WEEK 4 : Week by Week Incompetent Cervix Pregnancy Guide - THE START OF AN IC PREGNANCY JOURNEY

NOTE : For the regular advice on Week 4, I suppose there are hundreds of other websites to tell you how it goes. This blog serves to supplement those sites, my personal favourites being What To Expect, Baby Centre UK and Parents. Do take note, however that I am not a professional physician, I practise law for a living and the only thing I know about incompetent cervix is through my own experience as a mother of 2 and a 16 week old baking in the oven! :)  The purpose of this blog then is just to simply share the joys and heartaches, the blessings and curses, the sadness and happiness and the disappointments and the pleasant surprises of our journey as a mom with an incompetent cervix.

If you have successfully conceived, your baby has already entered its embryionic stage!!! Its organs are beginning to be formed. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!!! Of course you still have no idea whether you are pregnant, and the most sensitive and expensive pregnancy test kit at this point may still come out negative!

You may or may not have experienced implantation bleeding (read Week 3 here).  And if you have, it is probably happening this week, and you may have recognised it. And there may even be a faint line on your kit, so yippee!!! To tell hubby or not to tell hubby? For me, with No. 1, I made that phone call immediately.  With No. 2, I waited till he gets home. No. 3 was unplanned and I knew how apprehensive he was, so I didn't say anything until the ultrasound at the OBGYN confirmed it.  Well, it's all up to you!

Well, since you can read all about the excitement and anticipation in other websites, maybe we can talk a little about those of us with an incompetent cervix.  It gets rather real now, doesn't it?  Your pregnancy test kit may have confirmed a pregnancy. Which means... another long road to holding a fullterm baby in your arms.  If you have had a bad experience or a loss, you just have to be positive this time around.  Maybe this time your cerclage will hold up.  Maybe this time your preventive cerclage will be much better than your emergency one the last time.  Maybe you are able to be on your feet again a few weeks after your cerclage! Again these are questions you want to start compiling to ask your OGBYN during that first visit soon.  If you are on facebook, do join this group of lovely ladies Incompetent Cervix Awareness.  I survived through 2 of my IC pregnancies with the support of this group.  They are not judgmental and they are ever ready to share and to give you lots of positive vibes.  Believe me, bedrest will take its toll on you physically as well as emotionally!

Continue to eat healthy. I cannot say this more.  Continue to enjoy these last few weeks of physical activity.  Clean your house, clear the mess, go shopping, exercise, a short holiday, and of course, lots of intimacy with hubby.  Soon both of you have to practice celibacy (well, at least he can still enjoy orgasm either on his own or with your assistance, but you have to be on STRICT PELVIC REST! ) so now is the time to perhaps satiate yourself :P

Again, steer clear of negative people.  Be around supportive and loving friends and family.  You will need lots of positive vibes for what is to come.  I don't mean to scare you, but we are going through a HIGH RISK PREGNANCY.  We cannot deny this fact.  Some well meaning advice, even from those whom had difficult pregnancies before, may not be relevant, perhaps even unwelcomed. Simply because our situation are different.  In fact, even among IC mommies, we react differently to the cerclage, and our cervix certainly do not respond the same way to the same procedures or medications. So just continue to be strong.