Cerclage

Thursday January 23, 2014

Today I had the cerclage.  Everything went well so hopefully this will be the hardest thing to go through (I can hope right?).  My mom came down yesterday so she could be there with Adam today and is going to stay for a week.  I'm not on any restrictions besides regular pregnancy restrictions but they said to take it easy for the first week.  It'll be nice to have her company and help.

We had to be at the hospital to register at 7:30 am.  I've been having a lot of trouble sleeping and last night was no exception.  I managed a couple hours before we had to get up to leave.  We went up to the second floor (labor and delivery) to register because I was having surgery in the same ORs as last time (the have 2 on the L&D floor).  Once I was registered we were taken back to one of the recovery rooms (the same one as last time . . . of course).  I changed into the lovely hospital gown and my nurse started all of my intake paperwork and got my IV started.

As we were waiting for the doctor to arrive and get things going for my surgery at 9am, the nurse who runs our support group came back to see me.  She works at the hospital and happened to be working today so she was able to visit for a bit.  It made the whole experience so much better.  Seeing a familiar face that I trust made me less anxious.  Plus the nurse who was assigned to me already knew a bit about me because our support group leader told her and that was nice too.  She was extra sensitive about why I was there.

Once the doctor got there and the OR was ready I put my hair cap on and was wheeled into the operating room (the same one as last time . . . at least I have better memories this time).  Once I got on the table they gave me the spinal block.  Even though I knew what to expect from last time it was still an odd experience.  Feeling your whole lower half go numb is just weird.  The surgery itself didn't take too long.  I could feel the doctor working around (pressure) but the spinal block worked just fine so I didn't feel any pain.  Once she was done and they moved me back to the regular bed she told me everything went fine and I had plenty of cervix to work with so everything should be good from here on out.

They took me back to recovery (and Mom and Adam) where I spent the next several hours waiting for my legs to wake back up.  The rest of the time in the hospital was pretty uneventful (which is good).  Mostly just laying in bed, eating lunch (to make sure I could keep it down) and periodically trying to move my legs and feet.  Once I had enough feeling back to try and walk the nurse helped me out of bed and to the bathroom (another milestone to pass before I could leave).  After I accomplished the final task they paged my doctor so I could be discharged.

She came back to talk to us and reiterated that the surgery went well and my cervix was plenty long (no shortening).  She said to rest the next day and take it easy for the following week but after that I could go back to normal.  I should expect some spotting over the next few days but tapering off by Monday.  I don't have any restrictions other than normal pregnancy ones.  She seemed confident that based on doing the cerclage now and that my cervix was still long I shouldn't need to worry about bed rest or anything.  So we'll see.  I have a follow up in a week to check and make sure it's still looking good but after that I should have a "normal pregnancy."  They might put me on progesterone again, but we'll talk about it next Thursday.  One doctor didn't recommend it and the other did.

After I got the go ahead from the doctor they took my IV out, went over paperwork, I got dressed and then we were able to leave.  We headed home around 3pm.  I've spent the rest of the day laying on the couch, chatting with Mom and watching Harry Potter.  Taking it easy as instructed.  I've had some soreness but it hasn't been too awful.  Here's hoping the next few days lead to more healing leading to a positive check up on Thursday.