Cervical Checks
With my last post being about the pessary procedure, I thought it'd be good to follow that post up with what my cervical checks have been. I guess I should say were, I've actually already graduated from my doctor doing measurements!! I can hardly believe it at all! When we first started going to KC, we knew the checks would be every other week, and we just thought we'd be going up there through at least the beginning of February, but that's not the case! More on that below!
My first cervical check was on December 3rd, when I was 17w4d. I ended up having to go by myself because Dusty had a big project at work (and his boss gave him a little pushback when he initially told him we'd be in KC every-other-week, but that has since resolved), and my mom was going to go with me. Well, she ended up with an AWFUL case of food poisoning, my poor mom, and I felt awful for her! So, I was by myself. I really tried to put on a brave face and tell both Dusty and my mom that I would be fine, but in reality, I was scared, so very scared. So, I go in and the u/s tech did an abdominal scan first, and the babies looked great, thank God! Then, she did the vaginal u/s and honestly, it hurt SO bad!!! I think it was the combination of nothing being in there for quite some time and my anxiety, but dang! It hurt, it was terrible! I cringed and jumped. Then, it took her close to 5 minutes to measure my cervix! It seems like she was really struggling with it, which of course, is doing nothing for my anxiety. So, she measures it, and tells me it is measuring 3.2 cm and says its fine. I instantly start to freak out. Here I am, only 17 weeks, and it's already down to close to 3! I wanted close to 4 and here we were, 2 mm from 3!
I asked if I would be seeing a doctor, and she said I wasn't scheduled for an office visit. Since I was kind of freaking out, they went ahead and let me meet with the doctor for a minute, and then with the nurse practitioner for a little longer to get some of my questions answered. The doctor and nurse practitioner assured me that 3.2 was a good length, that they like to see anything above 3, and that 2.5 was what they considered the critical point. All I'm hearing in my head was I'm nearly at 3, and only 7 millimeters from the critical point! Millimeters, that's nothing! Their reassurance didn't do much for me at all!
I had a few other questions so the nurse practitioner stayed with me. I really don't even remember what the questions were. Really, I just had a breakdown and cried. I was so scared, and being there by myself was just compounding it. She was incredibly sweet and very reassuring. She made sure I had their on-call nurse line and told me I could call it at any time. I had no idea, so I was very thankful for that!
I made the 3 hour drive back to my office and cried a good chunk of the drive. I still was just so upset over my measurement. All I could think was I was at 17 weeks and that I didn't think my measurements would do anything but go down. I began thinking about how I was sure at the next appointment it would be below 3, and that I needed to seriously start considering bedrest. And I began praying, very specifically, for God to lengthen my cervix. That's probably one of the most intimate prayers I've prayed, but that was what I needed.
The next day, I wasn't much better. In fact, I actually called back to the on-call nurse number the next morning and asked if that was really an ok measurement given I was only 17 weeks. I was reassured it was, once again. Again, I wasn't too thrilled with it.
I saw my local ob the next week and he asked me what my measurement was. I told him it was 3.2, and his reaction was the first thing that actually started to reassure me. He said, "Oh awesome". I was really glad he reacted like that. I told him about how I was expecting and hoping for closer to 4 and how I freaked out. He asked me if a doctor had talked to me about it and I said yes, but...and he said, you'd already hit the panic button? Yep, exactly! I'm so glad my doctor gets me! So, him being pleased with it helped.
My next measurement was on 12/18, when I was 19w5d. Thankfully, Dusty was able to go with me. At that appointment, we had the best ultrasound tech! She was so great! She said we'd measure my cervix first, and then let me get dressed to do our growth ultrasound. So, she took three different measurements, with one being 3.09, but the other two being 3.36 and 3.4. She said she really felt the short one was inaccurate since the other two were so close. Praise God, my cervix length increased! I cried tears of joy and relief! She told us to not be surprised if my chart said the shorter one to be conservative, but she didn't think that was accurate.
My third measurement was on 12/30, which I was 21w3d. Again, we had an amazing ultrasound tech, and she also measured my cervix first thing (thank goodness). This time, my numbers were even better! She took four measurements with my cervix ranging between 3.4 and 3.95! The average was 3.72, thank God!! Seeing my numbers increase was incredible. I was so relieved!
We went back on 1/13 for my LAST cervical measurement (unless something goes wrong). Wow! I can't believe that just 10 days ago, I had my last measurement. I was 23w3d at that appointment. The ultrasound tech wasn't my favorite, and we didn't get told my exact measurement, but it was OVER 4! I finally reached that 4 number I wanted at 17 weeks! Praise God! I was so happy. In fact, when the doctor came in to talk to us after the ultrasound was over, she said my cervix looked great, and I said, I'm so happy about it, I just want to walk around and high five people and say, my cervix is over 4! She was like, heck yeah, I'll high five you, that's great! So we high fived! LOL! I love Dr. F in KC, she is young, and hilarious, and on top of her game!
In fact, Dr. F said that everything was going well and she released me to my regular ob for the rest of the pregnancy, unless something goes wrong, and with the exception of getting my pessary removed, which is scheduled around 35 weeks. I was floored!! Given that Dusty and I were not "full-time" patients of the KC clinic, I don't think anyone besides Dr. F really knew the plan for handling our care. I guess up through that point, I'd pretty much been treated as a regular patient of theirs, with appointments every-other-week, and growth scans every 4, so the other doctors and techs just treated me as a regular patient. At the previous appointment, another doctor had said my appointments would go to every 3 or 4 weeks if the next check looked good. So Dusty and I were quite surprised to hear Dr. F say she'd just have me go back at 35 weeks!
