Messages

1

What's Your Story? Tell us. / 4 Years Later...

« on: June 30, 2015 at 03:10 PM »

Hi everyone! I was on this forum 4 years ago when I was pregnant with my daughter. I spent 12 weeks on bedrest starting at 22 weeks with a short cervix and an emergency cerclage. I was on a variety of meds, in and out of the hospital a few times before delivering at 35 weeks because my water broke. It was an emotional time and having this forum helped me get through the days!

My daughter just celebrated her 4th birthday and is a happy, healthy little girl. Every year on her birthday I remember how scared I was during my pregnancy and am thankful for the community of women I found here during that time

I am SO thankful for her and just wanted to offer you all encouragement as you deal with a stressful, high risk pregnancy! You can do it and, in the end, it will be totally worth it!

-Michelle

2

What's Your Story? Tell us. / Re: Back here again

« on: March 09, 2012 at 04:18 PM »

I just randomly checked the forum today. Don't even know what led me here, but I saw your post and wanted to respond since we were on bedrest together last spring/summer.

Anyway, I'm praying for/thinking of you and hoping for a miracle!

Michelle

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What's Your Story? Tell us. / Re: PROM @ 13 weeks.

« on: October 29, 2011 at 09:54 PM »

Hi Hannah! I had my baby this past summer after completing 12 weeks of bedrest and so far bedrest has been the hardest thing I've ever done. But I don't regret one single day of it & I would do it all over again if I had to. Several things were hard about it, worrying about your baby, being tired of laying on the couch/bed and having to ask everyone for help are just a few...but loneliness was by far the worst. I don't know what kind or size of church you go to, but most churches have an announcement time, maybe you could have your husband or someone announce that you would really like some visitors? We had people from our church ask how they could help us and they seemed surprised when I said that company would be nice, that just to come visit would be as helpful as anything else they could be doing. I really think that they didn't consider that I might be lonely laying on the couch all day.

Also...if you get a chance join the weekly chats here, it was really nice to have other women to talk to that were going through the same things.

Michelle

4

Preterm Labor: Anything and Everything / Re: Interested in your cerclage removal experience!!

« on: September 23, 2011 at 09:03 PM »

Mine was removed at 35 weeks because my water had broken. The process wasn't terrible. The doctor who put it in attached "buttons" to the ends so the stitch was easy to find. The part that was unpleasant was the speculum. The doctor had to crank it wide open to get to the stitch and then left it in and cranked open while she went on and on about how "cool" the stitch was. So basically, it wouldn't have been bad at all if the doctor had just removed the speculum more quickly! I had been a little dilated before the stitch was taken out and then immediately dilated to 3cm when it was removed. I was already in labor when the stitch was taken out & my baby was born less than 12 hours later!

Hope your stitch removal is as painless as it can be!

Michelle

5

What's Your Story? Tell us. / Re: A Happy Birth Story

« on: September 20, 2011 at 01:12 PM »

Congratulations!! Your story is so similar to mine...my little one was born at 35 weeks & also came home on a monitor due to apnea/reflux. Hope everything continues to go well & you're able to get rid of the monitor soon!!

6

What's Your Story? Tell us. / Our baby girl is here!

« on: August 30, 2011 at 01:16 PM »

Life has been very busy since our baby girl arrived, and I haven't really had time until recently to post my story.

As a recap, at 22 weeks my cervix was 1cm dilated and only 1cm long. Immediately a rescue cerclage was put in and I was put on bedrest. At 26 weeks my cervix had funneled to the stitch. Things remained pretty stable until 33 weeks when I went into preterm labor. They stopped my labor and put me on Procardia.

At the end of June, when I was 34 weeks, my OB lifted most of my bedrest restrictions. There were still several things I couldn't do, but I could be up moving around a little more. Honestly I didn't have the strength to be up for very long, 12 weeks of bedrest and being hugely pregnant had drained my energy!

5 days later, my water broke. It was just like in the movies...a big gush of fluid, a puddle and a large wet spot on my pants. My husband immediately FREAKED OUT! We immediately went to the hospital where my stitch was removed. (Stitch removal wasn't completely terrible, however the speculum was uncomfortable to say the least!) Labor went pretty quickly, once the Procardia wore off, contractions intensified and our baby girl was born about an hour and 3 pushes later.

Avery Katherine was born on June 28th at 35w1d weighing 5lbs 1oz and was 17.5 inches long. Other than being premature, she was completely healthy and perfectly beautiful!

She did end up spending 3 weeks in the NICU. And after going through that, I would gladly do bedrest all over again and for as long as necessary to try to have a full term baby. I am immensely grateful for all the days/weeks of bedrest allowing my baby to grow inside of me for as long as she did!

She's 2 months old now and at her 2 month well-child appointment yesterday she weighed in at 8lbs 5oz and is 20.5 inches long. She's a growing girl!!

Finding this site at the beginning of my bedrest was a huge blessing for me. It was so helpful for me to know I wasn't alone and to read so many success stories!

For some reason I can't get pictures to post, so if you want to see pics of our baby girl check out my blog: http://trialsandtriumphs.wordpress.com

Michelle

7

Making the Best of Bed Rest / Re: Baby items: new vs used?

