Cerclage Update

Well today's consultation with the doctor about a cerclage was interesting. First, I was able to get another ultrasound, including 3D, which was of course, fun! I've attached one of the pictures where you can actually see it's legs and arms. It's amazing to see it in real life :)

As for the actual consultation, there were moments that I just wanted to cry. I was by myself and things got a little fuzzy for me at times. Basically, he looked at my records from Ethan's birth and said that when they tested the placenta, they found an infection. This could have been what caused me to originally go into labor. He also said that there may not be anything we can do to stop it from happening again. The cerclage could cause the very things it's supposed to protect me from to happen. So, in the end, he gave me the choice of whether or not to get the cerclage this time. Without a thought, I said yes because my OB is highly recommending it. The doctor was really nice but he just kept saying things like, premature births are a syndrome and every possibility leads to a premature birth. It just made me feel like there was no hope in the situation, which was very frustrating. In the end, he did start to make me feel some hope when he said that the cerclage certainly helps my chances and I could make it to my due date, of course this is after all of the other stuff that made me feel awful. He also recommended getting the progesterone shots, which I have talked to other moms about and they said it worked for them. He said that they don't hurt the baby, but they help to calm the uterus and keep it from contracting. So, on April 22, I will get the cerclage put in and a couple of weeks after that I will start the shots.

They tried to talk me into getting an early screen to check for some chromosomal abnormalities. I declined the test and said that I needed to make the decision with Matt. They looked at me like I was awful for making that decision. Their argument for the test was to actually tell me that before I go into a surgery, I may want to know if something is wrong with the baby and then she kind of gave a "knowing" look. The doctor had told me the exact same thing. Basically, what I got from that is that I may want to know so that I could 1) terminate the pregnancy, if I so choose or 2) it won't matter if I go into labor early because something is wrong with the baby, so it would be ok if it died. I was so disturbed by that, so I just told them "look, I'm going to continue with this pregnancy no matter what a test says and I'm going to also get the cerclage no matter what". Again, they gave me a look and told me that it would be good to be informed. As I looked at the paperwork, I saw that this test would only give a percentage of possibility the the baby could have an abnormality. So, it really doesn't do anything but worry both Matt and I. We discussed it and made the same decision that we made when I was preganant with Ethan. Whatever comes our way, we will deal with it at that time. We would never make a decision to end the pregnancy or to not give the pregnancy the best chance. We never expected what happened with Ethan, and we survived. Even if something more difficult would come our way, we will take care of it and we know God will help us through whatever comes our way.