Hello. I'm 19 1/2 weeks into pregnancy number 4, but have lost the three prior. The doctors have been monitoring my cervical length, and after being stable for a number of weeks, it abruptly dropped today from about 1.3-1.5cm down to ~0.9cm. I've been on vaginal progesterone for about a month, and now I'm going tomorrow for a cerclage. Just wondering if anyone has been through cerclage and what it was like/what their outcomes were. I'm kind of stressing about being awake during the procedure. I wish they would give me something to knock me out, but understand that that would potentially be bad for the baby.
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@karenbme: I have no personal experience but a friend of mine had to get one for two of her pregnancies (plus bedrest) and then had no issues with her third. All babies born happy and healthy. Hoping everything goes as smoothly as possible.
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Don't have experience but just wanted to send good vibes that everything goes well tomorrow!
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@karenbme: Hi, hun!
To respond: While I did not have one placed in, my mother did when she was carrying my brother. I was 14 at the time. I remember she had it placed in with a numbing agent. She was also given Tylenol beforehand. She stated that it was not very painful; however, I remember her complaining about the progesterone inserts daily 🤣. (I loathe Crinone as well.) When she began having Braxton Hicks at 37 weeks, it was removed. (*This is all to the best of my memory ... I'm nearly 40 now so I'm affording you the shorthand version of my fuzzy memories.🦳
Best of luck
and, please, update when you can. 
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@crazydoglady: Thanks, good to hear positive experiences.
@MamaBear87: Thanks!
@Kaohinani: Thanks. I’ve heard that the procedure itself is not that bad, and it’s good to hear about positive outcomes. I’m just so worried about the baby, and the less aware of the team of doctors elbow deep in my vag I am the better. On the plus side I haven’t had any negative side effects from the Crinone (except maybe anxiety, but that could just be complications/history).🤞it stays that way because I’ve got another 4 months of it in the best case scenario.
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I have not had one but I had a friend have one. She had it removed at 37 weeks and had her baby at 40 weeks
no issues
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Not myself but my aunt had to have one placed for all 3 of her successful pregnancies. She miscarried twice before they realized this is what the issue was. Once they realized and did the cerclages she had 3 successful pregnancies.
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Wishing you lots of luck and a speedy procedure today!
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Wishing you good luck! Have they thought about putting you on Makena? I'm surprised they have you on that type of progesterone when you could get the shots!
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I don’t know anything about cerclages but thinking about you and sending good vibes
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Just wanted to update. Everything went well yesterday. I had trouble keeping it together beforehand (hormones/worry about the baby/being in L&D way too early) so they made an exception and let DH come into the OR with me, which was really helpful. The spinal took a while to work so I felt some of it at the beginning, nothing bad, but after that it was just pressure/jiggling. A little pain afterwards, but haven’t needed Tylenol since coming home yesterday and I probably would have been ok to go to work today. I was a little worried because I wasn’t feeling the baby move last night, but we have a home doppler and could hear her heartbeat loud and clear and the crackles that mean she was moving around and now I feel it again today, so probably totally normal. For the most part, the recommendations aren’t that bad, I can do most normal things, still no running or lifting more than 20lbs. The one exception is they’ve said no sexual stimulation for the rest of the pregnancy, which is disappointing, but hopefully will be worth it.
Fingers crossed that this keeps my body strong enough to carry the pregnancy to term. There isn’t a ton of good research on IC, but what there is shows that with intervention about 70% of babies are born at or after 37 weeks, but the amount of cervix left makes a difference, and I’m at the lower end of the spectrum there. The MFM team here doesn’t continue to monitor cervical length after placing a cerclage, because there’s nothing else they can do, but I’m sure if I asked my OB they’d do it for me on a one off basis.
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@karenbme: Fantastic update!
I am so happy that everything has gone so well.
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I'm glad the procedure went well!
I didn't have one, but my cousin's wife did for their second baby. Their first was born at 29w5d and had some complications and a long NICU stay. They did a cerclage for their second. She started going into labor around 32 weeks but they were able to stop it with bed rest and made it to 34 weeks for delivery. Baby was perfectly healthy. Good luck to you!
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@karenbme: i'm sorry about all the anxiety, but so glad it went well overall. all of the fingers and toes are crossed for you that this is just the intervention you need--keep cookin in there baby!
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@cyoung: @Ajsmommy: @kayla0416: Thanks, ladies. It’s good to hear success stories. We have our fingers and toes crossed for this little one.
@fuzzypeaches: I know, right??? At this point, though, we know we’re not going to get that either now or in the future. I do think I’m up for trying for two if this one results in a healthy baby, though. Having everything on the table from, “you could deliver before baby is viable,” to, “if this is successful we might wind up needing to induce at 41 weeks,” is the hardest part because it’s impossible to prepare. At least in the future we’ll know more what to expect from my body.
@Kaohinani: Thank you, mama!
@nwm: Thanks, I’m really hoping we get at least to mid October, and on average patients with cerclages stay pregnant an additional 15-16 weeks, which would put us right around Halloween, so 🤞🤞🤞
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@karenbme: So glad everything went well for you!
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Hang in there hun! I had an IC (but no cerclage as it was discovered too late and changed rapidly within a week). Mine got dicey at 29 weeks when it began funnelling and dilating and I ended up on hospital bedrest BUT with medication and strict resting, I kept her in until almost 38 weeks... and then we induced to boot her out!
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Updating with outcomes for future readers. My water ended up breaking early, but when I went into labor I actually needed interventions to get my cervix to open due to scar tissue, possibly from the cerclage or an earlier procedure. Baby girl was born at 35 weeks exactly, and is now perfectly healthy at almost 8 weeks.
and, please, update when you can. 
no issues
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