WEEK 26 : Week by Week Incompetent Cervix Pregnancy Guide - IC WITHOUT CERCLAGE

NOTE : For the regular advice on Week 26, 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 23 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.

 
 
YOUR LITTLE DARLING IS A 2 POUNDER THIS WEEK!!!  And her/his peepers which have been closed shut the last few weeks are starting to... yes, you guessed it, PEEPING NOW!!!  Ok, while the other normal pregnancy mommies are revelling in the colour of little babe's eyes and whether those Asian babies have a double eyelid or not (a constant discussion in this part of the world where I'm from), I understand that we IC mommies have other things in our minds.

Some of us are back to work as usual (that is, if our work designation allows us to do so, and our cerclage is textbook cerclage with no complications).  Many of us are still not supposed to exercise (Read WEEK 25) nor have sex.  At this point of our IC pregnancy, most of us are more or less settled with our cerclage, even for those of us who had an emergent one.  

 

Unfortunately, if this is your first pregnancy and first diagnosis, your doctor may have refused to perform the emergency cerclage as it is usually performed before Week 24.  Your doctor may also have refused to perform the cerclage as you are already more than 2 cm dilated, or your waters have broken.  Some doctors even refuse to do it if your membranes are bulging, but do get a second opinion as I have heard of doctors who successfully perform an emergency TVC even with bulging membranes.

 

If you do not have a cerclage, you are probably prescribed with strict bedrest and progesterone medication (it could be in the for of vaginal suppositories, injections or taken orally).  Some of us need to be in hospitalised bedrest and be in an 'upside down' position, otherwise known as the "Trendelenburg position".  The idea is always to take pressure off your cervix.

 

 

The latest technology suggests the use of a cervical pessary.  It is a device that fits inside the vagina and is designed to hold the uterus in place, in order to help lessen pressure on the cervix.  Being a fairly new technology it is still debatable whether the pessary works for us IC mommies, but then again, bedrest and cerclage are considered 'controversial' in some quarters too. 

 

 

Remember, miracles do happen and there have been many success stories.  You can still carry to term even if you have been diagnosed with an incompetent cervix and it is too late for a cerclage.  In fact, some women have reported that even after their waters are broken, they are able to keep the baby in with antibiotics and other medical intervention.  Have faith, and say a little prayer.  Do join the facebook Incompetent Cervix community where this group of ladies will just keep you company throughout your journey (they have helped me through my 1st emergency cerclage and my 2nd preventive cerclage and currently my 3rd baby!) without being judgmental or insensitive.  Take heart!

WEEK 19 : Week by Week Incompetent Cervix Pregnancy Guide - VAGINAL DISCHARGE!

NOTE : For the regular advice on Week 19, 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 20 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.
We are almost halfway there.  If you are reading this because you have been googling the internet after you have just been diagnosed with incompetent cervix, then you are at the right place.  I just pray and hope from the bottom of my heart that you have not lost your baby, but you have just had your cerclage placement, and you are either bedresting at home or at the hospital.  You may want to read this series of my blogs from the beginning, as I document what to expect, physically and emotionally, in this journey of an IC mommy.

Some of you may have been following through this journey as a 2nd time IC mommy (I'm a 3rd time IC mommy myself), so we know exactly what is coming ahead of us. Well... do we, really? Every pregnancy is different, and every IC pregnancy is different.  Other websites will tell you that Week 19 is really a good week to travel, have that 'babymoon', because once a new baby comes along you won't have that luxury anymore.  Well, what babymoon? We can't so much as walk to the bathroom for a simple toilet trip without worrying that our cerclage may give way there and then!  Ok, so for those of you who had a preventive cerclage, you are probably in your 2nd month of bedrest.  Our emotional wellbeing aside, we are probably noticing some changes in our body, particularly where the stitch is.  A lot of discharge? Twinges? How does a cerclage look like in a first place and how much trust should we put in it?

There are several types of cerclages, but I am not about to discuss the technicalities and medical aspect of that here as I am no doctor.  But what I do know is the cerclage gave me my 2 boys (I almost lost my 6 year old at 23w4d but for an emergent cerclage, and I had a preventive cerclage at Week 15 with my 2 year old.  I carried both till fullterm, both cerclages removed at Week 37.  Currently I am pregnant with No.3 (a little girl at last!) and had a cerclage placed at Week 14.  I was told that I was already funnelling (read more about funnelling on Week 18) and there are scar tissues on my cervix due to previous cerclages, but so far, the cerclage is holding up.  That doesn't mean I have never worried, or I am not worrying.  With the progesterone vaginal suppositories, there is a lot of watery discharge, and being an IC mom, the main worry is always the leaking of our waterbag.  So what is this discharge? Why is there so much discharge? Well, I am going to give a few explanation, but remember, if it really troubles you or your gut instinct is telling you to go to the ER... PLEASE GO.  

Otherwise, here may be some reasons why there is so much discharge (speaking from my experience and observation of others with the same condition):

1) There IS a foreign object in there namely the cerclage, it's nature's way to flush out any foreign objects for the safety of the pregnancy (but don't worry, it's not going to flush out your cerclage

2) If you are on vaginal suppositories, again these little pills are foreign objects, and if you do a quick google search now, you will see all these websites will tell you that it is normal to have vaginal discharge as one of the side effects of the vaginal suppositories.  I have spoken to my doctor as well and he did say it's normal but if it is troubling me (well, I was so troubled for weeks I did not get a good sleep as I was checking and checking whether the discharge would suddenly be a gush of water) then perhaps I should swallow it instead of inserting it (I was on Utrogestan, one of those you can take orally, so before you down any of your vaginal suppositories please speak to your OBGYN)

3) You may have an infection. How do you know what's the difference then? Well, this discharge is probably yellow or green, or whitish (not clear) and it SMELLS. This one calls for the ER as I was told by my doctor that if we have an infection, our body will release prostaglandins, the same hormones which will accompany our onset of labour.  

4) Very unlikely, but yes, you may be leaking amniotic fluid (your waterbag is leaking) and of course this is serious!!!! Like I said earlier, if you are gushing water or you have changed a few soaked pads (not the pantiliners, but the thick sanitary pads) then go to the ER!!!

5) Or finally... relax.  Ask ANY pregnant women, even those with normal healthy no risk pregnancies... they will tell you they have discharge as well.  This is for the same reason as No.1 - it's our bodies flushing out anything which it thinks harmful for the pregnancy, so the discharge is actually good for us!

I hope this week's blog allay some of your discharge fears.  At the same time, remember to eat well, swallow those prenatal vitamins and enjoy your baby.  Yes, especially those little movements which are reminding you that she/he is in there waiting to snuggle in your arms :)