A Cerclage Removal Story

9/15/09 – Today was one of the most important days of this pregnancy.  At 36w2d, Dr. G took my stitches out  in the L&D operating room, to be as sterile as possible.  The procedure was scheduled for 10 am (originally 0930) but an emergency walked into the ER and I was bumped to around 12:15p.

Prep: I was not allowed to eat after midnight.  So they starved me for like 12 hours.  However, I did sneak some peanuts and sips of water while at home because the hunger was unbearable.  I checked in at around 0930 after calling the floor to see when to come in.  Because of my dehydration  and stronger contractions, they gave me an IV fluid and a shot of Terbutaline sub-q (ouch, that stings!) to quiet my uterus for the procedure.  I was also given IV Ancef as a precautionary antibiotic. We saw MeMe on a bedside ultrasound just to make sure she was doing well and got hooked up to the baby/uterus monitor. We sat and watched the “Newborn Channel” and answered some health history questions before it my time to go to the OR.  My mom and husb were with me.  Some of my mom’s coworkers were working  and almost all of them had no idea her daughter was pregnant or that she was expecting a grandchild.  The last time I was L&D at my hospital was when my water broke with the twins so mom only wanted to give good news this time. I love having mom with me because she makes sure everything is taken care of.  Husb is equally supportive so its like having two people wait on you hand and foot all day!

Procedure: Signed the consent, of course. Doc said no anesthesia this time and I stupidly refused IV Ativan thinking I could tough it out.  I wished I took it to calm me down because the pain was EXCRUTIATING! I almost jumped off the table and Nurse Annie, who was holding my hand, almost had her fingers broken.  People who say it is “uncomfortable” are barely touching the surface.  All that cervical manipulating, the hard speculum, and the manual check for leftover stitch material is NOT COOL. Gotta remember, nothing large or wide has been in my cooch for months so the muscles in there were not happy to be messed with.  I was tense and needed to be coached to breathe from Annie.  All in all, it took about 10-15 minutes to make sure both stitches were out.

Aftermath: My cervix did the unexpected.  Dilated a fingertip and 50% effaced.  MeMe is high, not even engaged.  I also have some bacteria growing up in there so I have to put Metrogel in my cooch for the next 5 days.  Ladies with cerclages are more prone to BV because of the increase in secretions caused by the cerclage. Go figure.  I should expect some bleeding, but having seen any yet. I finally got to eat after the procedure. We stayed in the hospital and was monitored for about 2.5 hours.  For a while, my contractions seemed stronger and had gotten to be about 5 minutes apart, but then subsided, spread apart, and felt like normal.  Annie sent me home with my prescription and said to call or come back if my water breaks, stronger contractions…etc. Typical labor stuff.

These are what the stitches looked like, but I didn’t get to take a picture of my actual stitches. Looked just like little pieces of blue wire with huge knots. I can see why Dr. S said husb would cut himself if he got close to those things. Ouch.

Placing bets: Husb’s hor0scope said he’ll get great news on Friday, today is Tuesday.  Mom still says by her birthday (9/24).  A says by next week.  Dr G would like MeMe to stay until at least 37 weeks (9/20) but won’t stop her from coming now. We’ll see if these contractions start to make my cervix act right. Next OB visit is on 9/22 at 1150.

I bet my medical chart is exciting reading.  All the things we’ve been through from 1/08 until now.  Everyone is excited and proud we made it this far.  MeMe has a crowd eagerly awaiting her arrival.

34 weeks and counting…

mmm, ice cream...

Today, MeMe is 34w5d. We had an appointment with the OB on Wednesday and baby girl is growing fine.  BP good, no weight gain, and nothing in my urine.  Great! We learned that from the US we had, she is about 5.5 to 6 lbs already and if I make it to 40 wks, she’ll be about 8 lbs or so.  Come out early please. The doc commented on my “uneventful, eventful pregnancy”.  Yep, ever since the cerclage surgery, everything has been peachy.  Nothing else has come up.  She also commented that if my cervix is truly incompetent, I’ll deliver pretty soon after the stitches are cut and she reminded me to pre-register at the hospital.  I have the paperwork, I just keep forgetting to turn it in. It requires me to actually walk in to my old work place.  Ha ha. 

