By Fran, Wappinger Falls, NY USAI was pregnant, having a wonderful pregnancy, with my baby. At 18 weeks, I went for a sonagram and my doctor saw that funnelling in my Uterus. My cervix was opening and something was wrong. I had been feeling some pinching pains in my vagina and had told the doctor about this previously. He told me that they were only pregnancy pains and because everything was stretching, I would feel some discomfort. Well this wasn't the case.
PROM at 18 weeksDelivery at 23 weeks.
Story added: 2001-02-26
At this point, this doctor decided to take me out of work and put me on full bedrest. I couldn't even take a shower or wash my hair. He had me elevate the mattress at the foot of the bed with a suitcase between the mattress and the boxspring. This made it extremely difficult to get out of the bed to go to the bathroom. After a week, I woke up and saw that I was bleeding. My husband and I met him at the hospital and he decided to put in a cerclage on that day. I was 18 weeks pregnant at this point.
To make a long story short, the cerclage did not hold because he waited too long, I was 4 centimeters dialated, while I was only 2 centimeters when he first noticed it. The stitch tore at 23 weeks and Vincent was born at 1 lb. 5 oz. He was born alive, let out a tiny cry, then went to heaven. It was the saddest day of our lives.
After 6 months, I got pregnant again. This time I went to a high-risk doctor who specialized in Incompetent Cervix. He stitched me at 14 weeks and I was on full bedrest (was able to take shower and go to the bathroom and that was it).I had a very difficult pregnancy, I bled from time to time, got several UTI's,etc. but I was determined to make it through. At 28 weeks I went for steroid shots and at 30 weeks the contractions started and wouldn't stop. They were 10 minutes apart. I went straight to the hospital (at about 10:00 PM) and by this time I was in full blown labor (with the stitch still in). My doctor didn't make it to the hospital until the next morning. By this time I was screaming in agony and the stitch tore my cervix because the baby was trying to come down the canal and couldn't. The stitch was in the way preventing the birth from happening. By the time the doctor got there he cut what was remaining of the stitch and the baby was born in 1 hour.
Samantha weighed 3lbs 10 oz. and was in the NICU for 28 days. She came home on New Year's Eve. She is now 2 years old and weighs 27 lbs. and is doing wonderfully. She is the joy of our lives, but we will never forget our angel, baby Vincent.
I would love to have another baby. My cervix got badly damaged from my last pregnancy and there isn't much left to stitch next time around.
Sure hope that I can help someone else through their difficult pregnancy. Please understand that life is so very precious. Listen to your doctor if he puts you on strict bedrest. It is so worth all the hard work.