Cerclage -- it sounds so French

So the cerclage is in. And it went as well as could be expected for a procedure on a cervix, which is so small it barely exists.

I went down to surgery around 8:15 a.m. on Saturday and went to the recovery room where I would end up afterward. The nurse took my vitals and whatnot and told me they were running a little behind, but that it should not be long. Josh was able to wait with me in the room, which was nice.

There were a few tears on my part and Josh was really awesome and supportive. After that I kind if relaxed a little and actually smiled and joked. I was more scared about the epidural at that point than the actual surgery.

The doctor came in at around 10 a.m. and said there was a little backup with the anesthesiologist because there were some emergency C-sections. Within five minutes he arrived and gave me the lowdown on the epidural and it was time to go.

I said goodbye to Josh and they wheeled me down the hall to the operating room. The room was about 55 degrees and I was wearing a thin little gown, so I was freezing. They had me sit on the edge of the bed and a nurse stood in front of me to help me keep still and keep my lower back in the right position and my chin to my chest.

He stuck me with the Lidocaine shot first and it was not bad at all. Then I could feel them sticking something deeper into my back and I think I made a little noise more from the fact I knew it was happening than because it was hurting me.

Within about 5 seconds my legs felt hot and they were laying me down. My legs were tingling by the time I hit the table and within about 45 seconds I could not feel them at all.

The resident got to arranging my legs in the hanging stirrups and the anesthesiologist got my heart monitor hooked up and placed a pulse thing on my right index finger and then placed an oxygen mask over my face. In about a minute I started to feel nauseas and told them that, but that I did not think I was going to throw up. They said they had given me some meds in my IV to bring my blood pressure up because it had dropped from 110 to 93. They said they had stopped that med though and that the nausea would subside in a second, which it did.

The doctor came in and away we went. I heard the resident say she was cleaning the area, but I didn't feel a thing. But it was pretty classy that I am pretty much spread-eagle on the table, facing out toward the door that opened onto a hallway. Goooooood morning!

Once the procedure got underway I just concentrated on taking deep breaths and trying to sneak peeks on what was going on in the reflection on the ceiling light.

I could see them pulling out sponges that were red and finally I saw them pull out the speculum, so I knew we were through. The doctor came up to the head of the table and told me everything had gone well, but that they actually could see the membranes bulging a bit so it had turned into a rescue cerclage. He was able to give me about 1 cm with two stitches. "Still not great," he said. He then said he was going to go out and talk to Josh and my parents and his mom.

I was under the impression that my legs were still bent in the stirrups so imagine my surprise when they pulled down the curtain and I was under blankets on the table, legs flat and together. They called the surgery complete at 11:20 a.m.

They moved me to the gurney and we went back to recovery where Josh was waiting. They said I would need to stay there for a little monitoring and once I could move my feet, I would probably be able to go back to my room. The nurse cleared me for ice chips and broth, so I had some of those. But the broth was so nasty, I didn't want it. Ended up realizing that the taste it had left in my mouth was really a metallic taste that was caused by the antibiotics they had started in my IV. So they hooked me up to a blood pressure machine and listened to the baby (he was great, totally unaffected, but must have been slightly pissed because his normally 150 heartbeat was 162).

I started to be able to wiggle my toes maybe 45-50 minutes after I came to recovery, but I ended up waiting almost two hours because my nurse had to assist on an emergency C-section.

After I got up to the room I was getting some pretty good yelping from my cervix. The cramping was kind of painful and steady, not at all like contractions (or what I think contractions would feel like). I didn't want any Motrin because I wanted to be able to feel what was going on in case it got worse. I was lying there with my mom and Josh's mom for about an hour when my friends came to visit.

Josh had gone back home after the surgery because we had three people working on the house (my dad was painting, his dad was fixing the furnace and washer and my brother-in-law was building a new wall for the baby's room upstairs).

Once I got to chatting with Sam, Nancy and Leah, I kind of forgot about the pain and when they left around 5, I realized the cramping had subsided.

Since I was on an IV, someone had to help drag the pole to the bathroom every time I went. The first two times I had to pee it hurt like a mofo, but I figured it was just residual from the catheter. The nurse said it probably was. I also had some pink bleeding, which is to be expected when you stick five needle holes in your cervix.

The two moms left and my sister came to sit with me for a while until Josh came back around 9:45 p.m.

I got a shitty night's sleep because I have a terrible head cold and was so congested I couldn't breathe. When the nurse came in at 5:30 a.m. for meds, I pretty much stayed awake until the resident came on her rounds at 7:15 a.m.

The doctor stopped in around 9 a.m. to speak to us further. He basically told us that right now our biggest worry is infection, hence all the heavy-duty antibiotics. If they would find an infection, they would recommend delivering the baby immediately, even if it could not survive.

He also said I just need to take it easy and rest in bed and try to get past 24 weeks. Once we get to 24 week, he said we will meet with a neonatologist to discuss the care of such a preemie. He said there is no point in meeting with them now, as the baby would not survive if it was born. That was a sobering point.

So I will go and see him on Wednesday for a check and a vaginal ultrasound -- the return of the Dildocam! Yes! And weekly! Even better!

He also told me for this week, bed rest means rest. So I am off work. We'll see on Wednesday where things stand. Unfortunately, my condition on Wednesday is not an indicator of future behavior. We just don't know what will happen.

So I came home around noon and went straight to my bed. I am blogging here and watching TV and hanging with Max and reading all about cerclage on the internet. I think it's good to be home.