The weather is so ridiculously hot, I can’t sleep at night or during the day, and the AC is starting to act up.  Sometimes I’m too scared to leave it on or put it so it’s extra frosty.  Fans are nice, but it’s blowing all this hot humid air around.  Southern Cali is supposed to be desert, so dry heat isn’t too bad.  But adding humidity to it is terrible.  This damn humidity is coming from the Hurricane down in Mexico.  Give us rain, not heat!

Preggie symptoms: feet and ankle swelling, palpitations when standing in a hot room (doc said to keep cool and don’t stand still), stronger BH contractions, rib kicks, super belly, indigestion, feeling full faster, shortness of breath when walking or going upstairs.  Husb hates when I go up and down the stairs a few times.  He tries to get me what I need.  He’s on pins and needles because he says I’m at that stage where I might pop.  If I go to the store, I have to have my cell with me to call in case I’m in labor.  His phone broke so he had to go a week without it, he really hated not being in touch.

Everything has arrived for MeMe.  Her playard/bassinet/changing table, stroller and carseat have all been unpacked and fully assembled.  “A” brought some leftover formula that her baby couldn’t eat because she had some kind of allergy/reaction to it, always vomiting a lot.  She swtiched to a different mix and it works better for her.  She brought like 6 or 7 cans of that stuff.  I plan to do both breast and bottle so we’ll see if I even use most of it.  Thanks anyway. Last big item I need at this time is a breast pump because I know I only have 12 weeks in a row off after she’s born, then I’ll be pumping my boobs during my lunch breaks. Her room has plenty of storage and stuff already, but decor can wait until we get our own house.  We have less than 3 months to get something with the help of that wonderful tax credit.  Then move in completely by Christmas. Tick tock. Husb doesn’t want the party until after we get the house.  He totally stole my thunder and I’m still not too happy about it.  I was really really jazzed about the party. She’ll be about 3-5 months by the time he wants to do it. I know by then she’ll be much cuter and more social, but grrrrrr!  I want my party!

Soapbox time: True vs false incompetence.  That concept always pisses me off.  If it’s truly incompetent, the cervix will act A, B, C, but if it acts X, Y, Z, then it’s not.  Well that’s not really true at all.  Because a person can have A, B, and X and still have a crappy cervix that will cause a person to lose their baby.  The docs kept telling me that with my twins, they couldn’t tell if it was true incompetence based on my descriptions of what happened and my chart.  My water broke because of cervical dilation, but I did not fully dilate enough to deliver the babies without medicine.  So maybe I don’t need a cerclage.  Maybe my ass!  I needed one (or two) badly and it’s gotten me this far.  So if my cervix does not dilate after the stitch removal until Oct. 11th, so be it, but I’ll be damned if someone tells me my cervix wasn’t truly incompetent.

Awesome Ultrasound, awesome day

Got to see Miss MeMe and my cervix this morning.  She has baby fat and hair! Yay!  The tech didn’t say how much she weighed, but her measurements averaged 33w1d but I am 33w4d based on LMP.  She has consistently measured a few days behind because I ovulated later than the average 14 days rule, so it’s all good.  Due date doesn’t change for a handful of days!   Defintitely still a girl! We got some awesome pictures of her cute little baby face.  The tech let us watch her yawn and stick her tongue out.  We could see her practice breathing and trying to move in her crammed space.  She has plenty of amniotic fluid and the placenta is still good.  My cervix is a comfortable 3 cm, so not too worried there either. 

I think she has my nose, but mom and husb say she’s gonna look like him.  She has his forehead and overall shape of face.  We won’t really know until she comes out.  Either way, she’s my cutie! 

Our stroller/carseat came today and it’s gorgeous!  Husb took it out of the box and we were so giddy, it almost made us late for the appointment.  Playard is in transit, being shipped from Ohio according to the tracking #.  Should be here next week.

