Pregnant Again

My husband and I discussed trying again. We had a diagnosis and we know how to stop what happened last time. Plus, we're not getting any younger. We thought it would take at least six months to get pregnant again. Your body goes through stuff when you're pregnant, how can it bounce right back into baby making mode? Well it can.

Just four short months later, May 2018, I took some pregnancy tests, and they came back positive (as shown above). What? We are expecting...again. My husband and I were in a state of shock. Happy shock, but shock nonetheless. After losing Hannah, we didn’t think it would happen easily for us. How could we be lucky twice? It is nice to know we do not have trouble getting pregnant. We know so many people do. As soon as I could, I went to my OB and set up an appointment. I did not see her until I was about seven weeks pregnant. She was just as pleased as we were about the positive pregnancy test. She told me that she took our case to a panel and other doctors agreed that if I got pregnant again, I should see a specialist and get the preventative stitch. Immediately, she referred us to Maternal Fetal Medicine to talk about our options.

About a week later, we met with maternal fetal specialist, we came up with a plan. Basically, I did not see my OB again until August. My doctor said a cervical cerclage (a stitch) is what is recommended for me. He said there is a range for preterm birth. It goes from insufficient cervix to preterm labor. For the cervical issue, the problem is muscular and the stitch is recommended. If the issue was preterm labor, it is hormonal and progesterone is recommended. Most people lie in the middle, so they receive both. He believed it was strictly the muscle based on how everything went down in January. So, we set a date for the cerclage. I had to wait a whole month! That’s when I would be twelve weeks along, in my second trimester.

The date was set, tests we scheduled, we are having a baby. We will never replace the daughter we lost. I still wish I didn't have this stupid insufficient cervix that can't do its job. It has one job! Keep that baby in! These are emotions that have been with me throughout this pregnancy. Many people asked if we planned to get pregnant right away. We did not. We basically decided to not stop a pregnancy. Our thought, it would take at least six months.

Funny thing, if I waited to take the pregnancy test, I would have known about a week later. Morning sickness kicked in full force. I did not have morning sickness that bad with my first. It was there, but only lasted three weeks. This one lasted my whole first trimester. My husband and I were on edge even more this first trimester. Even though the first ultrasound looked great, we fears a miscarriage. We did not fear anything would happen with my cervix again. Anyone with cervical insufficiency has problems at about twenty to twenty six weeks. We knew this whole pregnancy we would be on edge. How could you not? After going through this whole ordeal, how could you not be afraid the same thing would happen again? The closer we got to the date of the cerclage, the more anxious we got. We both just wanted this to be over. To be done. It would put our minds at ease knowing something was there to keep our baby in.

Tune in for the next post for the cerclage experience.