An incompetent cervix is an affliction which goes undiagnosed until a woman has her first severely premature birth or has a history of repeated miscarriages. An incompetent cervix is unable to bear the weight of pregnancy without assistance; it’s as though the moment the baby is heavy enough to bear down on the cervix, the body says “oh! It’s time to have a baby!” The dilations of an incompetent cervix are usually painless, so they usually go unnoticed until it’s too late.

My first child was born at 27 weeks gestation, which is 13 weeks premature. They diagnosed me with an incompetent cervix. My cervix dilated so fast that it tore my low-lying placenta and ruptured my membranes, so I was hemhorraging freely. Ethan is healthy and about to be four years old.

I had a cerclage with my second pregnancy. My premature contractions with her didn’t begin until at least 32 weeks, and the cerclage didn’t budge. I was able to get to the hospital in time to receive Breathine to stop the contractions, and she wasn’t born until the week before my scheduled cesarean.

This is my third pregnancy, and I just had my cerclage performed yesterday. See previous post for details.