Pre-op appointment

Yesterday I met with the OB who will be placing my cerclage next Friday. She is one of the few in my OB practice whom I have not met yet. She was a bit abrasive to start but we got to talking and things softened. I did have to chuckle when she said:

"Your cervical length on ultrasound is 4.0 right now, that's good. But I take it you still want the cerclage? Have you been pregnant before?"

I know she's busy - they're all busy running from patient to patient (I waited in the waiting room for 45 minutes!)... but I'm there for cerclage placement, the LEAST you can do is read my chart and my history - it won't take long, promise!

I have a LEEP and 2 cone biopsies in 1998, followed by a 28 week gestation delivery in 2006 - these are MORE than reason enough for a cerclage. Then she commented, "Well, 28 weeks is good!". Um, ya, I guess. Compared to 24 weeks, 28 weeks is good. But compared to full term, 28 is bad! I'm not looking for 'good', I'm looking for full term.

She did a quick ultrasound, which was a welcomed surprise! I got to see my little bean baby bouncing around and s/he was waving! I was so happy - but no sooner did I see that, it was over. She then did a manual exam of my cervix and had to comment there "well, you certainly don't feel like you have a 4 cm cervix - you don't have much cervix up front but there seems to be a lot in back. I think the cerclage is a good idea". Duh.

The better part? She said I can go swimming when I'm on vacation! She said she didn't want me doing cannon balls into the pool or something but if I wanted to go wading into the ocean with Arianna or leisurely swim, I have permission. No sex until after baby though - sorry hubby!

The only thing that concerned me was that I won't be getting antibiotics to take after surgery. I'll get them in my IV during surgery, but nothing afterwards. Infection is a major cause of early cerclage failure and means end of the pregnancy - which is obviously scary... but then I started asking other women with cerclages and found many of them DON'T get antibiotics after cerclage placement so that made me feel less panicky.

So now I'm just biding my time until next Friday's surgery. I'm nervous but excited to get it over with.

Next Monday is my NT ultrasound which I'm very much looking forward to - any chance to see my little bean baby again make me happy!