What is incompetent ccervix? If you come from this part of the world where I come from, you probably wouldn't have even heard of it before. Cerclage? Modified bedrest? TVC? TAC? Strict bedrest? Shirodkar? Macdonald? What are those?
Just google. Yes Mr G our bff. And you will get an answer. The dos and donts, and many of the websites will tell you pretty much the same thing, main thing being "One of the symptoms of an incompetent cervix is multiple previous pregnancy losses". Like... huh??? You need to lose a baby or 2 before you get diagnosed? Oh it's just a miscarriage isn't it? After all, another website will tell you a certain percentage of women suffer miscarriage anyway don't they? I have miscarried at 9 weeks before, and let me tell you, it was devastating. But with an incompetent cervix there is another painful twist to it. You would have carried the baby way past 1st trimester, your baby is fully formed, with arms and legs and eyes and nose... yes... it's a BABY. You would have bonded with the little one, prepared your nursery, named the child even, and felt those little kicks. With an incompetent cervix, your little baby is hale and hearty, no chromosonal defects whatsoever. YES. THE DEFECT IS WITH YOUR DARNED CERVIX. It can't hold your pregnancy. And you perfectly healthy baby slips out of your womb because your cervix is incompetent.
Look at my title. Blessings and curses? What blessings can there possibly be? Well, to divert for a while... I have long noticed how many hundreds of websites there are providing a 'week by week pregnancy guide' and these are guides for a healthy no risk pregnancy. Whenever Week 14 comes, they even tell you "OH THIS IS YOUR HONEYMOON TRIMESTER!!!" Well guess what? For women with an incompetent cervix. That is simply not the case. Week 14 is probably the week where you are scheduled for a cerclage. Ok I'm rambling. Point is, I will try my very best with just my experience and a little I gather from the forum for incompetent cervix women I'm in, I will start another blog WEEK BY WEEK starting from Week 1 itself. For women with incompetent cervix. There, I will explain further what is this all about.
But well... since I mentioned blessings. Ok, blessings. First of all, of course, the fact that you may almost certainly appreciate your babies more. Every surviving child is a miracle child. Some women who were never diagnosed went on to lose their babies in late pregnancies, with no surviving children at all. Some women, eventhough diagnosed, lost their babies anyway even after a cerclage. Some women had surviving preemie who never went on to have a normal life due to defects caused by just simply being a preterm baby. So if your carried fullterm with an incompetent cervix, or if your surviving baby lives a happy healthy normal life... you will tend to appreciate your children more. The little rainbow. The little miracle.
Secondly, the bedrest may be a good thing after all. It makes you slow down a little in terms of your career and all the activities you have been juggling since your schooldays. You finally have time to read those books collecting dust on your bookshelf, or watch that DVD you bought ages ago, or to write that article you had always wanted published, and of course... time for soul searching. If you are like me, you finally have time to finally have time to gather your thoughts and find constructive ways to leave the job you have always despised. You may even have time to get closer to God, perhaps open up that Bible you have left at the very bottom shelf....
Thirdly, you are now aware that this is a very real very possible condition. You can help others. Create awareness. Share your story with your friends. They don't have to lose anymore babies if they are aware that this is a possible condition and may even checked with their O&G if they have this condition. You will be surprised that as learned and well read as you are, you never knew that this condition exist and is said to affect 5% of childbearing women. All those week by week pregnancy guide will briefly mention incompetent cervix in a sentence and dismissed it as rare. How many of us will think that we belong to that 5%? We either don't want to consider it, or we don't think it's possible we are that unlucky. Ignorance is not bliss!
Let's not dwell on the curses shall we? I mean, by now you would have known what it comes with. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Do follow me in my "WEEK BY WEEK INCOMPETENT CERVIX PREGNANCY GUIDE" if you want to know how is it like, week by week, day by day, for a woman with this condition.
To sum it up, I wanted 7 children since I was 5 years old. I watched Sound of Music and I wanted my own DO RE MI FA SO LA TI (remember that scene with Julie Andrews and the von Trapp children on the bullock cart and she was just pointing to the children with the horse whip while they sing their respective notes DO MI MI, MI SO SO, RE FA FA, LA TI TI) but then I was diagnosed with PCOS (this is another story altogether) and then the incompetent cervix. So I am already indeed blessed that I have 2 beautiful healthy boys and no.3 is 16 weeks in the oven! (Oh yeah, I'm bedresting and hence the ability to sit back relax and write this blog). Don't think there will be anymore as the scar tissues from the previous cerclages are taking its toll on my cervix. But well, who is complaining?
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