We have a date for the Cerclage Removal….drum roll please…….Sept 15th @ 0930.  Super yay!  MeMe’s shackles are coming off and she will be free to leave the premises! So just gotta hang out these next 3 weeks.  Soooo excited! 

The only thing that made the day suck was that it’s sooo freaking hot! I thought my skin was melting!

Another fabulous appointment (32w4d)

Yesterday, I had a pretty good doctor’s appointment with Dr. M’s office.  We had to wait 1.5 hours to be seen because the doc I was  assigned to was stuck doing an emergency C-section.  They were going to reschedule me for another day, but husb was pushy and insisted I be seen since I was “high-risk.”  So they managed to squeeze me in.  I told him not to act like that when I’m hospitalized! But I gotta hand it to him, he gets results.

My bp was good, mostly because I told the MA to give me a second to let my heart rate go down.  Belly is measuring on target and my urine was fine. Up 3 pounds in 2 weeks.  Been lazy and hungry! 

Doc wants me to get a US to check my cervical length and see how MeMe is growing.  Fantastic!  I haven’t seen her in 4 weeks! Then we asked about the Cerclage Removal and we found out it will be on L&D  at my hospital since it’s more sterile and I can be monitored for contractions. They will call me with the date that it will be scheduled but I should expect sometime after Sept 14th (36w1d).  Yay! Hopefully I’ll dilate right away and only have like a week or two until labor starts.  Mom thinks and dreamed that I’ll deliver on her birthday, Sept 24th.  Another Libra in the house!

We got some info on local pediatricians and the form to pre-register for the hospital. The new doc trained with Dr. S. way back in the day and she was pretty sharp on addressing any concerns. We’ll see another doc at my 34 wk appointment.

We also just bought MeMe’s stroller and carseat on +arget.com and it should be delivered to our house sometime next week.  After it arrives, then I’ll get the pack-n-play that she’ll be sleeping in.  It matches the travel system and has music/vibrations to help soothe her. It has a changing station built in, napper, and bassinet along with the playyard on the bottom.  We thought it was pretty cool when we first saw it, but now it’s no longer in the stores and we have to buy it online.  You would think that if it was being discontinued, it should be on sale! It’s a freakin’ clearance item.  Oh well. I just want it here by stitch cutting time.

I’ve been working on the Outdooring Party.  I find it more exciting to figure out.  Everyday I try to discuss it my mom or husb and I think they’re tired of me already! Can’t really plan for the baby anymore since a lot of it is learning on the spot.  So at least now that I have plenty of time, I can start the prep for the party.  I know when MeMe comes and I’ll be focusing on her that the thought of planning and organizing a party will be the last thing on my mind.  Mom and I planned the food and invite list just last night. We’ll have lots of ladies helping on the day of the party.

30 weeks of luck!

MeMe is in her 30’s now. I’m so unbelievably happy to have made it this far. She is a big girl. According to BabyCenter, she should be like 3 pounds. When she moves, she’s rearranging my abdominal organs and stepping on nerves here and there. I can play the touch game with her where I poke her and she moves in response. I’m so amazed!

I got a copy of my prenatal record from the Dr S’s office and learned how truly lucky and blessed we are. Timing is everything! If I hadn’t decided to get the cerclage when I did I definitely would have lost baby girl. My operation notes said that when I was on the table about to get stitched, my cervix had shortened to 1 cm and was starting to open from the bottom. The double cerclage enabled the docs the close my cervix up and add length. Whoa! Absolutely mind-blowing to know that even waiting another day could have cost MeMe her life.

I had no contractions or pain and the only thing I felt was some pressure to the point that I felt like I had to pee every 5 min when I was in the hosp prior to the surgery. True IC indeed. I am very lucky.

My goal is to think more positively from now on. We’ve dodged so many bullets, just like Neo.

