Hi Becca!
I'm new here too, and I'm with you. It's been more helpful to read these stories than anything else!
My sister was in a similar situation as you with her first. She was diagnosed at 19 weeks with an incompetent cervix - her membranes were already bulging and no one in the region would do a cerclage in her situation. She made it 5 more weeks and had her little girl at 24-5. It was a long time in the NICU but she's a healthy girl with only minor sequelae from her ordeal... and you're already past that, with more cervix to go!
It seems to run in my family, I was 25 mm at 21 weeks, given progesterone and told come back for another scan in a week. Doc was not terribly concerned but I brought up a cerclage immediately, knowing from my sister's experience that time was not on my side and not wanting him to drag his feet on this.
At the next scan just 6 days later I was at 9mm (baby was vertex in that one). My doctor scheduled a cerclage for the following Friday (2 days) and sent me to MFM. MFM couldn't see me until the same time as the surgery, so he said go with them. He knew I was a bit of a complicated patient for anesthesia and MFM is at a better hospital with a better anesthesia team, and the MFM team does more cerclages than he does.
At my MFM consult Friday morning I was 15mm (baby was breech in this one) with funneling, soft cervix, and beginning to dilate but not quite a cm. I had a cerclage that evening, once the c-sections (like 10 of them!) were all done.
That was this past Friday, and I've been recovering since.
I'm so thankful the timing worked out the way it did and I was short enough that it was indicated, long enough that they had tissue to work with, and had already failed progesterone treatment by 22 weeks. I'm lucky in that respect... all the stars aligned. Now it's countdown to viability, and then not-micro, then.... so on.
Being just short of the line like you is the worst! Maybe you can ask about a pessary? Have faith, a lot of women here extended their pregnancies plenty by just bed rest, and if they are willing to keep you in hospital for that rest it's great... they can act quickly to stop contractions if they need to. If you make it 5 weeks like my sis did (and she was starting from further effaced and dilated than you are), you'll be 30 weeks! Sure that's a bit early, but her chances are great then. She's already viable (I'm so looking forward to when I can say my LO is viable!) and every day she's getting stronger.
