So I went in today, 36+1, to have my stitch removed before I go into labor and let me tell you…

they don’t give you ANY PAIN MANAGEMENT! They use a speculum, open your canal all the way, look around, snip the knot of the stitch and then pull it out, remove the speculum, and do a cervical check with their hands, should be a short procedure.

Now for my experience. They had the speculum in, fully open which hurt from the pressure but was manageable. Then took some forceps to grab the knot of the stitch in order to hold it still, they snipped above the knot and then pulled the suture. Now the worst parts of this was the pressure from the speculum, feeling the speculum move when they moved and the swabs they used.

Once they were done they removed the speculum, and fingered my cervix to feel and make sure they got the entire suture and they didn’t. So back in they went a second time, same procedure, minus the snipping. They tugged a few times and then said they got something and were done. He pulled the speculum back out and checked my cervix with his fingers and found MORE OF THE SUTURE IN MY CERVIX.

They gave me the option to come in and redo the procedure with an epidural, in the OR or leave the stitch in until I deliver. They didn’t quite give me the risks and benefits run down of everything so I’m going to have to call tomorrow but I’m at the point where I don’t want to mess with it anymore because I’ve already had one epidural to place the stitch, I would have to have one to remove it, and then if I decided I wanted one for labor, that’s 3 doses of fentanyl in my system and my first epidural didn’t take full effect and wore off too fast. Does anyone have any opinions?

Picture of my bump this morning so we don’t get lost

Cervical Cerclarge