Alright, let me start off by apologizing for taking so long to write a post! I didn’t even realize how long it had been, until I went back and re-read my last post.

To be completely honest, though, I really haven’t felt like I’ve had enough to write a whole post about. When I went back and re-read my last post (click if you didn’t read it), I still have all of those feelings every day. I still get paranoid and check for blood every time I go to the bathroom, and I still have a very hard time being excited about this pregnancy. I honestly don’t think I will be excited until I’m holding my baby in my arms.

But anyway, I don’t need to rehash those feelings over and over! Instead, I figured I could use this post to talk about what I’ve had to do this time around to (hopefully) make sure this baby stays put as long as possible. The first step, was dealing with my incompetent cervix and having a cerclage surgery.

Cerclage

To save you all from needing to google, a cerclage is essentially a drawstring that goes into your cervix. The doctor weaves around your cervix and then “pulls it tight” to keep your cervix from dilating early. Then, at 36 weeks they take it out and you can still go on to deliver your baby vaginally.

My cerclage surgery was June 5th. I was immediately sad because the next day at school was field day, and I really didn’t want to miss it. My amazing doctor told me that I could probably make it as long as I felt comfortable, as the recovery is not very much from that procedure. I figured I would wait and see how I felt.

The surgery itself was actually totally fine! The weirdest thing about it is that doctors avoid putting you under while you are pregnant. This meant I had to get a spinal (the same thing you get for a c-section) to numb me from the waist down. Then, I was completely awake and alert during the entire process. It is definitely really weird to be awake and chatting with people in the operating room, however, the procedure took about 15 minutes. It was so fast! The worst part was the spinal because I am such a baby about needles. The best part – I was totally fine the next day and went to work for field day! I barely had any cramping or bleeding, which means that everything went really great!

The one thing that made me really nervous about the cerclage, was my doctor told me that my cervix was already a bit shorter than he would like, so he was really glad we did the procedure when we did. The reason this makes me nervous, is there is technically a risk that my cervix will still try to dilate with the stitch in, which can cause a lot of damage. The likelihood of that happening is incredibly low, as cerclage success rates are about 90%. However, I still worry.

 

Now that my incompetent cervix has been (hopefully) remedied, the next step is to make sure that I don’t simply go into pre-term labor. Even though my doctor is fairly certain that what happened with Scarlett was because of an incompetent cervix, we still have to make sure we cover all of our bases. Lucky me, that means more injections!

 

Makena

To prevent pre-term labor, at 16 weeks I had to start these injections called Makena. They are pre-filled syringes just like an epi-pen. They go into the back of my arm (the fatty part by my tricep), and the needle is super tiny. After SO MANY intramuscular injections with HUGE needles, I will say I was pretty excited when I heard about Makena. The pharmacist (and google, of course), did say that the medication is an oil, so it can sometimes leave “welts” in your arm. Again, I was used to this because my hips (aka upper butt) were basically two giant welts by the time I got to stop my PIO injections. Not to mention, I only have to do the Makena shot once a week. This seemed like a dream! Not a big deal at all! The worst part is that because of the angle, there is no way that I can give it to myself. However, at only once a week, still not much of a big deal.

So, last Thursday, the 20th, Bobby and I got ready to do my first Makena injection. I wiped my arm off with an alcohol wipe, he lined up the auto-injector, and pushed.

I barely even felt the needle go in! It was amazing! Then, he watched the window on the side of the “pen” until all of the medicine was in.

That’s when all hell broke lose. 

Okay, that’s a bit dramatic. But let me tell you – that medicine HURTS! I like to think that I have a very high pain tolerance, but that ……. IS AWFUL! Since it is an oil, it goes in so slowly and it burns so badly. My arm hurt for at least two days after. I know that to be true, because my friend Brittaney did the second one for me this past Thursday, and my arm is still sore from it. So, all I can say is – 2 shots down, 18 more to go. (I get to stop these at 36 weeks as well).

 

Optimism

So anyway, now I just spend every day trying to be as positive as possible. At all of my doctors appointments, things have looked good. We recently found out that this baby is another girl! Plus, I have started feeling kicks a lot more regularly. (In fact, right after I typed that I felt one – it’s like she knew! haha!)

As I have said, and I’m sure will say a million more times, I don’t know how excited I will really be until I know that she is going to be okay. I want to say that once I get to a certain point, I will know that even if I go into labor early that she will survive, and then I’ll feel better. I want to think that, but then I read about the people who go to the doctor’s for a routine appointment at 7-9 months pregnant, and find out that there is no heartbeat. It is awful and heartbreaking, and I don’t know if any of us will understand why that happens. I try not to think about it, but there are so many scary things that can happen during pregnancy.

I am just taking one day at a time and so incredibly thankful for every day that goes on that I am still pregnant.

I cannot wait until the day I am holding a sweet baby in my arms.

Thank you all for your prayers, well wishes, and thoughts about us. I really appreciate it!

Stay positive! 🙂

xoxo