Hi Ladies, I wanted to give some hope to anyone who is hoping to have a baby after a radical trachelectomy. If you are anything like me, then you’ll have searched the internet high and low for success stories and statistics! After a successful round of IVF I now have a beautiful and healthy baby girl who was delivered at 32 weeks.
The Trachelectomy.
I had the operation in December 2012 (I was 33 at the time) and it was done abdominally. My surgeon said she removed ALL of my cervix – as much as she was physically able to (apparently there’s always a few mm that they can’t quite reach) I had an abdominal cerclage placed at the time of the operation. My periods we regular, but I had quite a bit of brown spotting each month.
The IVF
After 1.5 years of trying to conceive, we were able to have IVF through the NHS. We were referred after a year, but it took another 6 months to get started. I had a couple of “mock transfers” where they try to insert the catheter into the teeny tiny hole, this proved very tricky and although the specialist managed to do it eventually, it was extremely tight so I had a dilatation under general anaesthetic. The embryo transfer was also done under heavy sedation.
The Pregnancy
I was monitored in a dedicated premature clinic and I chose to go there every 2 weeks. I had to have progesterone suppositories (nice!) daily and at 12 weeks I also had another stitch, called an occlusion stitch, put in over the “entrance” this was also done under general anaesthetic….this isn’t standard procedure and there’s no evidence really that it helps, but my specialist does it for trachelectomy patients, so I went along with his advice! Aside from my own mental demons, the pregnancy was quite straightforward and I just limited the amount of activity I did towards the end and kept my feet up!
The birth
At 32 weeks I had a slight rupture of the membranes. They decided to do the C-section then and there because the risk of infection is high for women like us when our waters start to break as we don’t have a cervix. Although my daughter came early, she was perfectly healthy and spent a few weeks in the neo-natal ward until she developed the sucking reflex and was able to feed on her own. She came home with us at 35 weeks and has been thriving ever since. I have also had 2 colposcopies since and both have come back all clear.
I hope this gives people hope and I wish everyone all the best with their journey. You are all AMAZING women and AMAZINGLY strong xxxx
Do you mind me asking what kind of C section incision you had? I've been told I have to have a vertical incision but I've read stories where others had a normal one.
Parkypants - thank you so much for sharing your story, I was about 9 weeks behind you and followed your blog religiously, you rally kept me going and I'm sure youve inspired many other women like us.
Congratulations to you its so nice hearing of these success stories it gives me hope.
I had a trachelectomy in Feb 2011 and have had no luck conceiving. I've had dialation and 1 cycle of IVF that gave me 4 embryos. I've used 3 so far with no luck just about to start meds for my last embryo. Can I ask how many transfers you had before success? Xx
im so happy to hear your great story, it is so so encouraging for me. I am 2 years post trach and I have been trying to get prego for a year, naturally and have been unsuccessful. If I don't turn out prego in the next couple of days we will begin the IVF process. Your story has given me so much hope, as I have felt alone through this situation since it's not so common. Also, many women had prego success straight away after their trach and it has worried me that maybe something else was wrong with me. I do have a question though, did they transfer one embryo or two? My fertility doctor is worried about transferring 2 because of the chance of twins. Thank you so much for sharing your story!
im so pleased my story has given you hope. I felt the same in that I couldnt find many stories online about IVF after a trachelectomy.
I had one embryo transferred as they didn't want to risk twins. Saying that, I know there have been successful twin pregnancies after a trach.
I would advise asking your fertility specialist to do a mock transfer, which is when they try to insert a catheter into the 'entrance' to make sure everything fits correctly! mine was slightly too small so I had to have dialation under general anaesthetic (this was a very simple and quick, 10 min, procedure). Once this was done, it made the embryo transfer much smoother.
wow! i am going through EXACTLY what you went through so far! I had to get dialated as well, im now 8 weeks pregnant with embryo transfer. I am wondering if
i need that extra stitch as well around 10 weeks, i guess i will bring it up to my fertility doctor and OB as well just to be safe!
Congratulations, that's such a lovely story and making me feel a bit better about things. I have just posted something on here as i am in a similar situation. I had a radical trachelectomy in March 2015. We have been trying ever since. I was wondering if you could send me any details of the specilaist you saw? I am about to undergo IVF but there are very concerned about a premature baby - the specialist I am under has never done this before and I'm wondering whether I should see someone who has more experience in this area. Not sure if you can write it on here? Thanks very much.
i think they block out the hospital and specialist names on the open forum but please do drop me a private message and I can share the details. my ivf and pregnancy was all through the same hospital in London and they have extensive experience with trachelectomy patients. my daughter is now one and absolutely fine despite being premature xx
Did you.have specific pre labor symptoms? I'm 31 weeks and not sure if we have mucus plug, etc like someone who did not have the traechelotomy. My c section scheduled for 36 weeks but I am thinking maybe I should tell my doctor to do 34 weeks instead?
Hi everyone, I've been keeping up with stories and it been lovely to see the amazing stories being told! I had my trachelectamy and lymph node removal two years, I was only 26! It was all discovered after my first smear test that I had after the birth of my daughter! I'm now 18 weeks pregnant and having a bit of a rollercoaster of a time! I had a big bleed at 14 weeks and they assumed I was having a miscarriage, we came through it and I had a week in hospital. I had a internal check two weeks after the bleed to discover I had a bit of my womb pushing through my stitch. On a scan I had last week we found a fair size bleed 5cm by 6cm! As I'm still bleeding but it's old blood! It's sitting over my stitch and touching baby's sac. They think the bleeding is from where my placenta has moved. I'm just wondering if any of you other ladies have had a hematoma during your pregnancy? And how did everything go! I feel like I've not got much going in my favour with all the stuff being thrown at me! Just hoping for some positive stories? Thanks for your time ladies Hope to hear from you soon
