High Risk Appointment 2

We had our second appointment with the high risk doctor today (Jan. 20) to see if we're good to go with the cerclage.  I was nervous about this appointment (as I am about all of them at this point) because I'd like to have the surgery as soon as possible.  I know we need to wait until the end of the first trimester to make sure everything is OK and it's safe to essentially seal up the uterus, but I'm just ready to have that bit of security.

We were called back pretty quickly and the tech started the ultrasound.  The baby looked good and was pretty active.  It was nice to see him or her moving around.  More proof of life and growth.  The ultrasound was longer than I had initially expected but getting to see our baby longer was just fine with me.  The tech looked at my cervix (still nice and long), checked the baby's growth and tried to get a measurement of the back of the neck (if it's too thick it can be an indicator of a neurological problem).  The baby wasn't cooperating with the last part because he or she kept laying on the bottom of my uterus making it difficult to see the neck.

We saw another doctor (there are 3 in the practice) this time.  She did the ultrasound too and was able to get the measurement of the neck and it looked good (not too thick).  After double checking the baby and my cervix she said going ahead with the surgery this week would be her recommendation.  She said everything looked good and we would be close enough to the end of the first trimester that doing it now was fine.  She called up and got me scheduled for Thursday in the morning.

The only other thing we talked about was possibly starting progesterone again once I hit about 16 weeks.  Progesterone helps keep the cervix closed at that point in pregnancy.  It's something we're going to think about.  The other doctor (who we saw with Madeline) said he didn't think it was necessary.  As he put it, "Progesterone strengthens the cervix, but we're putting a stitch in it.  You can't get much stronger than that."  He also said that research doesn't show that adding progesterone to a cerclage made a significant difference.  We'll talk about it again after the surgery.

It's still hard to believe this is all happening.  I'm glad we're getting this part over with.  I think I'll feel a lot better and more confident afterwards.  Hopefully it will be more real and I'll be able to deal with things better.  I won't be able to live in denial anymore, which is a good thing.