Does anyone know chance of having an incompetent cervix?

[Chattycat78]

Hi guys,

So, my new thing to stress about this week is incompetent cervix!! I've been reading scary things about how you won't even know you have it until you lose the baby and they will do something to fix it 'next time". Well that's no use to me- there may not be a next time! I had IVF for this baby and there may not be another time!

Is there something I can get them to do/check/scan in case I have this?! I'm currently 14 weeks. Also is it common? Does anyone know?

MC rate after 12 weeks is about 1% of which a proportion will be due to incompetent cervix, so maybe 0.5% or thereabouts? They can do a transvaginal scan to check cervix length, I wouldn't think they will on NHS unless there is reason other than general anxiety to suspect a problem. You could pay for a private scan if your fears won't settle?

Thanks for the reply- I think I'm just a bit mental :) and paranoid! . I've had a few scans and nothing had been mentioned but I guess they weren't checking for it. I was going to pay for another private scan at 16 weeks but is that too late?

It's not really diagnosable. You can have a naturally short but fully strong cervix, or a long weak one. There is a weird pressure test available but not when you are pregnant.

It's a very rare complication. As baking tin says the miscarriage rate is very low past 12 weeks and can have many causes, IC being only one.

Have you had any cervical surgery? Of not then the risks are even lower.

You need to try and stop worrying about this. I got pregnant after 7 long years of infertility and had a bleed at 16 weeks.
The doctor that did the scan at the hospital mentioned incompetent cervix in passing and then I googled it. I shouldn't have done it- I panicked for the next 10 weeks.
I spoke to my midwife about it who basically said if you have it there is nothing we can do about it now so stop worrying. She was right.
There are lots of things in pregnancy you can't do anything about. You just have to try and keep calm. I totally understand how important this pregnancy is to you but you will stress yourself out even more if you google stuff and worry about things you are statistically unlikely to get.

Thanks guys I needed that. Tobias you are of course absolutely right :) Google is not good for us! I think I'm a bit of a control freak so struggling with the thing you can't control bit...

Time2 the only surgery I've had is an ERPC last year after a miscarriage. The dr I saw at the hospital said that does not count.

I'm being scanned for cervix length by the NHS but that's because I have previously had a premie baby. They have scheduled two scans for me, at 18 weeks and 22 weeks. I don't think it is something that would be noticed on a routine scan as it needs to be done vaginally. I guess you could pay to have it done privately but honestly the likelihood of having this is not that high so you are most likely stressing over nothing. I have also been told that there is not much they can do anyway.

If your previous loss was a 1st trimester there is unlikely to a cervical issue (no more likely than anyone else), as others have mentioned, less than 1%.

It's so nerve wracking when it is a hard journey isn't it? Dr Google doesn't help!