cervical length stress

Ok, I know I'm a slacker. I'm sorry!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks for me. Not only did my office move (I went from an office with a door back to a cubicle... joy!), but work has been absolutely crazy. Oh, and I had a terrible scare about my cervix length. Oh, you want to hear about that? Sure!

One week ago was my anatomy scan. Henry was still a Henry! And he looks great. They didn't tell me any of his measurements or any real specifics, but that he looks good and perfect. I'll take it!

The ultrasound tech, who really wasn't allowed to tell me much of anything (I met with my doctor right after the anatomy scan), did mention that my placenta was low-lying, but just barely so. It's not covering my cervix, and will most likely move up to where it needs to be as my uterus and my Henry grow larger. So, nothing to worry about!

After my scan, I head into an exam room while I wait for a doctor. At my practice there are four doctors. Since any of them may be on call the day you deliver, I've tried to rotate my appointments so that I could get to know each of them a little.

The doctor I met with on Monday, well I had met with him two appointments ago. At my 16 week appointment, a different doctor (who I really like) recommended that at my next appointment they check my cervical length. He suggested this because, as some of my long-time readers know, I had a LEEP procedure back in August of 2010. I liked this suggestion. If anything, I'm proactive.

So, when meeting with the doctor after my anatomy scan, I mentioned this to him. He looked at the notes from my scan, and said (verbatim),

"Your placenta isn't long, but it's nothing to be concerned about. It's measuring 2.21 cm."

Oh, ok. At that exact moment in time, I knew nothing about average cervical length. So, when my doc told me it was nothing to be concerned about...well, I listened. He recommended checking on my low-lying placenta and my cervical length again in two months.

I typically google the shit out of everything, but that was a busy Monday at work. I didn't get a chance to google until that evening. And wow, I did not like what I was reading.

EVERYTHING I read online said that a cervical length of 2.21 cm at 18 weeks was bedrest + cerclage worthy. A cerclage can only be done up until 24 weeks at the latest. So WHY was my doctor not wanting to check my cervix again until I was 26 weeks? WHY was he not concerned with an apparently super-short cervix? WHY did they not do a vaginal ultrasound when the measurement from the abdominal one was so alarming? What the hell was going on here?

After crying, stressing, and googling the night away, I decide to call my doctor's office the next day and ask to speak to the doctor I *do* like, who suggested the cervical measurement to being with. Well, Tuesday is his day off. Lovely. I leave a message with his nurse, who is really sweet. I tell her my concerns, and she says that my doctor will call me Wednesday morning when he gets in.

I post on a high-risk pregnancy forum. Everyone who responds says to get a second opinion. Not being one to ignore consistent advice, I call the local university high-risk OBGYN. They can get me in on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. I make the appointment, and secretly hope I hear from my doctor by then, and I can instead just go in to my regular doctor's office for a transvaginal ultrasound.

I spend half of Tuesday googling. I spend all of Tuesday worrying. How will I pay the bills if I go on bedrest? I worked so hard for this pregnancy, obviously I will do whatever it takes to get Henry here safely, even if that means moving in with family. Will I make it to viability with such a short cervix? Will Henry end up in the NICU for many months?

It was a rough day, to say the least.

Wednesday morning goes by in a blur, and I head to my second opinion appointment. When I get called back, it's by the nurse who I spoke with on the phone. I had explained my situation to her, and she was very nice and understanding. She takes my blood pressure. It's high, for the first time in my life. Sigh.

We go to an exam room, and she asks me the usual gamut of questions. She leaves. A resident doctor comes in. Asks me the same round of questions (why is this necessary???). Says they are going to try to get me in for a transvag ultrasound.

The nurse comes back in with a wheelie blood pressure cart. Takes my blood pressure again, and it's normal. Phew.

Then an ultrasound tech comes down to get me. They worked me in! So, for the first time in quite a while (10 weeks to be exact, which may not seem like quite a while to some of you... but for me, it's some new kind of record.), I had a transvaginal ultrasound. Henry's heartbeat was 139, the same as it was two days prior. But she didn't linger on my little man, and I understood.

But the whole time she was measuring my cervix, I could see Henry's feet kicking away in the corner of the screen. That certainly made my day much brighter!

After taking several measurements over five minutes, the shortest measurement she got was 3.4 cm. She told me it looks good, and definitely not short.

Relief swept over me.

I head back to the exam room, and the resident doctor comes back in. While I was having my ultrasound, my clinic faxed my records over. And in those records, it says that my placenta is 2.21 cm away from my cervix.

2.21 cm WAS NOT MY CERVICAL LENGTH!!!

My cervix measured 4 on Monday.

So, my doctor told me the wrong measurement while looking at my chart.

I am mostly relieved, but obviously a little annoyed that the whole thing happened at all. But I do realize people make mistakes. So, I'm sticking with my OBGYN. But I certainly hate that I was worried sick for 2 1/2 days.

But to end this post on a positive note, here is Henry's latest profile shot:

18 weeks... Henry kept putting his hand to his mouth!

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I have more posts in the works in my head. I hope to post them someday soon!

Oh, and anyone watching the new season of Project Runway?? I know some of you are PR fans!