Amy’s Story

I was found fully funneled and significantly dilated at my anatomy scan. I was sent to the hospital for a rescue cerclage. They couldn’t do it because my bag was bulging. I had random contractions on and off, and spent almost the next two weeks hospitalized. Finally, my water broke and I delivered the next night. The night my baby came, I never had consistent contractions. 

My beautiful daughter, Cora, was born at 23+2. I spent every moment possible by her side in the NICU for 25 incredible and miracle-filled days. In the end, she couldn’t fight through a secondary infection due to all the other complications of extreme prematurity. 

During my hospitalization, IC was mentioned to me one time in passing by one of my nurses. Doctors simply said I had preterm labor. I blamed myself thinking I must’ve missed something, eaten something wrong, been too active the days leading up to my scan... 

Nobody talked about the fact that I had painless dilation. The night my baby came, as they wheeled my bed from antepartum to L&D…I asked my nurse, “Is not having real contractions a sign of incompetent cervix???? (I was in disbelief that I was in labor. It didn’t seem possible based on what I was feeling).” She said it was. 

During my 6 week follow-up with my MFM, after doing as much research as I could on my own, IC was still not mentioned until I brought it up towards the end. She agreed that it sounded like IC, but wouldn’t officially diagnose without another instance of second-trimester dilation. 

I’ve since gotten second and third opinions from experts in IC. I’m so incredibly grateful to them and their commitment to helping combat extreme prematurity and parental self-blame. I’m slowly starting to believe I might be able to take a baby home one day. 

After doing as much research on my own as I possibly could, I found that there are multiple experts that can diagnose IC without having to go through a second loss or instance of early/silent dilation. I am so thankful to have found them, and I now have a transabdominal cerclage that will help protect any potential future babies.