The technician was very friendly (as they have all been). We found out we are having a boy! Which had been our daughter's guess all along. At the end of the ultrasound the technician began to get quiet. She said... "OK this is your cervix. It should be closed, but it's starting to open. See that Y shape? And it is measuring about 1.25cm. I'm not supposed to talk to you about it, but I wanted to let you know. I'm going to take you to admissions now and get a doctor, OK? I'm sorry for the bad news."
This was the first time I had ever heard of a cervix being "too short" and honestly had no idea how bad the news actually was...
I'm can't even remember any more what happened for the rest of this day. I was prescribed bed rest and progesterone and sent home. Mainly because of the timing, they told me they do not like to do cerclages unless there are no other options.
I spent the next day in bed at home, but something just didn't feel right. I was uncomfortable all day with a backache that i couldn't get rid off. By the afternoon I was asking my husband to take me back to Maternity Admissions to be checked again.
This time they admitted me, checked my cervix again and would not even tell me the results. It was a midwife who checked me and afterwards she was gone for a very long time. I knew this had to be bad. I overheard her on the phone outside the door, calling someone saying that "the length is now .77cm". She had to wait for the doctor on call to be able to see me and they came back in together.
Terrified and still knowing next to nothing about cervical incompetence, they gave me the news the way doctors do. Straightforward and with all of the (soul-crushing) facts. At 20 weeks exactly, I was still too late for an elective cerclage and too early for viability.
The next part is a little blurry, but I know they decided to keep me overnight in trendleberg position (on an incline, feet above head) with no food in case I had a procedure the next day. I believe they were waiting for their Maternal Fetal specialist to arrive in the morning so they could get their opinion.
The next morning, Sunday April 19th, I saw Dr. Harraway-Smith. This was the first glimpse of hope since we had arrived. She explained to me that the doctors had spoken and she could perform a "rescue cerclage". She told me all about the mechanics of it and the risk factors. I ultimately decided that if I didn't do it, I would always be wondering "what if". She assured me by saying she has preformed many hundreds of cerclages in her career and had only had membrane rupture happen once. That (and infection I guess) being the biggest risk with the rescue type.
Note
There are two types of cerclages: preventative (or elective) when you have had a previous loss due to short/incompetent cervix. It is placed at 12-14 weeks and is left in until sometime after 36 weeks. Bed rest and progesterone are not always used in conjunction, from what I understand.
Rescue or emergency cerclages take place after 20 weeks when the cervix has mostly thinned and sometimes started to dilate. Doctors normally proscribe some for of modified activity, progesterone and some times another medication to stop contractions.
To be continued....
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