So, in summary, here are my cervical checks:
17w4d - 3.2 cm
19w5d - 3.36 cm
21w3d - 3.72 cm
23w3d - 4.0 cm
My first cervical check was on December 3rd, when I was 17w4d. I ended up having to go by myself because Dusty had a big project at work (and his boss gave him a little pushback when he initially told him we'd be in KC every-other-week, but that has since resolved), and my mom was going to go with me. Well, she ended up with an AWFUL case of food poisoning, my poor mom, and I felt awful for her! So, I was by myself. I really tried to put on a brave face and tell both Dusty and my mom that I would be fine, but in reality, I was scared, so very scared. So, I go in and the u/s tech did an abdominal scan first, and the babies looked great, thank God! Then, she did the vaginal u/s and honestly, it hurt SO bad!!! I think it was the combination of nothing being in there for quite some time and my anxiety, but dang! It hurt, it was terrible! I cringed and jumped. Then, it took her close to 5 minutes to measure my cervix! It seems like she was really struggling with it, which of course, is doing nothing for my anxiety. So, she measures it, and tells me it is measuring 3.2 cm and says its fine. I instantly start to freak out. Here I am, only 17 weeks, and it's already down to close to 3! I wanted close to 4 and here we were, 2 mm from 3!
I asked if I would be seeing a doctor, and she said I wasn't scheduled for an office visit. Since I was kind of freaking out, they went ahead and let me meet with the doctor for a minute, and then with the nurse practitioner for a little longer to get some of my questions answered. The doctor and nurse practitioner assured me that 3.2 was a good length, that they like to see anything above 3, and that 2.5 was what they considered the critical point. All I'm hearing in my head was I'm nearly at 3, and only 7 millimeters from the critical point! Millimeters, that's nothing! Their reassurance didn't do much for me at all!
I had a few other questions so the nurse practitioner stayed with me. I really don't even remember what the questions were. Really, I just had a breakdown and cried. I was so scared, and being there by myself was just compounding it. She was incredibly sweet and very reassuring. She made sure I had their on-call nurse line and told me I could call it at any time. I had no idea, so I was very thankful for that!
I made the 3 hour drive back to my office and cried a good chunk of the drive. I still was just so upset over my measurement. All I could think was I was at 17 weeks and that I didn't think my measurements would do anything but go down. I began thinking about how I was sure at the next appointment it would be below 3, and that I needed to seriously start considering bedrest. And I began praying, very specifically, for God to lengthen my cervix. That's probably one of the most intimate prayers I've prayed, but that was what I needed.
The next day, I wasn't much better. In fact, I actually called back to the on-call nurse number the next morning and asked if that was really an ok measurement given I was only 17 weeks. I was reassured it was, once again. Again, I wasn't too thrilled with it.
I saw my local ob the next week and he asked me what my measurement was. I told him it was 3.2, and his reaction was the first thing that actually started to reassure me. He said, "Oh awesome". I was really glad he reacted like that. I told him about how I was expecting and hoping for closer to 4 and how I freaked out. He asked me if a doctor had talked to me about it and I said yes, but...and he said, you'd already hit the panic button? Yep, exactly! I'm so glad my doctor gets me! So, him being pleased with it helped.
My next measurement was on 12/18, when I was 19w5d. Thankfully, Dusty was able to go with me. At that appointment, we had the best ultrasound tech! She was so great! She said we'd measure my cervix first, and then let me get dressed to do our growth ultrasound. So, she took three different measurements, with one being 3.09, but the other two being 3.36 and 3.4. She said she really felt the short one was inaccurate since the other two were so close. Praise God, my cervix length increased! I cried tears of joy and relief! She told us to not be surprised if my chart said the shorter one to be conservative, but she didn't think that was accurate.
My third measurement was on 12/30, which I was 21w3d. Again, we had an amazing ultrasound tech, and she also measured my cervix first thing (thank goodness). This time, my numbers were even better! She took four measurements with my cervix ranging between 3.4 and 3.95! The average was 3.72, thank God!! Seeing my numbers increase was incredible. I was so relieved!
We went back on 1/13 for my LAST cervical measurement (unless something goes wrong). Wow! I can't believe that just 10 days ago, I had my last measurement. I was 23w3d at that appointment. The ultrasound tech wasn't my favorite, and we didn't get told my exact measurement, but it was OVER 4! I finally reached that 4 number I wanted at 17 weeks! Praise God! I was so happy. In fact, when the doctor came in to talk to us after the ultrasound was over, she said my cervix looked great, and I said, I'm so happy about it, I just want to walk around and high five people and say, my cervix is over 4! She was like, heck yeah, I'll high five you, that's great! So we high fived! LOL! I love Dr. F in KC, she is young, and hilarious, and on top of her game!
In fact, Dr. F said that everything was going well and she released me to my regular ob for the rest of the pregnancy, unless something goes wrong, and with the exception of getting my pessary removed, which is scheduled around 35 weeks. I was floored!! Given that Dusty and I were not "full-time" patients of the KC clinic, I don't think anyone besides Dr. F really knew the plan for handling our care. I guess up through that point, I'd pretty much been treated as a regular patient of theirs, with appointments every-other-week, and growth scans every 4, so the other doctors and techs just treated me as a regular patient. At the previous appointment, another doctor had said my appointments would go to every 3 or 4 weeks if the next check looked good. So Dusty and I were quite surprised to hear Dr. F say she'd just have me go back at 35 weeks!
So, in summary, here are my cervical checks:
17w4d - 3.2 cm
19w5d - 3.36 cm
21w3d - 3.72 cm
23w3d - 4.0 cm
That's amazing!! So happy for you. Pray all continues to go well!
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