Anyone dealing with uterine irritability?

I had what was called an 'irritable uterus' with my first, singleton pregnancy. I had started noticing 'braxton hicks' contractions around 15 weeks or so but was told they were normal. By 24 weeks, I ended up being hospitalized b/c I was contracting every 2 minutes. I ended up contracting the rest of my pregnancy, though they were more controlled throug mag sulfate (yuck) in the hospital and a terbutaline pump in my leg at home. I made it to 36 weeks and really never had a lot of cervical change despite the contrax.

Now here I am with twins and considered VERY high risk for PTL due to my hx. I have noticed some random contractions the past few weeks (I'll be 16 weeks tomorrow). My peri said not to worry unless I'm having more than 3 an hour (and I'm not, maybe one every two hours or so)...but he wants to make sure my cervix is not funneling at my u/s in a week and a half.

Anyone have experience with this? I know I will most likely end up on bedrest at some point, but I want to stay off it as long as I can (without putting the babies at risk of course). I've already done 5 weeks of bedrest b/c I bled heavily at 8.5 weeks due to a subchorionic hematoma. I became so weak so quickly! I'm hoping to enjoy a little 'respite' from bedrest for awhile at least.

Just wanted to know what others were experiencing!

 

I had irritable uterus as well. Make sure you are drinking a TON of water, and going to the bathroom often (a full bladder can also cause irritability). I would definitely take it easy as well. If you don't absolutely have to be up doing something, then don't, especially with your hx. I know when I went into PTL, I was having contractions that I wasn't feeling and it was causing cervical change, so make sure your Dr keeps a close eye on you. Has your Dr mentioned maybe putting you on Procardia to help with the contractions? Good Luck!! :hug:

 

Thanks Kyrstyn...

I'm sort of 'modified rest' the whole pregnancy due to my risk of PTL. I'm on complete pelvic rest (no intercourse, no sxtreme bending, lifting, no exercise)...of course I have a 3 year old, so sometimes it's a challenge. I'm only working a few hours right now, and sit at my job. I try to spend the majority of my day with my feet up. My poor dh has gotten stuck with most of the housework (and it shows, our house is a disaster).

Did your irritability lead to your twins' early birth? I'm sooo anxious to at least get myself to the point of viability, and THEN start concentrating on the 'big milestones'.

I see my peri next Thurs, I may ask for a cervical check before my u/s. If I know my cervix is holding tight, I won't be quite so nervous (since I know I tend to contract a lot). I'm definitely drinking lots of water, emptying my bladder and trying not to be constipated (since that made my irritabiity worse last time too).

I just want these babies to stick in here!!!!

 

It sounds like you are doing everything you can. :hug: Did they give you a cerclage? They told me if I ever got pregnant again, they would do a cerclage right away. It was a whole bunch of things that lead to my girls being born early. They told me I have an incompetent cervix (but couldn't tell me why), I went into PTL, I was contracting and dilating, I was funneled and had a positive fFN at 24 weeks. From that point on, I was on hospital bedrest on a whole host of different med's, and complete bedrest (no bathroom privileges at all!). At 28 weeks I was 6cm dilated, they could feel Baby A's head and she was starting to have de-cel's, so they had to take them.

As hard as it was, it was more than worth it. Once you get to the point of viability, every day is a victory! Everyday you can keep those babies in, is 3 days they don't have to be in the NICU. Good Luck!! :hug:

 

They haven't mentioned cerclage at this point. Even with all the contracting I did with my last pregnancy (I was contracting hard every 2 minutes when I was admitted to L&D at 24 weeks, only dilated a fingetip)...I never dilated past a 2...and that was after I went off bedrest and my meds at 36 weeks and walked the entire day shopping (like an idiot, I know). I made it to 7 in active labor and then had to have an emergency c-section due to decels from my ds. All my FFN tests were negative.

I was on Procardia last pregnancy, and it gave me SERIOUS migraines. I guess we'll see. I'm not feelig any pressure and can feel the babies up nice and high right now. But I hate havng those dang random contrax...haven't had one for about 2 hours that I can tell anyway.

Thanks so much for your input...all my friends have had mostly 'normal' pregnancies and just don't understand all this stuff!

