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this had better NOT be preterm labor (sorry, longish)



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 17th 04, 04:24 PM
P Harris
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Default this had better NOT be preterm labor (sorry, longish)

If anyone has any advice or reassurance, it'd be appreciated.

I am currently 30w 6d with what'll be my first child, no problems til
now (other than boy oh boy is this ever an active baby! :-P), no risk
factors for preterm labor except for my age (I turned 39 yesterday)
and *possibly* having or having-had a UTI (the lab seems to have lost
the first sample, so we don't really know yet, but frankly by now the
symptoms have gone away anyhow).

Last wednesday I did what was probably too much lawn mowing, then
found myself having Braxton Hicks type contractions (nonpainful,
mostly 30 sec or less) every 2-5 minutes for the next few hours. I was
pretty worried but didn't call the midwife as they were not painful,
no other symptoms, and I really really hoped they'd settle down on
their own. Fortunately they gradually did by the next morning. (FWIW
I've been feeling BH for a long time now, since about 17-18 wks into
the pregnancy, if that matters).

Well, three days later, on Saturday, my husband and I went for a
longish but SLOOOOW walk. Other than having to walk very sloooowly
these days because my legs feel like lumps of lead, I felt perfectly
fine during the walk and really didn't think we were overdoing it or
anything. Had a lot of uterine tightening-up feeling during the walk,
but that's been happening most of the times that I'm up and moving
around actively for the last month or two, and the midwives have said
it's perfectly normal as long as it stopped when I rested. However
when we got home and I could sit down and rest, I realized I was
having Braxton Hicks type contractions pretty regularly about every
2-5 minutes (again, totally painless, mostly 20-40 seconds long), and
was rather rattled to discover that I was producing blobs of
purplish-brown mucusy discharge.

I waited for about 4 hrs hoping things would settle back down but
finally called the midwife, who sounded worried and had us meet her at
the hospital to be checked. According to the monitor thing they
strapped onto me I was having short contractions fairly regularly
about every 2-3 minutes (the monitor picked up some that I didn't
notice myself - honest, it didn't hurt at all, just sort of a squeezy
feeling), tho at least the brown discharge had stopped. A doctor
finally turned up to examine me (at 12:05 a.m. on my birthday - what a
birthday present! :-P). He said that the baby was head down and pretty
low, but that the very good news is that my cervix is still completely
closed. Also he mentioned the u/s showed the baby moving around plenty
(sidenote: I am getting REALLY TIRED of everyone saying 'gee, you sure
have a wiggly baby' as if this could somehow have escaped my attention
:-P) and it was still making regular breathing-type movements, which
he said they usually stop doing when labor is actually beginning. So,
he concluded that I did not seem to be going into premature labor
(yay!!) and that I was probably just on one end of the frequency
distribution regarding how many BH per hr is 'normal' for me. He and
the midwife said to take it avoid too much exertion from now on, but
they said that going for walks and doing yardwork and such shouldn't
worry me, and that there does not seem to be any extra risk of
problems as long as no other signs show up.

Well, I *did* take it easy yesterday - mostly sitting, with a bit of
sloooow walking up and down hills (I went to an equestrian competition
with my husband who was doing photography there, and you have to walk
out to the cross-country jumps, but it wasn't far and I spent 99% of
yesterday just sitting lazily around). When we were driving in the car
I was having a number of Braxton Hicks, like 10/hr or so, but the rest
of the time I didn't notice as many. Seemed ok.

But now this morning I've had tan mucusy discharge again (tho maybe
that's just becuase of the internal exam the other night?), and some
of the BH things are starting to have a somewhat crampy uncomfortable
feeling to them.

I know the Dr and the midwife say not to worry, but I'm sorry, I can't
help it, I'm worried anyway. Especially since apparently if I *were*
to go into actual certifiable preterm labor before 32w gestation (i.e.
anytime in the next 9 days) I'd ahve to be transferred to a large
hospital, which depending on beds available might mean Toronto (which
is ~1 hr from our house but is more or less where my husband works)
but OTOH might mean something as far away as Kingston or Guelph (which
are a couple hours away). This is a particularly unpleasant concept
for me because believe me I am *NOT* a hospitals-and-doctors kind of
person to begin with.

