Does anyone else still have lots of contractions while taking terbutaline?

I have been taking 5 mg of terbutaline for a couple of weeks now every 4 hours and I still have contractions. Some days I have them worse than others. Like last night I have 11 contractions in 2 hours. The Dr. told me today that I don't need to worry unless I have 12 in an hour. Every time I go to the Dr. I am told dif. things. First I was told if you have them 5 minutes apart for an hour go to L&D. Then I was told if you have more than 3 an hour go to L&D. Now I am told if you have 12 in an hour go to L&D. How in the world am I supposed to know when I really need to be concerned?! :umm:

 

Personally no experience. But "ahmerl" who just had a scheduled csection last week said she still had them even through the terb. Her babies were breech, I don't know about your babies' positions, but unless you have a head on your cervix, then the contrax will probably not be very effective. It was good to read that your cervix is holding up well. I hope you get some better answers from someone with personal experience; but I seem to recall reading posts that others continued to have contractions while on terb.

 

My baby a is vertex and her head is on my cervix and baby b is transverse.

 

I don't have experience with taking terbutaline orally, but I went to L&D on Monday because I was having tons of contractions, and they gave me a terbutaline shot. It stopped the contractions for about 45 minutes, but after that the slowly came back.

I am just as confused as you about when I should be concerned about contractions--I'm still having them all the time, too.

 

I was on terbutaline with the boys. Still had contrax every hour. He took me off the meds at 36 weeks & guess what - I quit having the contrax. Try & drink more water to see if that helps.

 

I was on the terb pump for about 10 weeks - I continued to have contractions the whole time, anywhere from 2 per hour up to 7-9 per hour (just a few times, not consistently). I was usually at 3-4 per hour. My doc had set my threshold at 5 - meaning, if I had 5 or more ctx in an hour, then I'd have to drink water or get an add'l bolus of terb then re-check my ctx. Each woman's "threshhold" is apparently different - it is based on what is normal for YOUR body. For me, having 4-6 ctx was pretty normal (as determined from my 5-day hospital stay before going on the pump), so my threshhold was set at 5. Others have had lower threshholds (say, 4 per hour) and other have had higher, although 12 per hour like your doc suggested sounds ridiculously high to me. I would ask about that 12 number again - maybe he misspoke?

That's all I've got - HTH.

 

I was also thinking that they are probably changing the criteria according to your baseline. The docs will get to know your body and how it is working and will adjust what needs to be done accordingly. I made a trip to L&D because I thought I was leaking fluid, I wasn't but I freaked the nurse out because she saw how many contractions I was having (I was on meds to stop them). They had a big meeting about me and basically were freaking out and going to ambulance me to another hospital because their nursery was full. Thank goodness the resident that had seen me a few times before happened to come in just then and tell them that this was completely normal for me and they were not causing any changes so not only was I not going via ambulance to another hospital but she was letting me go home. Let me tell you, I heard the nurses carrying on about how wrong this resident was etc etc. Well, she was right. I didn't go into labor until weeks later after my water broke. Anyway, the whole point of my story was yes I was on contraction stopping meds and yes I continued to contract but they did not cause any cervical changes which is the key. The staff began to see a pattern with my body and the criteria did change as we established what was normal for me and what events were cause for alarm.

 

I was on 20mg of procardia for contractions from 28 weeks to 35 weeks and had contractions the entire time. Sometimes I had as many as 10 per hour. I had to be induced at 37 weeks and still wouldn't dialate at all. If your contractions change in intesity or where they hurt then I would call, but you will most likely continue to have contrax.

 

I have been on the Terb pump for 15 weeks now. I am on the maximum amount and the most frequency (every 3 hours). In the beginning I was allowed to have 4 contractions per hour. But after 30 weeks, I was allowed 5. Throughout this whole period, I would occasionally hav eas many as 8 or 9 per hour. But most days I had around 3 per hour. I actually just ended up staying in L&D for contractions every 8 minutes then every 2 to 3 minutes but I'm pretty sure it's because they wouldn't let me drink water for fear that they would have to do a C-Section that day. I keep trying to explain to them that I know my body and what's normal for my body at this point. Sure enough, when they let me rehydrate and calm my nerves, the contractions settled down.

So to answer your question, yes I am on the terb pump and still have lots of contractions at times depending on my hydration level, activity level, and even my emotional stress level. You're pretty far along so I think it's normal at this point. But I agree with one of the previous posts...12 an hour sounds RIDICULOUS as a threshold!