29 weeks and switching

My insurance ends today, but I didn’t get my notice until yesterday.  How lame is that?  So I had to call my husb’s insurace company to make them aware so that they don’t act like they don’t have to pay for anything because they think I still have the other insurance.  I found out the specialist is covered and I don’t need authorization to see him since it is a PPO.  But I want to see my regular OB.  Even the lady on the phone asked if I had a doc that will deliver me because the peri won’t do it.  Then I realized, I really need to get back in touch with Dr M.  This is nuts that I’m like almost 10 weeks away from my due date, 7 weeks from stitch cutting and my OB has no idea what’s going on with me.  Just didn’t seem right. So I made an appointment with her for Monday, when I’ll be 30w1d.  I also have to make sure my chart gets to her office.  I’ll put Dr. S on the backburner for now. I figure, my cervix has been pretty stable for months now.  The stitches haven’t fallen out into the toilet,  no bleeding (a sign of cervical changes), no regular contractions, and baby is moving around alot.  If trouble comes, I’ll probably be on total bedrest.

I know I have been very blessed to have not had any more issues since the cerclage surgery and to have had the opportunity to see a peri, but he’s like rain on my parade. He comes in the room all serious with a kinda “so what are we doing today” attitude. I’m just a patient, but I think you should check the baby and my cervix.  Then he’s like, “everything’s okay….for now.  Come in 2 or 3 weeks, whatever you’re comfortable with.” It’s up to me because it’s like he doesn’t care either way.   He’s nothing like my other peri who called me “darling” every time he saw me and was just an dynamic character.  His bedside manner was unbelievable.  He made the worst days of my life more bearable. 

Oh Dr S, parting is such sweet sorrow.

No GD for me

My mom and I went to my appointment with Dr S and I’m in the clear for GD. My glucose tolerance test came back at 112. Swwweet! My bp is still good and weight up 5 lbs. I need to quit being so lazy and start walking in the neighborhood. Husb has put on some lbs too so I think we’ll walk together. I’m surprised my bp is so great. I am prone to higher pressures especially when stressed. With pcos I know the risks for preeclampsia and GD are high. So I keep thinking I’m gonna get it. So far so good.

My cervix is closed and 3 cm long. Stitches are still in place and doing their job.

MeMe has a big ol’ head and she’s still head down. No cute profile shot this time and her legs were crossed. I asked the doc if she was growing okay and he said she looked fine but ordered another ultrasound at the fetal care center to more accurately check her growth. Do I really need that? I doubt it. I’m still on the fence about the U/S. Plus my HMO at work is going to cut off in a week because it lasts for 12 weeks if you aren’t actively working.

I’m covered under husb’s PPO, but it won’t kick in until I get the letter saying my HMO kicked me off. I don’t know if the PPO will cover the specialized care anymore without reauthorization blah blah blah. If not, plan is to stop seeing the peri, no U/S, and go back to Dr M until I give birth. I would rather have her as my doc anyway. Her bedside manner is awesome!

We’ll see. Next appt should be at 30 weeks.

Symptoms: insomnia, fatigue, shortness of breath with stairs, hunger, big baby movements, indigestion, random uterine tighting.

28 weeks of Triumph

28 weeks and MeMe is still on lockdown. I am now firmly into my 3rd Trimester. Fantastic!  It’s been 12 weeks since the surgery. I have 8 more weeks until the cerclage can be cut.

I see Dr S on Thursday 7/23 and hopefully that will be the last peri visit.

Husb comes back this evening, so even though he’s mine for the night, Dom is staying with us this week. Joy. I hope we all can just get along.

Next milestone is Super-preemie viability at 32 weeks.

Time to do some more shopping!

25 weeks and counting…

Last week was a busy one, my husband’s cousin was coming to town for business but wanted to hang with us for a few days.  So we had a hell-of-a time getting the guest room ready for her.  The house was a mess for like 2 days trying to go through what we don’t need and reorganize.  Since we’re renting rooms from my folks, it doesn’t always make for lots of space to put our things.  My parents have been great letting us save tons of $ for our infertility treatments and our future dream home. Anyway, I was packing stuff in big plastic bins and my husb had to put them in storage.  I think I packed at least 6 bins full.  But the guest room was beautiful when finished and there’s tons of space for MeMe now.  Also, pops was painting the kitchen and left the downstairs a mess, so thankfully mom cleaned that for me. 

