What is the success rate of pregnancy with an incompetent uterus?

Answer 1

The success rate can be quite good if you have proper care, a good doctor/specialist & you follow instructions.

I had 5 early misccarriages then saw a parinatologist for my 6th child at 17.5 weeks my water broke & there was nothing that could be done to save my son....he was delivered stillborn. I saw a parinatologist again for the next baby & armed with the info from the last pregnancy they were able to declare that I did indeed have an incompetent cervix. Now this meant VERY close monitoring & my choice to wear a pessary (kinda looks like a diaphragm but has to be inserted & taken out by a dr only, once a week to be cleaned!) or be very pro-active & have a cerclage surgery just after I passed the 12 week mark (normal miscarriage date).

I opted for the cerclage, it was an outpatient surgery that took about 1/2 an hour, they literally sew your cervix shut. I was told to take it easy for about a week and then could return to normal activities however with incompetent cervix you are usually placed on "restriction" from week 8 - 14, during which time you may not have sex what-so-ever! I also had to go for weekly internal ultrasounds after my cerclage was placed to measure the length of my cervix, it began to get shorter & shorter so they placed a pessary anyway to see if that would help, at 19 weeks I went into labor, my cervix started dilating (which is seriously dangerous as it will rip to shreads with the ceclage in it). I was admitted to L & D, put on magnesium sulfate & other anti-labor drugs, I was hydrated, and told I would be having emergency surgery as soon as they could get the contractions to stop, to place a second cerclage becaue the first one was slipping out! 12 hours later I underwent the surgery, then was placed in the AntePartum area of the hospital and was told I would stay there on bed rest till I delivered. I was put on anti-labor drugs for the remainder of my pregnancy, I was only allowed out of bed every other day to take a shower, and once a day to sit in a chair for no more than 20 minutes. I was monitored every day, the baby's heart rate was monitored every day, I received utrasounds every other day....after 3 weeks of this I begged to go home, I was getting too depressed being locked up in a hospital room. I was allowed to go home but was to remain on the same VERY strict schedule.....in bed all day every day unless I was going to the dr's office, or to have an ultrasound or be monitored.

Cerclages have to be taken out before you go into labor naturally so mine was schedueled to come out at 36 weeks. It was removed & there surprisingly was no gush of labor. A week went by, still no baby, self-induction was not even working (I'm a Doula & am trained in it)....at 37 weeks I was told there was barely any water left in my placenta, and the baby was in danger of dying from a prolapsed cord, so now after all these weeks of struggling to keep him in, he wouldn't come out. I was rushed to the hospital and labor induction drugs were started.....They had to eventually be stopped because they were not working & were distressing my son. A resident manually got in there and pryed my cervix apart to a point, after that I dilated within an hour and my son was born 19 hours after entering the hospital. An exam was then done of my cervix & I was immediately rushed out of the room for emergency surgery on my cervix.....it turns out the doctor that removed the cerclages, missed a stitch & it was still holding me together.....thus the resident's prying & my son's head tore my cervix to shreds & it required 3 & a half hours of reconstructive surgery by a vaginal plastic surgeon to put it back together. He said it was the worst mess he's ever seen.

So if you are diagnosed incompetent.....decide VERY carefully on your treatment, weigh all the pros & cons, and make sure you have a VERY competent doctor!

I wish you all the best ~PradsPrincess