I had a cervical cerclage put in on Thursday at 24 weeks as my cervix was shortening and I've had two premature deliveries. I was in hospital over night and came home on Friday. I've been told to rest for 7 days. Someone I know had the same procedure previously and she was told to stay horizontal for 3 days and after that to only stand up when necessary. Her baby was born at full term and, as I can follow the same advice, that's what I've been doing.
I've had a few tightenings each day but nothing regular and I feel generally tender but not too bad. Yesterday I decided to go downstairs and lay on the sofa (I've been staying upstairs as the bathroom is up here) and just doing that seemed to bring on more tightenings and made the pain worse. I called Maternity Assessment Unit who said to go in. I was examined and the cervix is closed so they said they weren't true contractions, however there are signs of infection so I've been prescribed antibiotics.
Today the pain is worse. No real tightenings but a general dull ache. Is this likely to just be from where I'm tender and did more yesterday with getting up and going in to hospital? How long should I expect this discomfort to last? And how will I know if I should be more concerned about the pain? I knew that the cerclage could risk putting me in to labour or risk and infection which could put me in to labour which is why I phoned MAU yesterday, however they seemed to think I was overreacting a bit. With my history I am probably over cautious. DD1 was born at 28 weeks after a very quick labour and no signs of any problems before that point. I know that if I do go in to premature labour it's best to get to the hospital ASAP so they can give me steroids to develop the baby's lungs. But I also don't want to overreact and go to hospital every time I'm in a bit of discomfort. I just don't know what's normal because I've never had a "normal" pregnancy and I've never had a cerclage before.
If anyone has any advice it would be much appreciated.