Hello, my name is Carmen. I have a cerclage which was placed at 14 weeks and I am now 34 weeks. I have IC and lost my first pregnancy at 18 weeks. I have prematurely dilated 3 cm and my bag of membranes were pretty much in my vagina...sorry. They did an emergency cerclage and eventually my bag of membranes broke during the procedure and i delivered 1 week later. It is a higher risk the further along you get. Although many do really well with an emergency cerclage. This time I got it prophylactically at 14 week. They do it early before your cervix begans to open or shorten. The procedure doesn't hurt. it was an outpatient procedure and they gave me an epidural and not general. For the first few days I had some light cramping and spotting, but that went away completely. I will tell you that I ended up on bedrest at 19 weeks until now...15 weeks. My cervix began to shorten significantly at 19 weeks and bedrest was the only intervention. This was modified to strict bedrest...going nowhere but to the doctor,no stairs, sick baths, and obviously no sex. Even now I am out in a wheelchair. The stitch and God's divine intervention was the only thing keeping me from havimg this baby! So, I am for cerclages. Everyone is different. Some go full term some go preterm with the cerclages...some even go without the cerclage. I lost my first and knew that I did not want to go through that again so i got the cerclage. I didn't get a second opinion either, but thats your choice. Mabe you can see a peri doc or high rsik doctor.they can give you more insight. I had text book IC and they knew I wold need a cerclage. Some people just have a short cervix and do fine the entire pregnancy with just bedrest. Either way when you have IC connected to you it is definitely a serious condition to think about. Carmen