brand new to bedrest at 32 weeks....

Hi there!!

Soooo at 32 weeks, I am now on bedrest. UGH!

Went to L&D on Tuesday with what I thought was contractions (was unsure...first babies & all!) and was feeling pretty miserable.
They monitored the babies and the contractions (babies were doing great & were really active). Dr. put me on 60mg of Nifedipine (I think this is the same as Procardia - sp? -) every 8 hours. Apparently this is a pretty high dose?? Not sure why she wants me to take that much, but I am following orders like a good girl

I also rec'd the steroid shot (dont know the name) to speed up the lung development of the babies.

Got out of the hospital on Wednesday night with the condition that I need to be on bedrest. boooooooooo. No laundry, no cleaning, no doing anything. I am not very good at this!! My husband is helping out a ton, but I have an itty bitty control problem w/ cleaning & tidying up which I am trying my very best to just ignore!

Since returning home from the hospital I have felt like the babies are not moving nearly as much as they were before which is giving me some anxiety....I am wondering if it could be from the Nifedipine or the steroid shot or the lack of movement on my part? I went from working full time & still running errands/cleaning etc to doing absolutely NOTHING as of Tuesday. Has anyone else experienced this? I am going to call the on call dr. this afternoon just to check (not to be paranoid....but...i have to ease my mind). I am really hoping that the lack of activity on my part is also causing my little girls to sleep alot too??

If anyone has any advice I would love to hear it

Also....does anyone or everyone elses hips/legs hurt from laying down all day? MISERABLE! I feel like after 20 minutes I have to turn onto my other side (which takes a good 3 minutes to turn over!) so that my hips arent burning!

 

im not as far as you are yet, but 2 weeks ago i was put on modified bedrest, which means go potty, shower, get water & nothing else. I am a bit of a control freak as well on my house work so i feel bad making someone else do it. i didnt have as many drugs as you did when u went to l & d they only gave me a terb shot and monitored me for 24hs. i have noticed that the babies are less active they only move after i eat, when i push around on them, and sometimes at night. vs moving all the time before. my dr said it was normal as long as i can feel them move. also in ur case they have less and less room to move around as each days goes on so maybe thats why the decrease in movement as well. just a thought. my hips hurt as well from the laying down and its starting to take me a while to turn over. i just try to move before it hurts and i use a heating pad from time to time. which is good. I just keep in my mind that my babies are growing and growing the longer they stay in and i want to minimize nicu time as much as possible if i can help it. hang in there you only have a few more weeks before you babies will be safe to come out. make teh tv, computer, and a good book you best friend lol ;-)

 

I went on bedrest a bit before you- I think I was 31 weeks 4 days. I had to do 10 days of hospital bedrest on mag- due to being 5 cm dilated- then they got me down to procardia- I take XL 30 mg twice a day. 60 mg 3 times a day seems kind of high, but I am sure it just depends on the doc. I noticed that the babies move all the time when I am at the hospital= but as soon as I came home they are not moving as much! I think lack of activity could have something to do with it- as well as size. My ultrasound last week showed both over 5 lbs and one is breech- doc mentioned he did not think they would be turning anymore. As long as your feeling them move during the day, I think it is ok!
I hear you about the housework, it is tearing me up not being able to do it and care for DS who is 2. I spend a lot of time on the internet, playing games, reading forums etc. I even have made a hat for each girl with looms that are so easy, and completed the first book I have in a long time!!!
Hang in there- you are so close. If nothing else- you got steroid shots, so it should significantly improve the chances of the babies doing very well. While I was in the hospital- the NP from the NICU told me that 32 weekers have a 100% survival rate!!!
Good luck and take it easy!

 

Hello, sorry you have to be on bedrest!! I went into PTL a month ago and did Mag and then was sent home on strict bedrest and Procardia (20mg every 4 hours) - total of 120mg in 24 hours which I thought was the highest dose. You're getting 180mg in 24 hrs which is more, but maybe each Dr does their own thing I've actually spaced mine out to about every 6 hrs now, every 4 hrs was too much on my blood pressure. I don't know about the inactivity other than some days mine are more active than others

I'm not so good at enjoying laying around doing nothing either and my husband just doesn't make the house as clean as I like it but I'm trying to take a deep breath and not see the messes and dust for a few more weeks, It's also hard especially when I want to do so much to get the house ready for the babies and get out and shop, but I know this is just the most important thing I can do right now. Target.com is my new best friend. It's good that you're 32 weeks, hopefully those babies can stay put for a couple more weeks, but that's great that you got the steroid shot!!

Take care!!

 

Hi there, hope you are having a good day! I will be 32 weeks tomorrow and had ptl a week, contractions that were 3-4 minutes apart, given terbutaline shot and a bag of iv fluids and the contractions stopped and I was sent home.

