You Want to Sew What Together?

On August 11 I went to the high risk doctor for a cervical length check up. Two weeks prior, when I was a little over 20 weeks, my cervix measured 39mm (3.9cm) which was normal. The doctor said I didn't have to schedule a follow up because she was happy with the cervix length. I ended up scheduling a follow up for 2 weeks later, just for peace of mind and thank God I did. In two weeks my cervix had shortened to 19mm (1.9cm). The doctor said think of your cervix like a funnel and the end of the funnel was opening up. I did not want to go into labor this early. We decided it was best that I have an emergency cerclage placed the next day.

A cerclage is essentially when they put a few stitches in your cervix to prevent the baby from coming out. Yeah, doesn't sound like fun does it?

They scheduled me for an emergency cerclage the next day at 3:30. I was not allowed to eat anything 8 hours prior to the surgery so that morning I woke up at 6:30am and ate since I knew I would be starving. I arrived at the hospital 2 hours prior and just waited and waited. They started my IV and hooked me up to a BP machine. The alarm kept going off because my BP is so low..has been running around 84/50. They finally turned the alarm off because they were sick of having to come in.

I was very nervous for this surgery.

1.     Because they are sewing my cervix closed. I mean, come on, that doesn’t sound like fun at all, does it?

2.   I never had a spinal before.

I walked down the long hallway(while trying to keep the back of my gown closed) and into the operating room. They had me sit on the side of the bed and hug a pillow while I got the numbing medication for the spinal. They said that was the worst part and that it felt like a bee sting. It did feel like a lot of stinging. I was then given the spinal and slowly (very slowly) I was starting to go numb from the waste down.

The anesthesiologist would take an alcohol wipe, wipe my forehead to show me it was cold and wet and then would wipe my upper thigh to keep check to see how much I could feel. I kept telling them I could still feel everything. There was no way in hell I was going to let them do this surgery if I could still feel something..lol. Then one side started getting numb but the other side wasn’t so they titled the whole operating table and let the medicine run to that side of my body for a few minutes. I was finally fully numb and they began the procedure.

The doctor first did an ultrasound to check my cervix..turns out it was down to 17mm (1.7cm) so it was good I decided to have this procedure. I could feel pressure and pulling but I didn’t feel any pain. The surgery and spinal wasn’t bad but I HATED being awake during the procedure and hearing them talk to each other about what was going on..plus I was spread eagle on the table so that was a little weird. Luckily the anesthesiologist kept talking with me to try to get my mind off everything that was going on. The procedure went fine but I kept shaking the whole time..the anesthesiologist said that was normal so I wasn’t too concerned about it. The whole procedure (once they finally began when I was numb) only took about 20 minutes. I was wheeled back into the recovery room.

During recovery I started to feel some cramping and possibly contractions. I told the nurse and they hooked me up to a monitor and to observe. Turns out I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes. At that point I thought for sure I was going to be delivering a 23 weeker that day. I was given Indocin for the cramps and contractions and luckily that stopped them. I was given a script for Indocin every 6 hours as needed for cramping. When I got home..I took the Indocin round the clock, every 6 hours for the next 2 days because I was so scared I was going to go into labor.

I had a follow up a few days later and they did an ultrasound to check the cervical length…my cervix went back to 37mm(3.7cm) which was awesome. So far, so good..no more contractions/cramping and I am not on bedrest. I have a follow up this Thursday to check cervix length..hopefully I didn’t just jinx myself saying that everything is going good J

Moving Day and the New House

Moving day was HECTIC! I never want to do that again! It took about 6 hours for the movers to load the truck at our old house and then unload the truck at our new house. It would have been a lot faster if we had been better prepared for them but we weren’t. For example, we didn’t have the crib taken apart, we didn’t have the mirrors taken off the dressers, didn’t have everything taken out of the fridge, etc. Oh well, all that matters is that it is done and we are starting to settle in. We love the new place so far. Avery seems to like her room and I think she has only fallen out of her bed once so far. She used to roll out of her bed daily at the old house.


We painted our bedroom and Avery’s room in the new house. Eventually the baby’s room will be painted. We have been frantically trying to clean up the old house to get it ready to sell. Tim built a sweet new chicken coop at the new house too. He did a good job and the chickens seem to like it. 

Scarlett decided it would be awesome to stick her face in a dead skunk that she found in the neighbor’s yard so poor Tim spent the day bathing the dogs multiple times trying to get the stink out. (for future reference, a mixture of baking soda, hydrogen peroxide and Dawn dish soap seemed to work pretty well).

Mommy can't figure out how to turn this pic around but here is a pic of how my bedroom is coming along. I have Mickey and Minnie Wall decals and a Minnie comforter. I see to really like my room..it's bigger than my last room so that means I can fit more toys in it!

Moving day. The truck ready to be packed up 

Moving is exhausting. Nap time at the new house.

Waiting at the door for Daddy to get home from work 

it was a Sunglasses and Bracelets kind of day 

Mommy at 22 weeks 

My baby sister at almost 23 weeks 

The inside of the new chicken coop