Cervix funnelled to 1.8: cervical stitch op tomorrow. Advice? Tips? Experiences?

[worksallhours]

Hi everyone,

I lost my first pregnancy last year to pprom at 20 weeks, so I have been closely monitored for this pregnancy. Despite my cervical measurement being 3.9cm to 4.1cm a fortnight ago, my TV scan this morning showed my cervix has funnelled to 1.8cm. I am 17+1 weeks.

So my consultant has booked me in for an emergency cervical stitch tomorrow morning.

I am devastated about this, to be honest. I thought everything was going so well. I am terrified I will pprom again, or go into pre-term labour, and lose this baby.

Even though I asked my consultant about what to do after the stitch, she didn't really give me any firm guidelines apart from "don't go back to work" and "take it easy". However, she told me that I shouldn't do bedrest.

Does anyone have any advice, tips, ideas or positive outcomes? Is it okay to sit for long periods, for example? Or should I do regular polar bear positions? Should I be asking for progesterone after the stitch? Or is that an infection risk?

Does anyone else have any experience of a cervix at 1.8cm at 17 weeks?

Hi works all hours, sorry to read this, I didn't have the stitch, was on bed rest and progesterone pessaries on and off from 24 weeks.

Have you been on the website keepemcookin.com? It's American but a lot of people on there going through or have gone through the same.

Fingers crossed that all goes well with your stitch tomorrow. I presume they will be able to advise you further once they have done the stitch the bed rest etc x

Thanks for the website tip, apple. I will take a look at that now.

Did you find progesterone pessaries worked for you?

Yes, I was on 400mg of cyclogest three times a day once the consultant first detected shortening, lengthened mine from 2.3 to 3.4. I never had funnelling though, was put on them as I went from 3.7 to 2.4 in just over a week and was 24 weeks at the time, cervix was also soft. The bed rest really helped though in the beginning, had two weeks of good bed rest and it was after that it showed improvement.

I'm really sorry to hear that you need an emergency stitch, hope it goes well tomorrow! My first son was born at 32 weeks and in my second pregnancy I was monitored for incompetent cervix, but both cases were not as extreme as yours - I only ever developed problems quite late in the day. I think my cervix went from 2.5cm at around 25 weeks to 1.7cm - that was the worst measurement - at 27-28 weeks. I was put on bed rest, initially in hospital and then at home. It stabilized for a few weeks and eventually even made it back up to 2.1cm or something at 32 weeks. Second son was born at 36+4.

I am not sure that the strict bed rest was the key, or whether just taking it a bit easier would have been enough - there is no proof that bedrest helps, but certainly it makes sense that resting horizontally is better for your cervix than sitting or standing. Now I'm pregnant again with DC3, almost 28 weeks and this time am trying progesterone and lots of resting up, but so far no real bed rest. It's working ok so far.

I can imagine that it'S terrifying after your loss, but try and keep thinking positive! The danger signs have been spotted and a stitch and lots of rest can work wonders. I will be crossing my fingers for you. There are a few of us posting over here, and I think there are some others on the thread with experience of a cervical stitch:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pregnancy/2342354-Short-cervix-and-pregnant-again
Come and join us!

Hello! I'm having a stitch tomorrow too! Luckily for me it's precentative not emergency so less stressful. I also had a preventative one with DS after my cervix measured 2.4cm at 13 weeks. The vagueness and inconsistency of the info they give is really annoying - I was told to take it easy but in effect for me that meant still walking the dog an hour a day (albeit slower with lots of sitdowns!) and carrying on largely as usual. I didn't have any progesterone. This time around (I'm 13+4) the consultant has said she'll review and use progesterone if needed.

I know it must be much more scary to have this in emergency circumstances but if they can place the stitch well and slow things down you should be in a really good position. I'd advise you to maybe make a list of questions to ask tomorrow as you won't get a lot of time with the consultant and they tend to bustle in and out.

I'll be thinking of you tomorrow and hope all goes well.

Piz

Thanks for the feedback.

What really throws me is the difference between US and UK policies on this kind of thing. It was similar with my pprom last year. The US seems big on bedrest, whereas the NHS seems very concerned about dvt.

I suspect now that my cervix was probably the cause of my pprom last year, so it is good that they have caught the shortening in time but crikey...such a reduction in 14 days? It's terrifying.

How did the op go worksallhours? Did you get any more useful info? Mine went well, apparently the cervix was quite short alrwady but they're happy the stitch went well etc. got some serious cramping this time though which I didn't get as badly last time I'm sure, I swear it's my uterus telling me to leave it the fuck alone!!!

How did it go worksallhours?

I lost my son at 23 week's due to cervical weakness 3 years ago. I had my little girl at 37+4 weeks last April.I had funneling and my cervix shortened from 2.4cm to 1.2cm over night at 18 weeks. I had a few complications but it worked and kept her in :-) Hope all went well!

Thanks for your good wishes!

Op went well yesterday, though I lost my nerve a bit when they were doing the spinal. Turned out I was more like 1.5 cm but the surgeon was very positive and said she had enough to work with, my membranes were okay and there was hardly any bleed. I had a shirodkar stitch.

The most painful part was the bloody cannula! The ones they use for maternity are so long that I didn't have any viable veins. They had to try and insert over and over. It took five attempts and my hands look like a pin cushion.

Took about four hours for the spinal to wear off and I haven't had any pain, just a kind of "day before period" sensation.

As regards aftercare, well that's still a bit vague. I asked everyone I could and didn't get any really firm and clear guidelines at all, so I am going to go with what makes sense to me in the circumstances.

I gave a follow-up TV scan next Friday to see what is happening, but we are really hopeful.

And you know... it's in the past and can't be changed but I really wish that they had checked my cervical length after my pprom last year. I feel pretty certain that this is why my membranes went and to have a more definite cause for the pprom would have made things more bearable to deal with.

I suspect the cause for the ic is a cervical procedure I had done twenty-two years ago when I had abnormal cells. I just wish I had known this could be a cause for ic, as I would have requested regular TV scans for that pregnancy and I may not have lost our first baby.

But it is as it is. And hopefully we'll make it through this time.

Glad the surgery went well worksallhours , fingers crossed for your TV scan and some further clarification on what you need to do going forwards.