My question to all of you is: did your contractions stop after your first Niphedipine/Mag/Terb. shot? Did the doctor do a cervix check and did you have cervical changes?

After my shot the contractions stopped and off I went home with no activity restrictions/instructions, my cervix was not checked and steroid shots were not discussed.

I called my ob the next day and it was explained to me that I had no other labor symptoms, just the close contractions and they didnt want to agitate my cervix with the goings-on and have me keep contracting and have any type of progression.

Since last Friday, my bh contractions have changed. Some times they will be pinchy/crampy painful and I will just have one in an hour. Then the next hour I will have 4 normal bh contractions, and so on. You get the point, they have changed a bit.

I see both my regular ob and peri tomorrow. My peri does a cervical u/s every two weeks, so I am praying that nothing has changed.

UG! It is always something isnt it??? I hear you ALL on the housework issues......I hired my neighbor's daughter to come over once a week and vacuum for me for $15, she is 13 It makes me feel better that it gets DONE, even if doesnt do it like I do.

Twin pregnancies are all about the loss of control.......maybe that is why all of us control freaks are blessed with our twins! So we learn to be patient! HA! :rotflmbo:

Hope you all on bedrest are having a good day, keep smiling and we are almost DONE!

xojillian

 

Jillian- Even the Mag did not totally stop my contractions, but it slowed them WAY down to where I was just having maybe 4 an hour instead of just constant contractions and irritability. When they started my Procardia(Nifedipine) I had zero contractions for about 3 days. Now, a month later, I do contract quite a bit, but I get weekly ultrasounds to check sizes and cervical length and so far my cervix has not shortened anymore. When my PTL started, I went in with the contractions and a lot of pressure and I was checked internally. I was not checked internally since then, just the length scans that my Dr and Peri actually do abdominally. Unless the contrax are very frequent and not letting up or I have a lot of pressure or somehting else out of the usual, they won't check me. My Dr. with my first son was the total opposite and I was checked constantly, but I have to say I appreciate that my Drs right now are being so careful not to start things going again or introduce infection. Not to say there isn't a time for frequent checks, but my being so stable and my cerv. length not changing more, I feel reassured. Hang in there!! Maybe you could ask if you could come for weekly appts just for reassurance. I know for me, if I had to wait 2 weeks with all of these contractions and wondering if anything is changing, I would go crazy!!

 

Thanks for all the replies ladies!!!!

Yup, I realized that as long as I have the 'basic's' done for the babies that everything else can be done after they are born!
Nothing too urgent that is worth risking having them earlier than we want to right?!

My husband put the car seats in the car today & put the stroller all together and finished putting the dresser together! The baby room is pretty much done...not as organized as i would like it to be, but time for that later!
So now I just really have to get my bag ready for the hospital & I think I will feel much better.

I am going to ask my Dr on Wed why the super high dose of Nifedipine....but I guess whatever she did worked as I don't feel like I am having very many contractions at all. I did notice that if I am standing for too long (which i shouldnt be doing anyways....) that things get very very tight. I am guessing that might be contractions?? I still am not 100% sure on what is a contraction & what isn't.

jillianstwins....the hospital did not check my cervix before discharging me, but they day I came in it was still 'closed and long'. So I am guessing if it was not still closed maybe they would have checked it before I left? They will be checking it again on Wednesday though (one week after being discharged). Hopefully it will still be closed...
Great idea on the hiring of the neighbor to vaccuum! Its the small things in life that make me happy and clean vaccuumed carpets is one of them! Good luck at your appt. tomorrow...hoping for the best!

I totally agree on the twins teaching me that I can't be in control of EVERYTHING! It is going to be an interesting journey for me for sure!

target.com & babiesrus.com here I come!!! I hope I can use the gift cards I rec'd from my showers on there!

 

Jillianstwins- I did get my cervix checked at the hospital- that is what ended up landing me into admission. I was 2 cm then, 1 cm the next morning then 5 the next morning! I am kind of surprised they did not check you. I have been getting checked twice a week now, but I guess it is because I am so far dilated. I don't know if you dilate past a certain point if they go ahead and let you labor.
The Mag slowed down my contractions- but did nothing for the irritability- sam as the procardia- it has not stopped anything fully, just slowed it down, and I have made very slow progress on dilating- not really and further- just a bit thinner.
I hope you are all doing well. We are almost there!

 

QUOTE(tamaras @ Nov 25 2007, 08:24 PM) [snapback]508422[/snapback]
target.com & babiesrus.com here I come!!! I hope I can use the gift cards I rec'd from my showers on there!




Just as an FYI- a lot of stores now offer free shipping if you can ship it to the store and then have someone pick it up. I've become the queen of online shopping since bed rest started and that's one of the money saving tricks I learned.

Hang in there!!