Baby Stitched Into Mother’s Cervix To Keep Him From Falling Out

When doctors told 27-year-old Nicola Richards that her cervix was not strong enough to hold her unborn baby, Nicola was devastated. That’s when doctors decided that they would stitch her son into his mother’s cervix to prevent him for falling out of her body.

A year earlier, Nicola had lost her first baby. After that, she almost gave up hope of having children of her own. While pregnant with Jesse, doctors discovered the root cause of her previous failed pregnancy. Nicola had an ‘incompetent cervix”, which causes premature birth due to the cervix being too small and opening too soon. When Nicola became pregnant with Jesse, her joy was replaced with fear of losing another baby.

To prevent losing her baby, Nicola underwent a procedure in which doctors placed a single stitch to strengthen her cervix and support her son, Jesse, at 14 weeks.

‘Being told I had an incompetent cervix was heartbreaking as I wanted more than anything to become a mum,’ she said. The stitch was a lifeline for both me and my husband John, it gave us and our baby a chance. Without it Jesse wouldn’t have survived as my cervix wasn’t strong enough to hold him and doctors said that he could fall out at any time. But as soon as I knew there were no infections and Jesse has survived it was a miracle cure, he really is our little miracle.” Nicola said.

According to the Mayo Clinic, an incompetent cervix, also known as cervical insufficiency, is a condition in which the cervix (the lower part of the uterus that connects to the vagina) becomes weakened and is therefore unable to stay closed during pregnancy. This can lead to premature birth or pregnancy loss. To combat this, doctors will use a type of medical intervention called cervical cerclage (stitching the cervix closed), that can help support the cervix and reduce the risk of complications.

During her previous pregnancy, Richards miscarried her daughter hope at just six weeks. A devastating experience for Richards, she wasn’t sure that she could every have children, or even had it in her try to get pregnant again.

Mrs Richards became pregnant with Jesse in December 2014, and this time her consultant put a stitch in her cervix at 14 weeks.

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Throughout her pregnancy both Mrs Richards and her husband John, 24, refused to allow themselves to get excited in case they lost their third baby.

‘When I got pregnant with Jesse I couldn’t even celebrate but this time I knew something could be done earlier to try and save him. The pregnancy was completely different, there was no irregular bleeding and I had weekly checks and precautions were put in place. As the weeks passed by I became more and more optimistic and finally started buying a few things for him when I’d gone past the 28-week mark.
‘The labour was pretty traumatic and I ended up having a C-section after they couldn’t find a heartbeat, but our miracle boy survived.” Nicola said.

The stitch allowed Nicola to carry her baby for 33 weeks, giving him time to develop to a 4lbs 8oz baby at the time of his birth.

For two weeks, Jesse stayed in neonatal care before being released to his parents. Jesse is now home with his mother, and is happy and healthy.

See more how an incompetent cervix prevents a healthy pregnancy below.