The cerclage surgical procedure - details!

If you've never had a cerclage - all I can say is there's nothing "minor" about it. I think when I miscarried - I was such an emotional wreck that I forgot how hectic it was. I got to the hospital, checked in and they started me on IVs. I remember now how much I hate IVs. They wanted at least a liter in me before we started. It totally chills the whole side of my body. The doc was able to get the epidural in easily - but those medications burn before they take effect. Also - when you're sitting there - back curved, not wanting to move because you don't want to mess up the doctor's aim - your mind is racing. Please don't let this man miss his aim and end up paralyzing me! My dear husband was there and offered a hand for me to squeeze and to help me breathe through the pains. I squeezed the life out of his hand. When they finally got it in, I was able to lie back down and they started numbing me. The numbing went fine.


When I was pretty numbed up, they moved me into the operating room. It always feels weird to lie there with your arms crossed as 3 people haul you onto an operating table. They strapped my arms down, put a big sheet to block me from seeing anything and put my legs in a crazy harness. I wish I had a diagram to show what it looks like - but basically, my ankles were in a harness and I was lifted in the air from the hips down. Way to feel exposed!!!! The anesthesiologist's assistant gave me some oxygen with something in it to help me calm down. He also put some drug - Propyphyl in my IV. OMG - it burned like a fire. You know when they ask you how bad your pain was on a scale of 1 - 10. It was a friggin 15. It burned like fire and my arm ached and felt like someone was trying to pull it off. I started yelping and moaning and the guy put an antidote in my IV. Ugh!!!!! After that, I started getting loopy. I was aware, but I was babbling constantly during the procedure. I was talking about the weather, pain tolerance, favorite foods, music I like, etc. It was nuts. Then they told me I was done. The wheeled me back and I went into the recovery room. It took about 3 hours for my recovery. My legs were still wobbly - and I got another 3 IV bags to help me go to the bathroom. I finally tried to go to the bathroom and I sat there for five minutes and out came a trickle. Two minutes later another pitiful trickle. That went on for another 15 minutes but I was able to empty my bladder. After that - they helped me get dressed, took out my IV and helped me get dressed.


I was discharged and halfway through the drive home with my dear husband- the pain started. OMG it felt like bad contractions! So that's what the epidural was saving me from! When we got home, I ate, and took the meds (Indocin) the doc gave me. It's basically a drug to stop cramps and prevent / stop me from going into labor. I thought i'd have 2 - 3 days of bed rest. The doctor decided to put me on 7 days bed rest and I'll be reassessed in a week. Wow.... So they put me on modified bed rest for a few weeks. No walking, no stairs, no driving, no leaving the house, and I couldn't stand up for more than 20 minutes at a time. I could take short showers, but since my shower was upstairs... it was reduced to a big bowl of hot water and soap for a while Wow..... I wondered if I could do this for months!

All in all I lived to tell the story - I thought I'd go ahead and fully describe the experience for anyone who has never gone through a cerclage - just to give some perspective. They will keep it in until 36 weeks as long as we can keep pre-term labor away that long.