About to end Procardia

Hi,

I have been on bed rest since I was 27 weeks and this Thursday I will make it to 36 weeks. I am super excited and can't believe I am made it this far. I will also be stopping my Procardia meds that I have been on since my bed rest. I was hoping if anyone can tell me about their experiences of coming off Procardia. Do you go into labor soon after or can the timing still vary?

I have been having a lot of BH contractions and things are really uncomfortable these days. The babies are pretty active and always stretching for room. Baby B who is up higher, always wants to roll up in a ball and stretches my tummy in all different directions to the point it hurts. I know that my doctor will not let me go past 38 weeks, but I have just heard a lot of people going into labor after they stop the meds. I don't know why, but I am just worried that I won't know when the true contractions are happening. With this being my first pregnancy and not knowing what to expect and what I should feel just gets scary sometimes. I hope this feeling is normal.

Thank you in advance!
Taruna :unknw:

 

Congrats on making it to 36 weeks!!!!!!!

I'm currently pregnant with twins now, but had PTL with my son starting at 24 weeks and was on bedrest and a terbutaline pump in my leg until 36 weeks. I was soooo excited to get permission to be up and about that I went on a HUGE shopping trip the day I got off bedrest and meds (probably not the smartest). I went into labor that very night!

The reason I could tell I was in 'actual' labor is that contractions got increasingly harder and closer together and never let up like the BH ones did. My labor progressed pretty slowly...I had 24 hours worth before I ended up with an emergency c-section.

My best advice is to ease into activity if you can a little. In some ways it was nice just to have him and not have to 'suffer' through the end of pregnancy, but I wish I'd had a little more time to build up my strength before laboring hard and having an eventual c-section.

GL!!!!!

 

Hello, I don't have an answer to your question but I'm very interested in the responses you'll be getting. I've only been on bedrest/Procardia for 5 days now. Did you ask to stop taking it or were you told to stop at 36 weeks?

 

Meg_Meg- I was told that I would stop at 36 weeks. When I first went on it, I read on many places on the internet that people generally were given Procardia to take them through the 36th week. I hope you will get some info from here and hopefully I will be able to add more as the weeks progress.

Evemomma- Thanks for the words of encouragement. I am trying to look for the signs that you mentioned for the contractions getting worse or increasing in intensity and sometimes it is so confusing, because the BH contractions already feel bad, I don't know what worse would be like. Thanks for the advice of easing into things, because I would probably want to do the same thing you did, especially it being black Friday. ^_^ I would love to make it to 38 and will try my best to behave.

Another one of the silly fears (I just have to say it hoping I am not the only one and sorry for the TMI) is that my water is going to break when I am going pee and I won't be able to tell the difference. I know I am going to look back at this and think how stupid some of my fears were.

Thanks ladies.

 

You're going to do great!

Really, you will know when you get those 'real' contrax b/c they will just increase and increase with intensity. To start with, I wasn't sure if it was just being off the meds...but within a few hours I had to breath through them. They still weren't terrible...but they were SO consistent, I knew I was in labor. Now getting the hospital and OB to agree was a different story...they thought it was just a reaction at first to me being off meds.

GL and take it easy! Try to get some of your strength back...bedrest is a killer!!!!!

 

Yeah you are now 36 weeks!!! How exciting! I am pregnant with twins but with my 2nd pregnancy I was put on Procardia due to lots of contractions starting at 24 weeks. They were never painful or intense just frequent. I was taken off Procardia at exactly 36 weeks and exactly 1 week later I had my little girl. My OB couldn't believe that I didn't go in labor within 24 hours of going off Procardia. I was not on bedrest just to take it easy. 48 hours prior to giving birth to her I had contractions that were about 5 minutes apart and within the last 12 hours about 3 minutes apart and got very intense. With the intensity and not being able to stand them at home anymore I knew to go in. With all the contracting I never got past 3 cm until my water broke just less than an hour before I gave birth.
Good luck to you!!! You get to hold those babies soon

 

My wife was admitted to the hospital at 33wks 4 days after having contractions every 2 minutes and already 4cm dilated. That was on a Wednesday, and she was given both procardia (sp?) and terbutaline (sp?) thru the following Monday. By that point the contractions slowed to 2-5 per hour. After staying that way all last week the doctors let us go home yesterday (35 weeks 3 days) but to remain on bedrest.

 

I stopped procardia & bedrest when I was 34 weeks. I stayed pregnant until I showed up for induction at 37 weeks. Not sure when I would have went into labor as I was already 5cm & 100% effaced when I showed up at 37 weeks and not in labor. I got induced because my blood pressure was going through the roof.

 

Thanks all for your sharing your experiences. I actually went to my regular doctor's appointment on 11/24/2009 and I was 4cm dilated and not even off Procardia. So off the the hospital I went and all that time my contractions felt like BH ones, they were not intensifying. So a long story short, I ended up having my babies that evening, a beautiful boy and girl thanks to my PTL. What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had and a lot to be thankful for. We are all doing well and I was so excited when my babies came home with me that following Sunday, even though there were born at 35 weeks and 5 days and not a single day in the NICU. My little fighters!!

I am in heavenly bliss!

Taruna

 

Congratulations on your babies! Visit us in the First Year forum when you get a chance!

 

Congratulations!!! Lucky gal

 

Congrats on your healthy babies!!!!! What an amazing Thanksgiving!!!!!!!