 

Your story sounds very familiar to mine. I am 14 weeks and too have a history of PTL with my first two pregnancies. I too was on Procardia and Terbutaline with my 2nd pregnancy and made it to 38 wks even with constant contractions all day long. It thankfully didn't make me dialate early. I had to call my doctor last night b/c I was having some contractions in a series. He wasn't too concerned so I am constantly touching my belly and wish the babies were up higher. Drinking lots of water and feeling paranoid often b/c I just don't want to be missing something. I just keep waiting for more spontaneous contractions. Not sure about you but I am achy in my lower abdomen, must be some stretching.
I'm starting P17 hydroxyprogesterone shots at 16 weeks to help keep my uterus calm through 34 weeks. It is a shot once a week. I have a few friends that had them during their singleton pregnancies and they were effective but they don't have as much research on the effectiveness during a twin pregnancy. It can't hurt though! I just want those babies in there as long as possible I just asked my OB to refer me to a peri as well. I see the peri at the beginning of Dec. and will be happy to have her perspective and care on my team.
Will look forward to hearing more of your story throughout your journey, it seems we have a lot in common with the irritable uterus! take care.

 

ick, irritable uterus is NOT fun. i had it with my pregnancy also. mine started at 17 weeks and continued throughout. my husband would take me triage every week it seemed because i was in so much pain. the nurses would hook me up to the monitors and sure enough i would be having contractions but not enough to go into labor. the first time i went in (at 17 weeks) i thought for sure i was in labor i was horrified. they gave me a shot of terbutaline and my heart rate just went crazy fast. after that i was given procardia to take twice daily but even that didn't help. my OB didn't think i was going to make it passed 29 weeks so when that came and went we all breathed a sigh of relief.

i was put on strict bedrest in the hospital around 30 weeks because i began to dialate (2cm) and was funneling. I was in the hospital for 2 days and sent home with orders not to get out of bed unless it was to take a quick shower or use the bathroom. at 33 weeks i ended up back in triage because the pain of the "irritable uterus" was unbearable, having never been pregnant before i thought i was in labor. well at this point, after a urine analysis, they found that i had pre-eclampsia. i stayed in the hospital for 7 days with my OB thinking that i would deliver at any moment. i would scream to the nurses because i was in so much pain. the procardia just wasn't cutting it so they shot me up with terbutaline again. my OB tried to convince my peri that i should have a scheduled delivery to avoid an emergency at 34 weeks but they wanted to wait. i was sent home and came back. well, once that happened my peri and my OB decided that it was OK to schedule a c-section once i hit 35 weeks. so the day i turned 35 weeks pregnant, july 23rd, i had a c-section and delivered a 4lb 15oz boy and a 4lb 14oz boy with apgars of 8 and 9, perfectly healthy. in the recorvery room the nurse told me that if we had waited any longer i could have been in serious trouble because my toxicity levels were continually getting higher.

congratulations on your pregnancy, i hope you can carry as comfortably and as long as possible! it's hard to do, so good luck!

 

Mom2+2...I start my 17P shots next week. I'm so ready to get those going and hope they help! I'm LOLing at you saying you are constantly touching your belly, b/c I find myself doing just that, trying to detect any contractions. I'm having soooooo much stretching, pulling and tightness from carrying two that it's hard to tell what's what. I laid down last night, since my back starting hurting and decided to do a contraction count...well I only had one detectable one (and I was constantly pressing on my uterus) in two hours (thank goodness), so I think a lot of my discomfort is just all the growing. I ended up on a terbultaline pump I wore in my leg with my son (and bedrest). The pump was great...I had waaaaaaay less side effects from the terb that way. I know I've got bedrest/hospitalization in my future (that's what my peri says and I agree) but I just want to put it off as long as I possibly can!

Haleystar...Thanks for sharing your story. I love to hear about those of us with 'IU' going near term. I made it to 36 weeks with my son...I actually think I would've made it longer, but I had been on bedrest for 12 1/2 weeks and was SOOOOO stir crazy that I shoppped for like 5 hours straight the day I got off bedrest. Dumb...put myself into labor that very night. Congrats on your healthy twins!!!!

 

lol......yeah, I'm not the only person touching their belly all the time! I love to hear that someone can relate. I agree it really is hard to tell exactly what is what w/ the pulling and stretching in the abdomen as well. I never knew about the terb. pump in the leg. So glad it worked for you! My OB says that there is a good chance that bedrest is in my future too. I am wrapping my brain around it and am willing to do anything to get these babies as close to full term as possible. I see my peri for the first time on the first of Dec and am quite curious what she is going to say.

