pregnant after previous late loss

[shazra]

Hi there I lost my baby last year at 20 weeks, my cervix had dilated and the membranes were hanging out I had no clue as I didn't have any pain.
I was only bleeding lightly for about a week I kept ringing my midwife and the early pregnancy emergency unit,they didn't want to know as I wasn't in any pain and the bleeding was light.
But a week later I felt the bulge and then the hospital asked me to come down as quickly as possible.
On arrival I was examined and told I would miscarry and two days later my baby boy was born alive in hospital but died in my arms because he was too small for intervention I understand that now.
I was told that I have an incompetent cervix and thats why I miscarried,all the tests done on me my husband and baby came back normal.

I am now 19 weeks pregnant, I have regular cervical length scans, they all have been normal so far my next one is on Monday.

I'm so scared this will happen again, I'm cursing myself for not having the stitch put in when they offered!
Just at that time I couldn't understand how my cervix could become incompetent just like that?

Has anyone else had such an experience?

[iloveblue]

Hi shazra

I'm so sorry for your loss.

I don't have any experience of incompetent cervix but didn't want to let your post go unanswered.

We lost our baby (also at 20 weeks) almost 2 weeks ago. No heartbeat detected at scan.

Congratulations on your pregnancy - I can imagine it must be very scary for you.

Hopefully someone will come along who has experienced IC - it does seem quite common from the research I've done since losing our baby.
Thinking of you

[Teleaddict]

Shazra, I am so so sorry for the loss of your baby. I lost my little boy at 20 weeks in Feb 2008 due to an incompetent cervix. I was given no reason for my cervix being incompetent but my consultant advised that I would need a cervical stitch put in for any future pregnancies. I know that some consultants do monitor cervix length rather than automatically put in the stitch but at our hospital they don't do this.
I have since had a little girl who is now 21 months (delivered at 39 weeks) and am pregnant again (had the stitch put in last week). I was anxious for my whole pregnancy despite having the stitch in and especially when I reached 19/20 weeks. I don't know whether your hospital has a bereavement midwife but I saw mine who was really helpful with talking to me about how I was feeling. It might be something that would help?
Also, do you see the consultant when you go in for the scans? Maybe you could ask to see them and talk to them about your concerns / ask questions?
If you have any more questions then please just message me. Also, I wonder if it would help renaming your post to include 'incompetent cervix' and it may be that you have a response from someone who had the cervical length measuring?
Thinking of you