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F/U: My wimpy cervix
Thanks for all the T&P --it may have worked, as my cervix is still shut tight right now. It was measuring a tiny bit longer today too at my follow-up ultrasound. With Braxton Hicks, the cervix can shorten and lengthen a bit in any given time period. Mine's still quite a bit shorter than they'd like, but I won't be put on bed rest unless it shrinks down to about 1.5cm. (It's about 2.2cm right now.) I just have to get my cervical length measured every week until 32 weeks, then if it continues shrinking, they may give me progesterone to prevent pre-term labor and/or steroids to develop baby's lungs in case he/she comes early. So for now it's just watch and wait. The goal is to get to 34 weeks, then they just let the baby comes when it wants to come.
Oh...one other thing, most women would love the opportunity to have all these ultrasounds, but after the 20 week US, I wasn't expecting any more. Now with every one, H and I have the temptation of asking the baby's sex. We have to keep reminding everyone that we don't want to know. I'm also a little weary of excessive ultrasounds, so I've asked to opt out of any more "baby scans" and just want them to measure my cervix quick with the vag cam and be done with it each time! I know baby's healthy, I just want him/her to stay in as long as possible!
Re: F/U: My wimpy cervix
Stand up for something you believe in.
Phew! Happy to hear that everything is looking good. You must be beyond relieved!
And I commend you and Craig for kicking it old school and standing firm on the gender. It must be tempting but just think....you've made it this far. What's a couple more months? There are so few nice surprises in the world, and that's got to be one of the better ones.
That is so good to hear !
So, they think that the shortening is from your LEEP combined with the BH? That makes me very nervous as I had a LEEP as well. I know they plan on doing one cervix length check later on but now I'm wondering if I should eventually push for more. What exactly do BH contractions feel like so that I know if I end up getting them?
Dx: Hashimoto's Hypothyroidism After 2 years TTC & failed IUs,we have our IVF baby born 9/24/11
LO#2 aka 'Miracle Baby' Orig. EDD= 9/28 EDD moved to 10/3/13
"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." -- Dale Carnegie
"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." --Thomas A. Edison
They're not really sure what's causing the shortening. Having a history of a LEEP is reason to be a little cautious about cervical length during pregnancy, but in general, LEEPs don't necessarily cause any issues unless there were multiple LEEPs or a LOT of tissue was removed during a single LEEP.
Some women just have weak/incompetent cervices for whatever reason. Or they could've been born with one that's shorter than average, etc. It's possible it's genetic -- my mom had my brother 7 weeks early, was diagnosed with an incompetent cervix, had a cerclage with me, and I still came 4 weeks early!
Feeling more frequent BH than normal (more than 4-6 an hour is considered high) is something most doctors/midwives will want to check out, I think regardless of your cervical history. But having a potentially shortened cervix means you'd want to be even more cautious since the BH are kind of like "practice labor" and a shortening cervix can put you into pre-term labor. I gather most women don't seem to really feel BH that often, and when they do, they're not painful, just a little weird or uncomfortable. It just feels like a tightening/tensing of your belly that lasts for maybe half a minute at most and if you press on your uterus when they're happening, it'll feel really hard. One girl on the June board took a picture of her belly while she was having BH contractions and her whole stomach was lopsided and you could see where the baby's butt/head was. BH are totally normal though, they just shouldn't be happening all day/every day, as far as I know. I think I started noticing them around 20 weeks. At that time, my cervix was about 3.4cm or so, so it did shrink in that time, but that could be due to any of the factors I listed above.
Regardless, please don't let my situation scare you. Plenty of women with past LEEPs have completely uneventful pregnancies. Sometimes your cervix might have trouble dilating during labor if you have a lot of scar tissue, but again, that's just a possibility, not a rule. If something's out of the ordinary during your pregnancy (spotting, leaking fluid, major increase in discharge or color of discharge, frequent BH) your doctor will look at your chart/history and take your history into account, and probably suggest a check, but try not to stress out. I wouldn't push for more checks unless you have a lot of worrisome symptoms, and then just go with your intuition.
<a href="http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h205/adia83/?action=view
I know everyone uses these words incorrectly, not just you, but I happened to see it on your post.
It's really 'sex' you ladies are all referring to. Not gender.
Sex is biological. Gender is pretty much everything else.
Your baby with the female equipment is not necessarily a girl.
Same with a baby with male junk.
Doesn't sound like a big deal but using these two words interchangeably is part of why society has such a hard time accepting transgendered individuals. Society doesn't understand their making a distinction between their junk and their mind because we think a penis makes you a boy and a vag makes you a girl.
So, as the parents of the next generation, we can totally be the ones to change this thinking!!!! TIA, ladies! :-)
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gender
Looks interchangeable to me!
updated 10.03.12
http://www.med.monash.edu.au/gendermed/sexandgender.html
Explains what sex is, we all know what it is.
Then it goes on to explain how gender = what our society thinks of as feminine or masculine.
http://www.suite101.com/content/what-is-the-difference-between-sex-and-gender-a146502
I really like this one.
It also talks about how fluid gender is. Very few people feel 100% female (simply by wearing pants, you'd be considered at least a tiny bit male) or 100% male. This kind of thinking also applies to fluid sexuality. The fact that so many ladies here responded to MB's Nosy Question of the Day quantifies that.
The most important thing to know is that gender is nothing more than a social construct.
Do you want me to create a different post?
DONE.
I didn't go ANYWHERE.
MB did.
I was simply pointing out that the two words aren't the same. And, I did it in a very nice way.
Thankyouverymuch.
My Acme Box last update 3/28/11