 

I know it's different when you are carrying twins but a friend of mine had a really difficult first pregnancy with her first son and had terrible uterine irritability. She ended up delivery before 34 weeks. Well she just gave birth to a baby girl and was on terbutaline for MONTHS and thought for sure she would give birth prematurly...well she carried to term, much to the surprise of everyone. So it is possible that even though you've had it in the past and have it during this pregnancy, that you will carry a lot longer than expected.

I also would constantly hold and touch my stomach. This was my first pregnancy, I didn't know what labor pains felt like. My MIL would tell me that she didn't even know she was in labor with her first she just had back pain went to the doc and wouldn't you know she was giving birth. So here I was freaking out every 5 seconds with all of this pain thinking I was going to deliver these two kids before they were healthy enough to come out. I had a horrible pregnancy experience because of all of the pain I was in and how heavy and active these boys were...they moved ALL the time. But, even though it sucked, I would do it again because my kids are amazing!

 

I was in a similar situation, irritability contractions starting at 20wks. The pp covered most everything. I just wanted to add that I went off all meds at 34 weeks and never did go into actual labor. We did a planned c-section at 36 weeks 4 days. It wasn't until that last week that my cervix changed to 2cm.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for everyone's stories! I'm still staying steady at less than one contraction (I'm pretty sure) every 1-2 hours. So, thank goodness for that. My belly feels much less sore and 'irritable' this AM. TMI here, but constipation DEFINITELY makes my IU worse, and I'm totally struggling with it. Eating super high-fiber cereal, taking stool softeners, drinking TONS of water and even apple cider....still not TONS of luck. Grrrrrrr.

 

So glad to hear your story and that your twins are here and healthy!

 

Sorry to hear you are dealing w/ constipation! TMI, but I just keeping waiting for that to happen My girlfriend that had the P17 shots said it gave her constipation issues so it is good that you are already taking measures for it. I drink a little less than a cup of coffee in the morning and that seems to help me, TMI I know! That is my caffeine for the day, really could use more though!

 

Oh no! I totally forgot that Progesterone makes you constipated!!!! I'm in so much trouble! Well, talk about WAAAAAY TMI right now, things are...ahem...better in that area than ealier. I had REALLY bad issues with it last pregnancy, and it made me contract so hard I almost had to go back to the hospital. Imagine my utter humiliation at having to talk my OB out of admitting me b/c I knew once I 'went', that my contrax would calm down! Anyway, I SWEAR by the combo of two colace (or generic form) daily, along with at least one bowl of super high fiber cereal (Fiber One..the sweet kind is what I use). When I really got in a pinch, I would gag down a dose of Milk of Magnesia...but that stuff is DISGUSTING! It totally works, but yuck! I would say to start taking the colace before you start your shots...it will help so much!

 

Just a comment for the constipation issue...prunes prunes and more PRUNES! Not a ton at a time actually, just eat them every day and it really has helped me along with drinking lots of water.

 

I had the same exact experience. Mine started at 24 weeks regularly, like 4+ per hour. At 29 weeks I was put on bedrest to control them because I was having too many per hour. I had the terb pump too. The doctor said it was all due to an irritable uterus. I had the terb until 36 weeks 3 days when i was released from bedrest. I delivered at 36 weeks 5 days.

 

Yep! This was me.

Started BH about 15-16 weeks, had contractions all through and at 29 weeks I was admitted 24 hours (after 2 other L&D trips) I was 1cm dilated and thinned at 29 weeks.

Went on bed rest (modified) and I am now 35w and begging for these babies to exit the uterus LOL

Unfortunatly, I think twin PGs are just sort of...destined for irritable uterus issues. The important thing is that we need to really listen to our bodies and out gut.

I much rather take 15 worthless trips to L&D over a Irritable uterus than, have an issue that cannot be revered.

Hang in there !!

 

Well, my favorite part of hearing about everyone's IU is that most of you made it at least to 35 weeks!!!!! I'm still doing ok today...maybe contracting once every few hours but that's it for now (I'm sure it's going to ramp up like it did last time). I'm so anxious to get my internal u/s to make sure my cervix is ok. Once I know that I'm 'locked down like Fort Knox' then I won't stress with each contraction quite so much!!!!

 

Funny, I just called my Ob this morning because I've been having contractions all night long for the past week

They wanted me to come in and give a urine sample to see if there is a bladder infection, but they did not do an exam. I hope the contractions are not changing the cervix.