We took our cousin shopping and to the County Fair to walk around and get some of that yummy fair food.  Very fun! But all that walking made me almost need to be carried home!  My feet were burning. Husb was walking too fast at times and I had to yell at him to slow down. He calls me “roley poley” and said that while I was walking, it was the first time I really looked pregnant.  He was soooo proud and keeps rubbing my tummy. Cousin said I still look heavier than normal, but could get away with not looking pregnant.  The only thing is that I wish I got something personalized like engraving or airbrushing, but there’s always next year.

I had an appt. with Dr. S.  on Monday, this time I went by myself.  BP great with weight up 4 lbs in 4 weeks (I weigh as much now as I weighed at 16 weeks with the twins). Dr. S. checked MeMe’s heartbeat via US and she gave us another shot of her bottom.  Definitely a girl.  He left it up to me to check my cervix.  Yes, please.  So he used the coochie-cam and could see it’s still long and closed measuring a good 4 cm.  He’s very pleased at my progress and told me to continue light activity.  I asked if I could go back to my regular OB after 28 weeks and he said that at this point there is less chance of complications and that it’s totally up to me.  He is comfortable letting me go.  I’m going to have one more appt. on 7/23 at 28w4d and do another 1 hr glucose screen, which I passed the first time.  Dr S is awesome, but these appts are boring and the drive down there is not fun, especially if I’m gonna be doing it every 2 weeks until the stitches are cut. I’d rather see Dr M and know that I will deliver at the hospital I work at which is very close to the house. If I stay with Dr S, I would have to go to a hospital like 45 miles down south where I had my cerclage done.  I only want to go there if I deliver super early (like between now and 30w). 

So with all this cleaning and painting, it got me and husb really wanting to set down some roots and buy a house.  I want us to move northeast where the houses are big and cheap, but he wants to stay here by the beach.  If we move up and out, I would have a 30-35 mile commute and can always drop MeMe off here so mom could watch her.  If we stay here, my commute is like 5 minutes and the convenience of seeing grandma and grandpa all the time is great.  But I think we can still drive down here on the weekends or they can come see us since it’s not like we’ll be 2 hrs away.  I will need my mom to watch the baby at least once a week due to my and husb’s work schedules.  So, I’ve been daydreaming and drooling over these fabulous houses and husb wants to keep checking around here where the houses are smaller, older, and expensive.  Boo! 

Husb finally b0ught his plane ticket, but he’s going alone.  He decided it was best to leave Dom behind with his mom, especially if he might be sick.  But I also think it’s because he wants one last freedom-trip before baby comes.  As long as he doesn’t do anything stupid that will cost us $$, then I’m cool with it.  He’ll be gone for 10 days.  During the time he’s gone, my aunt is coming to stay here and I’ll be doing some driving tours with her.  This is her first time in the U.S and in California, so it’ll be fun taking her around. Plus I don’t think she knows I’m pregnant so she’ll get a nice surprise.  My mom has been tight lipped about it, but finally told 2 of her friends at work.

One last thing, mom gave me my 17-P shot yesterday and hit a blood vessel.  I bled all over my new white/grey dress.  She freaked out, but it finally stopped. It was the first time she’s done that in years so I think it hurt her pride.  It’s okay, the medicine is in and that’s all that matters.

Micro-preemie Viability

Miss MeMe is now 24w0d! A super awesome achievement! We wouldn’t have made it this far without the help of the cerclage and 17P shots, which started 8 weeks ago.

But as great as this milestone is, MeMe needs to keep baking. Micro-preemies are so fragile; that’s a hard life for a baby. I don’t fear my water breaking so much, but I do fear infection, placental abruption or cord entanglement. She can stay home and kick me all she wants. I love my MeMe!

Next milestone is Tiny-preemie Viability at 28 weeks. You can do it lil mama!