Pre Term labor

Well I've been having what I thought were BH really bad all weekend. It wasn't a big surprise as I've had them for about a month straight every night. But last night they were accompanied by back pain and tons of pelvic pressure. I tried to call my doctor and after and hour had no luck getting anyone to call back so I headed into L&D. They put me on the monitors and I was having contractions every 2-4 minutes and they checked me and I was getting soft but still closed. They gave me terbutaline to stop them (not a fun medicine- I see what you guys mean) and it worked after 15 minutes. They checked me again an hour later. I was having sporadic contractions and I had dilated to 1 cm.

So they did a fetal fibronectin and checked for fernin, etc, but all came back negative (yay). So they let me go home with the promise that I would call if I started to contract again. Today, I only seem start conctracting immediately when I stand up so I'm ordered to lay down. I wiped and got a wad of mucous around dinner time tonight so I called my doctor just to let him know and he said based on the negative fetal fibronectin that he felt comfortable waiting to check me again until Tuesday in the office and working on a game plan from there.

Anyone been in a similar situation and had everything go okay? I'm nervous, but I'm getting good vibes from people that as long as we can stop the contractions that I can hold out. I really hope this is right. Thanks!

 

Did they check to see if your cervix was shortening?

I would see about getting the steroid shots to help mature the babies lungs, it never hurts when you have PTL.

I can't believe your OB never called you back, I would mention that to them, I'm glad you went ahead to L&D though. Take it easy. Are you on bedrest?

 

Yeah I'm on bedrest but with BR privileges.

 

Bed rest is not fun, but should help. Ask about the steroid shots when you go on Tuesday!

 

I was in a very similar situation at 24w5d - After 2 shots of terb and a negative FFN test, the ctx were still coming so they put me on a mag IV for 4 days. luckily that worked. They let me out of the hospital with instructions to rest more and drink more water. They also put me on the terb pump (which isn't nearly as bad as getting the shot) and home ctx monitoring (2x/day). That pump and constant monitoring kept me off bedrest and cooking steadily for another 9 weeks. I was delivered by c-section at 34w1d NOT due to ptl, but due to pre-e. So yes, you can definitely still have a happy ending. IMHO, you just want to make sure you are drinking a ridiculous amount of water and are very aware of your ctx; if you continue to have episodes of ctx, you have to get your doc to take them seriously. Ask about the terb pump (pm me is you have q's about it) b/c it can help a lot!

And yes, I had the steriod shots when I was in the hospital. I firmly believe they are why my 34w1d babies had NO trouble breathing whatsoever.