IC Momma Please come in!!!!

Re: IC Momma Please come in!!!!

• leneae10 member

  August 2010

  Basically, if your cervix opened and your baby came prematurely, there is no way you could have had a perfect cervix.  I had zero symptoms.  My cervix silently dilated (sometimes you hear docs call this "true cervical incompetence) and then I started having contractions.  By the time I was having contractions, I was 10cm dilated.  I had been opening for a few days without knowing it.

  Sometimes, women have pPROM - their water bag is exposed to the vaginal canal (possibly due to an opening cervix), gets infected, and ruptures.  If the sac touches the vaginal canal, there's a pretty good chance the cervix wasn't doing it's job.  <-- this is what happened to lrachelle80 who lost her son Caleb at 19.5 weeks.

  I am seeing a specialist (so is lrachelle) who recommends treating the cervix permanently with a band - the surgery is called a Transabdominal Cerclage (TAC).  I'm having my TAC surgery Sept 9 and she is having hers Sept 30.  I have lots of info in my blog (below).

  If you've lost a baby mid-trimester to pPROM (preterm premature rupture of membranes) or silent dilation, or a host of many other things that indicate a cervix opening tooo soon, you should be treated for IC in future pregnancies.  There are basically 3 methods:

  1) wait and see, get frequent cervical checks and perform a rescue cerclage if needed (rescue cerclages have a fairly low success rate and have a huge risk of infection)

  2) preventative transvaginal cerclage (TVC): done around 13 weeks pregnant, sits low on the cervix, removed around 36 weeks.  responds to gravity, can funnel and cause water bag to sit on the stitch, usually requires bed rest, but is a miracle for women who may not have had true IC

  3) pre-preg TAC or in-preg TAC: Dr. Arthur Haney at the Univ of Chicago Med Center would like this to be the only method of treating IC as he sees women who've had failed TVC's over and over.  This method is permanent, usually no bed rest, gives you a bionic cervix.

  
  Twin boys born too early at 17w4d and 18w2d in February 2010
  Transabdominal cerclage placed September 2010
  DS born at 35w1d in February 2011
  Twin girls born at exactly 36w in February 2013
  
  

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• ravenorchid

  August 2010

  I've been trying to learn more about this as well. I had PROM, but I had been monitored very closely specifically for IC beforehand (since I was spotting) and ultrasounds showed no evidence of it. I'm going to another specialist for another opinion and to come up with a plan for next time. He's going to take a look at my ultrasounds from the 2nd trimester and see what he can tell that way.
  

  Did you have PROM? According to my doctor and the doctors in the hospital, they have known women who have had similar losses who go on to have normal pregnancies in the future, but it is discouraging to learn that IC is usually the case. I'm guessing next pregnancy, I'm going to be monitored more closely, maybe ultrasounds every week in the 2nd trimester or something. Since both TVC and TAC contain risks, my doctor is relunctant to do it unless it seems pretty clear I have IC.
  

  
  
  
  BFP 1: 3/19/10 Loss: 7/9/10
  BFP 2: 12/28/10
  My Blog: Losing Sylvia

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