& Dena : cerclage (pg & loss ment)

February 3, 2004

<<Dena's question is this: for those of you who have had a cerclage that was

non-elective, at how many millimeters and at how many weeks was this done?>>

Dear & Dena,

Congratulations on your baby boy! I know it's hard to feel totally excited

when the possibility of loss is looming. That is understandable.

I had what you might call an elective cerclage, but it really was not, since

I had lost a boy to IC before. For me, it was mandatory. I had it at 11

weeks and the cervix was at 4 + centimeters. That was also where my cervix

length stayed throughout the second trimester--just a hair below average

length, which is 4½ centimeters.

A friend of mine had a " rescue cerclage " performed at 20 weeks. Her cervix

was barely there, with the membranes on the verge of prolapse. With strict

bedrest and a single mersilene cerclage, she carried to 36 weeks, when they

snipped the cerclage and she had a repeat c-section delivery. Her baby boy

was fat and healthy.

Another friend had a rescue cerclage after a prophylactic cerclage failed at

20 weeks. After the second cerclage, she remained in bed until an abruption

unrelated to the cerclage caused her to deliver at 30 weeks. She had a tiny

girl who is now healthy and quite smart.

US machines and imaging techniques vary, so the loss of a few millimeters

may or may not mean anything. Your cervix is on the short end of normal,

however, and bears frequent monitoring. Something you can do right now to

slow any shortening (assuming there really is any) is to go on modified bed

rest. Become a couch potato and get up only for meals or short trips. If

you have a job that interferes with this, maybe you ought to discuss it with

your physician and go from there.

Be vigilant for dragging, biting back pain, pressure, bleeding and an

increase in vaginal discharge, especially snotty-looking discharge. Those

can also signal cervical incompetence.

I know . . . you're as vigilant as you possibly can be! (It's hard for me

as an IC veteran to shut up ) I think your little boy has a great chance,

with all the special care being taken for his sake. Keep up the good work.

--

Beth

SU, resected x 2

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