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No experience with having one myself, but my mom had one with me and I turned out great!
I was worried that I may need one - but so far so good. From what I've read, it's a pretty common and straightforward procedure. I think the main thing is to take it easy afterwards. Nothing too strenuous. My mom had to stay on bedrest after they did hers - but I don't think that's the case these days.
Hope someone with more experience can weigh in.

I don't really have anything helpful to add, I just wanted to say I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you and hope you'll update us after your surgery goes well!

I had an emergency cerclage at 24 weeks due to my cervix being dilated and my membranes bulging. If I had not gotten the cerclage, I probably would have gone into preterm labour and at 24 weeks, my baby would have had a 50% chance of surviving.

I understand how scared you must feel and wanted to share my experience. The spinal did not hurt at all. I just felt a pinch when they gave me the local anesthetic before the spinal. I could not feel anything down there within a few minutes. I did start shivering uncontrollaby as I felt so cold and I understand that is a side effect of the spinal. Insertion of the cerclage itself took maybe 10 minutes. Afterwards I experienced some spotting for a couple of days which is normal since the cervix was punctured. I was also put on antibiotics for 30 days as a precaution and was on strict bed rest for the rest of my pregnancy. My doctor told me that emergency cerclages often do not work but I made it to 37 weeks when I had a scheduled c-section because the baby was breeched.

Preventative cerclages like the one you will be getting have a much higher rate of success. You will probably need to take it easy and have your cervix closely monitored. I'm sure you and your baby will be fine.

There is a support group on baby center for women with an incompetent cervix that I found really useful: http://community.babycenter.com/groups/a6685995/cervical_incompetence_support_group

Good luck!

I know of a friend who had this done when she was pregnant with her twins. I don't know the full details but she was on bed rest for awhile afterwards. Regardless, her beautiful twin girls are 3! Best of luck to you!

DH's cousin had one because she went into early labor around 4-5 months. They told her to take it easy, don't do anything strenuous (no cleaning/vacuuming, etc), and to just relax a lot. She didn't go on bed rest, though. She did have the baby pretty early (~30 weeks I think) and he spent a week in the NICU, but now he's almost a year and he's catching up awfully quick.

A girlfriend of mine had a spinal block when she broke her ankle (at 8 months pregnant) and it was no biggie.

Hang in there! Maybe you can use this as an excuse to hire a housecleaner or something....and never cook another meal for 7 more months...

I know this is a very old thread but it was a little comforting reading some of these responses. Today, my nurse told me that the OB wants to see me to check on my cervix and see if it's still shortening.

So this cerclage is put on with the spinal block and it's surgery? My nurse said that it's 'string' around my cervix and I assume it was something that could be done in the OB office.

@twodoghouse: I've had some cramping but I thought it was normal. I forget what my cervix was when I saw the OB last week. The OB said she would let the MFM know of my length and if they (the MFM) were concerned, they would be calling me to schedule an appt. Today I got an phone call from the OB to see me this week (so maybe the MFM isn't concerned quite yet and maybe the OB just wants to monitor me.)

I wasn't bothered by the cerclage when the nurse told me about it on the phone, since I've read about it. I think it's fairly common and safe, too. Though, this talk about surgery, spinal blocks, early bed rest is starting to worry me.

@bluestriped bee: Littleredhairedgirl did just have her second cerclage, so if she doesn't chime in you can wall her. I'm interested in this too, since I'm having some painful BH's. The midwife totally blew me off, but I have an ultrasound with MFM next week, so we'll see what they say.