Appointment Time

Yesterday I had the appointment with my new Perinatologist. It was quite the adventure trying to find her office. From what I thought, the office was AT the hospital. It was actually NEXT TO the hospital. So after walking around for 25 minutes asking hospital information people where the office was, someone in surgery admitting finally took the time to actually look up the office for me. I moved my car and got there 1/2 an hour late. Then I had to wait around for quite a while (I'd say another 1/2 an hour) in the waiting room, then wait again for the nurse to come in and ask the loads of questions.

Once I met the Dr. my mind was set at ease. She was not only friendly and professional, but she was confident in her knowledge and very reassuring that we would most likely be successful again; that my history of success was much more indicative of the future outcome than was my first failure. I see now why Dr. F recommended her.

As far as our game plan, it would be similar in that she would do the cerclage at about 12 weeks and have me see her weekly. She would also plan on doing the progesterone shots as well. One difference would be ultrasounds to check my cervical length every two weeks or so instead of weekly. She feels that once the cerclage is in, the length isn't as much of an issue, and she wants to disturb things less. The main difference will be her view on bedrest. She said the whole reason for a cerclage is to try to avoid bedrest, so she will only orescribe bedrest as needed. I very well may end up on bedrest, but if my cervix behaves, then simply taking it a bit easier will hopefully do the trick.

I did ask her about the abdominal cerlage and she said it was far too risky in that the complications from it can be very severe, including uterine rupture and damage to the cervix. Not to mention that it necessitates a C-section even for a non-viable (Re: dead) baby. Being that I have a history of ruptured membranes (I believe that the ruptured membranes caused our first baby to die) it would be possible to have the membranes rupture again. The risks are just too high, and now knowing some of the reasons she NEVER recommends them for anyone, I am much more confident that a traditional cerclage is the way to go.

Since my family practice Dr. (love him) will not touch me with a ten foot pole when I am pregnant, I am to call my Peri.'s office as soon as I get a positive test. I like that idea very much. So the only thing to do now is wait until Dorothy's first birthday (her recommendation), keep working to set aside enough savings for the medical bills, and try again. I'm excited about the possibility of a pregnancy without strict bedrest. And the fact that a few more kids just might be doable.

And a side note: everyone at the Peri.'s office was admiring Dorothy. When the Dr. came in she said everyone was talking about how cute Dorothy was, and that it was not a normal occurrence in their office to sit around admiring babies. I was told I needed to enter her in a cute baby contest because she would win. In fact, she should be on the gerber baby food jars! I felt good about that... Pictures to come soon. I got some really cute ones the other day, and she'll have her 6 month photos taken this Saturday. Time sure does fly.