through this part of my pregnancy. Tomorrow, I go in for my surgery. It’s out patient. I’ll be numbed through my spine. They’ll also give me something to relax my uterus so it doesn’t start contracting. And hopefully they’ll give me some meds to relax my mind!
I’m expecting minor spotting after and a good deal of relaxing and staying off my feet while I heal. For the next several weeks to come they will keep a close eye on my cervix and the size of my baby. So say a prayer, keep me in your thoughts, keep your fingers crossed… whatever you feel compelled to do. I’m gonna need all the good vibes I can get!
Nowcasting Life 