This Baby is Staying Put

For inquiring minds I thought I'd give you an update on how my "little" surgery went.  First of all I don't think any surgery should be considered little.  Yes, I know I'm a tad wimpy.  The cerclage was first described to me as a quick 30 minute surgery with a one hour recovery done in an outpatient hospital facility.  I'm not sure I would describe it that way.

With that description I was picturing something similar to having my wisdom teeth removed.  That's surgery, right?  Well for me, I'd say the surgery reminded me more of when I gave birth to Millie but a much quicker recovery.  Instead of weeks to recover I feel pretty much fine at 48 hours post operation.  I had Millie in an operating room as well, so I pretty much felt at home.  Just kidding.  Those bright lights and all that white?  No way can you feel comfy there.  Seriously an operating room resembles where you go when you're abducted by aliens in movies.  Am I right?  I know, I have an active imagination.

Anywho, the surgery went well and the whole OR staff claimed I was the best patient of the day.  But seriously there wasn't a single unkind person there.  It was wonderful and thanks to one mean nurse, a stark contrast to my recovery after having Millie in Utah.  The NICU was amazing there, I just somehow got stuck with a really crabby nurse for myself.

I got an epidural for the surgery and as soon as they were done I was able to move my legs and actually got myself into the next bed.  They all thought that was great (should I ask for an extra strong epidural with this next birth?) and had me sent to recovery.  I was quickly moved from one recovery (where mostly still asleep people are) to the next where they finally let you eat.  My whole recovery time took about two to three hours and honestly I thought the recovery nurses were going to faint with how "quick" I recovered.  There was a girl that had the same surgery by my doctor one hour before me that still wasn't moving her legs by the time I was walking and peeing.  Why do they keep spreading this rumor about the one hour recovery time?

Thankfully we had a wonderful friend to take care of Millie.  Even though she has her hands full with her own large family she convinced me she really wanted to watch Millie.  So kind.  It was a relief to have her there with this family knowing that if I took a little extra long to recover it would be okay.  She and her family loved and entertained Millie, and of course Millie wasn't really eager to leave when we went to pick her up.

In speaking with my doctor right after the surgery he informed me that had I opted out of the cerclage (it was totally my choice at this point since my cervix looked good on the ultrasounds) I would have gone into preterm labor again.  I do, officially, have an incompetent cervix.  That means something is wrong with my cervix, and there are like 10 things that can go wrong.  Specifically for me, my cervix is soft.  It is supposed to feel like your nose, slightly firm, but mine is much softer.  Because of that as soon as a baby gets some weight to it, it will come right out.  Hello 1 lb 4 oz Millie!  Of course now that my cervix is sewn shut we shouldn't have to worry about that.  There are still other factors to consider so I'll still be monitored and medicated, but for now I'm pretty happy and feeling secure about our sweet baby boy being full term.

Happy 150th post?  I should be on my 200th by now!