Incompetent cervix and loss at 22 weeks - I want a TAC!

[Elisej2012]

Hi all,

I recently lost my little boy at 21+6 due to IC.

My first pregnancy was complication free and resulted in a full term healthy baby girl.

Between pregnancies I had a LLETZ which I believe weakened my cervix.

This second pregnancy consisted of unexplained bleeds from 7 to 12 weeks. My cervix was measured at 14 weeks and was 'fine'.

No further monitoring took place and over a 2 week period from 19+ weeks things took a downward turn. It was only at 21+4 that they actually found my open cervix, hindsight is a wonderful thing when I think of the week leading up to that moment!

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone has gone straight for a TAC rather than chance a TVC?

I'm waiting on an appointment for the miscarriage clinic at Liverpool Womens Hospital.

Has anyone else had a TAC after one loss?
I don't want to risk another loss incase a TVC fails.

Sorry for the essay!

Hi. I lost my son at 24 weeks. I had a Macdonald suture with next pregnancy ( but also chose to put myself on " bed rest" at home). At 26 weeks my cervix started to thin to almost nothing and I went into hospital for strict bed rest. Amazingly we made it to 34 weeks..... A healthy girl now 9 years old. Because of my history I had an abdominal suture in my next pregnancy placed at about 14 weeks and this combined with progesterone injections meant we got to 35 weeks ( another healthy girl).

I had the best consultant in the entire world and very very regular scans/ monitoring so I feel lucky. I think it is quite unusual to have a cervix as bad as mine. I do understand your worries though. I'm not sure what your plans are but in my case I incurred a certain amount of "damage" ( I spent the last month of my last pregnancy going in and out of labour before they finally decided to section at 35 weeks.....for me there would be no future pregnancies possible as there is now " no healthy tissue" to resuture). I hope this helps a bit. I'm very sorry that you lost your son and I hope you have lots of good support. Best of luck.

Hi

I recently lost my little boy at just under 25 weeks due to IC. He lived for 12 days. He was my first baby. I am ttc and have been going around in circles in relation to whether to go for a TAC or preventative TVC next time around. I had an emergency TVC which failed with my little boy.

I have had no procedures on my cervix so the IC is unexplained.

I have spoken to numerous doctors and their advice ranged from do nothing next time to go for a TAC. After a lot of thought our plan will be to go for a very high shirodkar stitch which is placed as close as possible to the internal os (a TVCIC) with someone who has a lot of experience in placing them. I still am not convinced but too many doctors have said that the TAC is over the top in my circumstances. Part of me thinks what the hell, just go for the best procedure but it is a fairly major surgery and I couldn't ignore my doctors advice. That said, it is very dependant on your cervix. Mine is only 2.5 cms when I am not pregnant which is very short but the majority of the doctors I have spoken to recommended a TVC. My research suggests their success also largely depends on the skill of the surgeon placing them and the timing. I will also take progesterone too.

I have heard great things about LWH. I am abroad and plan to see the UK specialist as and when I get pregnant. He also places TACs and so if I see him and he thinks a TVC won't work we have another option. I would definitely recommend seeing a doctor who has experience of both TVCs and TACs which I expect you will do at LWH.

Good luck. Let us know how you get on x

I'm sorry to hear of your loss april.... I also had no identifiable reasons for my IC. One thing I would add is given my experiences with both stitches the recovery from the TVC is nothing in comparison to TAC.

Obviously my only concern at the time was that I would be able to deliver a healthy living baby and in my case the TVC on its own turned out to not be entirely " up to the task" and I needed bed rest and probably a certain amount of luck. DD1 ( TVC baby) was fine in the end but going into hospital bed rest at 26 weeks ( and expecting her to arrive anytime) was not great.

TAC, for DD2, was placed while I was still suffering badly from morning sickness. Being morning sick and having a major abdominal operation was very difficult and I ended up with a rugby ball sized hernia from being sick with a post operative tummy. So DD2 ended up being a 3 operations baby. One to place TAC, one for Caesarean and then a major hernia operation ( unfortunately going vertically across my stomach). Now for me there was no other option if we wanted to try for another baby AND even though I still suffer from complications from all the operations I obviously wouldn't not have had the TAC. I suppose I'm just pointing out some things to consider ..... But even writing this I know that once you have known the pain of loosing a baby everything else pales. Best of luck. I think it is important to find someone who has as much TAC experience as possible. I had mine done in Leeds. Good luck.