In 2024, Healthy Headlines featured the Wong family, who hoped that a procedure might help them grow their family from one child to more.
On Dec. 27 that hope was fulfilled. Meet Archer.
In March 2024, Archer’s mother, Sarah, was the first patient to undergo a robotic transabdominal cerclage (TAC) procedure to help pave the way for a successful pregnancy at East Cooper Medical Center in Mount Pleasant.
Before this procedure, Sarah and her husband Jeremy had endured two miscarriages and the loss of their son Hundley during Sarah’s 20th week of pregnancy. Then they learned Sarah had “cervical insufficiency,” meaning her cervix thins or opens too early in the pregnancy.
Sarah tried to let go of her dreams of a big family. Then she learned about TAC.
During this procedure, urogynecologist Dr. Cary Fishburne added a polyester support band to the base of Sarah’s cervix. It’s known as “cerclage” in medical terminology. Simply put: The cervix was cinched up to support a new fetus. This meant that if Sarah was able to get pregnant again, her cervix would have a much greater chance of supporting the growing baby for the entire pregnancy.
Just two months after TAC, Sarah learned she was expecting.
Specialized care and treatment for high-risk pregnancy
The Wongs had recently moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains where Sarah tried a local OB-GYN practice, but “I could never get my providers to understand” the background of her case, Sarah said. In contrast, everyone at East Cooper “knew their stuff and knew my case.”
So Sarah chose to stay with her maternal-fetal medicine provider Dr. Christopher Robinson and OB-GYN Dr. Meghan Lynch.
The team scheduled Sarah’s appointments to coincide with her Air Force Reserves duty. Each month, she drove seven hours back to Mount Pleasant for appointments which were — to her delight — “uneventful” as her pregnancy progressed normally.
“Every time I had my ultrasounds done, they’d take a picture and send it to Dr. Fishburne,” Sarah said. “It was so nice to know my providers were all in my corner.”
In December, the Wongs rented a townhome for a month so Sarah could be close to her team at East Cooper Medical Center.
Then it was time for her scheduled C-section. Sarah brought Hundley’s ashes with her, so he could meet his brother.
Pointing to the falling rain outside, Lynch told her: it’s the perfect day to have a rainbow baby. (That’s a phrase for a healthy infant born after a miscarriage or stillbirth.)
At 5 pounds, 15 ounces, Archer was born into an immediate fan club: His joyful parents, big sister Ryn (age 2), and East Cooper Medical Center.
“Everyone working was as excited as I was to have that baby and was so excited for that life,” Sarah said. “It was just the best experience for it all to finally come to an end, to have a baby at the end of it, and to have them all cheering me on.”
Before discharging with her healthy baby boy, Sarah had one request: To thank Fishburne and show him what his expertise had made possible.
“This is a wonderful, loving family,” Fishburne said. “It has been such an honor to walk with this walk with them and help them achieve their family dreams.”
Weeks later, Sarah is still in awe of the baby in her arms. “I was very much accepting of the fact that Ryn would be my one and only. And then all the right doors opened, and now we have a sweet baby boy.”
“I can’t say thank you enough to them for making it happen for me.”