« on: June 29, 2011 at 10:43 PM »

I agree w/ flowerchica's recommendations

8

Making the Best of Bed Rest / Re: Monday Roll Call for June 27

« on: June 27, 2011 at 02:29 PM »

Hi everyone!

I'm still here at 35 weeks today! At my doctor appointment last week most of my bedrest restrictions were lifted!!! I was completely surprised and SO excited. I'm still not supposed to do anything strenuous or lift heavy things (i.e. my son), but that's OK. It has been nice to return to more of a normal routine, but I find that I wear out really quickly and still spend a lot of time on the couch.

My stitch is scheduled to come out on July 7th. I'm excited and nervous about it, but each day I'm getting more and more excited about meeting our baby girl.

9

Making the Best of Bed Rest / Re: Cerclage removal during a C-section?

« on: June 24, 2011 at 08:00 PM »

Dr. Wolfberg - I'm curious as to what constitutes a failed vaginal cerclage? Any delivery before term? Or is there more to it than that?

At my last appointment w/ my high risk docs they talked about my options for future pregnancies (if we decide to have more children) and they definitely mentioned an abdominal cerclage as an option. So I'm just curious.

10

Making the Best of Bed Rest / Re: Cerclage removal during a C-section?

« on: June 21, 2011 at 07:41 PM »

Sounds like a good plan to me!!

11

Making the Best of Bed Rest / Re: Twins are here!

« on: June 20, 2011 at 11:46 AM »

Congratulations on the birth of your babies! I will definitely be keeping your family in my prayers & hope Beckett's latch improves quickly!

12

Making the Best of Bed Rest / Re: Monday Roll Call for June 20!

« on: June 20, 2011 at 11:43 AM »

Congrats to all the mom's who delivered this past week!

I'm holding steady at 34 weeks today! Last week I went into preterm labor, but it was stopped pretty easily and now I'm on Procardia for the next couple of weeks. It seems to be doing the trick. I also "graduated" from the high risk doctors last week and now I'm only seeing my regular OB for the remainder of the pregnancy. I'm getting more and more excited to meet my little one and (of course) to be off bedrest!

Hope everyone else is doing well!

Michelle

13

Preterm Labor: Anything and Everything / Re: Eventful Week

« on: June 15, 2011 at 09:28 PM »

Well I have it now! I'm on the extended release version, so I'm only supposed to take it 2X a day. So far that seems to be working. I do wonder if I could take an extra dose if the contractions kicked up again. I'll have to ask about that. I am also doing the 17P injections and trying to make sure I stay hydrated. I have definitely noticed that the contractions increase if I don't drink enough water.

So far I haven't really noticed any side effects w/ the Procardia. I had a mild headache yesterday, but not today. My appetite has been decreasing just in general. I feel like I'm running out of room since baby is getting bigger and I get full really fast when I eat nowadays. Sometimes my 20 month old son eats more than me!

14

Preterm Labor: Anything and Everything / Re: Trying to stay positive.....why are the doctors so negative!!!

« on: June 15, 2011 at 07:49 PM »

It is SO frustrating when the doctors are so negative. I understand that they need to let us know what could happen, but why not mix in some of the success stories? My high risk docs were the worst at being negative & I always dreaded those appointments (I don't have to see them anymore!) whereas my regular OB was much more positive and encouraging, telling me a few success stories that gave me more hope and strength to continue with bedrest and helped to keep my morale up. I had a cerclage put in at 22 weeks and by 26 weeks I was funneled to the stitch. That left me with about half of a centimeter left of my cervix. I'm now 32 weeks 5 days and still pregnant!

There's no reason to give up hope that you could make it several more weeks!

15

Preterm Labor: Anything and Everything / Eventful Week

« on: June 15, 2011 at 07:39 PM »

Last week (at 31 weeks) I started having some contractions. They weren't consistent or painful, but they made me nervous since my cervix has been funneled to the stitch for several weeks. By the time my appointment rolled around on Thursday, the contractions had increased in frequency & discomfort and I planned to talk to the OB about them. I definitely felt like they were stronger than they should have been. Unfortunately my regular OB was on vacation last week, so I saw a different doctor in the same practice. As soon as he looked at my U/S results and saw the state of my cervix (nothing had changed since my last appointment) he seemed to freak out. Started telling me about bedrest & pelvic rest. I informed him that I'd been on bedrest for several weeks already. When I asked him about the contractions, he hardly listened to me. I mentioned them again before the end of the appointment and specifically told him that my regular OB said he would start Procardia if I started contracting. Without asking any further questions he told me I wasn't a candidate for it.

Over the weekend my contractions slowly increased in frequency and by Monday morning they were getting regular and painful. I immediately called my OB's office (he was back from vacation!) and was told to go straight to the hospital. We went in and sure enough, I was in preterm labor, 100% effaced & 1 cm dilated. Thankfully, they were able to get the contractions stopped & my stitch didn't tear. I am now home from the hospital & on Procardia which is working quite nicely Hoping my baby girl has a few more weeks to grow before she makes her appearance!

If the fill in doc would have just listened to me and given it to me last week, we could have avoided preterm labor & another hospital stay!