I don't know whether to go with what the midwife and doctor said,
assume everything is perfectly fine and not particularly restrict what
I'm doing (and believe me, there is SOOOOO much
lawnmowing/gardening/house-repair that I ought to be doing, some of
which gets to be a much much bigger and different job if you get
behind on it) and just keep my fingers crossed, or whether I'm right
to be worried. I feel fairly lousy, but some or maybe all of it is
probably just in my head because of being worried, you know? I just
really don't want to find out that in retrospect I've done the wrong
thing. Yeah, I know that, worst case scenario, having a baby born at
~31 wks is not usually the end of the world, but obviously I would
still REALLY REALLY rather wait til full term. (Well, going into labor
the day I turn 37 wks would be fine with me... *man* this is a wiggly
baby in there, ow, and pregnancy has *not* been a feeling-wonderful
'glowing' sort of experience, although it certainly is Interesting.)

(Of course, my midwife jokes that now despite this scare I'll probably
be sitting in her office at 41.5 wks still pregnant and trying to
decide about induction ;-), which certainly could happen too)

If anyone has stories about "I too had very-frequent BH contractions
and a little bit of 'show' at 30 wks and everything turned out fine
for me" I'd sure appreciate hearing it. I'm also accepting whaps
upside the head accompanied by "quit worrying", and opinions on
whether I should mow the front yard tomorrow ;-)

Thanks very much for listening,

Pat
edd July 21
(btw, my "reply to" address listed above doesn't work)
  #2  
Old May 17th 04, 05:32 PM
M Wayne
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Default this had better NOT be preterm labor (sorry, longish)

Well, I can't really help in the BTDT category, as I'm only at 30 weeks
myself. However, I have also had BH contrax which have been getting more and
more frequent and regular as the weeks go on, and lately they seem to be
triggered by most anything that I do while on my feet, like grocery shopping
or vacuuming or just walking. I was also told that even though I find them
uncomfortable, they are not cause for worry (of course that doesn't stop me
or DH from getting freaked out by them from time to time).

I know I get really bored sitting around all the time and hate not being
able to keep up with housework or yardwork, but unfortunately for me, the
only way to prevent the really bothersome, frequent BHs is to *take it
easy*. I try to look at it like this: the last 10 weeks of my pregnancy
might be the last chance I have for a long time to be waited on and catered
to by DH so I guess I might as well enjoy it, relax, and put my feet up.

"P Harris" wrote in message
m...
If anyone has any advice or reassurance, it'd be appreciated.

I am currently 30w 6d with what'll be my first child, no problems til
now (other than boy oh boy is this ever an active baby! :-P), no risk
factors for preterm labor except for my age (I turned 39 yesterday)
and *possibly* having or having-had a UTI (the lab seems to have lost
the first sample, so we don't really know yet, but frankly by now the
symptoms have gone away anyhow).
SNIP



  #4  
Old May 18th 04, 01:41 AM
alath
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Posts: n/a
Default this had better NOT be preterm labor (sorry, longish)

Glad to hear your cervix turned out to be closed.

But, I always discourage my patients from diagnosing their own
contractions until 35 or 36 weeks. Preterm labor contractions may be
irregular and may not hurt as much as full-term labor - until someone
checks your cervix, you really don't know. Not too long ago I had a
patient come in and deliver a 28 week baby - she'd been contracting
for two days and her friends told her not to worry because they were
"just Braxton-Hicks."

Bottom line: don't sit at home all day and night worrying if your
contractions are real or not, if you're in labor or not. If you think
there might be a problem, go in and get checked out.
  #5  
Old May 18th 04, 03:12 AM
Alissa
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Default this had better NOT be preterm labor (sorry, longish)


"alath" wrote in message
om...
Glad to hear your cervix turned out to be closed.

But, I always discourage my patients from diagnosing their own
contractions until 35 or 36 weeks. Preterm labor contractions may be
irregular and may not hurt as much as full-term labor - until someone
checks your cervix, you really don't know. Not too long ago I had a
patient come in and deliver a 28 week baby - she'd been contracting
for two days and her friends told her not to worry because they were
"just Braxton-Hicks."

Bottom line: don't sit at home all day and night worrying if your
contractions are real or not, if you're in labor or not. If you think
there might be a problem, go in and get checked out.


I agree always get checked out if unsure...I know of someone who went to see
a chiropractor for back pain then a herbalist for feeling awful that day and
by night she delivered a baby very prematurely, she didn't relise it was
labour....Babies born early do signifigantly better if they are able to hold
off delivery until steroids have had time to help mature lungs and better
still if they can stop it all together....Glad to hear yours wasn't preterm
labour!

Alissa


  #6  
Old May 18th 04, 07:50 AM
Cheryl
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Default this had better NOT be preterm labor (sorry, longish)

On 17 May 2004 08:24:02 -0700, (P Harris)
wrote:

If anyone has any advice or reassurance, it'd be appreciated.

snip

If anyone has stories about "I too had very-frequent BH contractions
and a little bit of 'show' at 30 wks and everything turned out fine
for me" I'd sure appreciate hearing it. I'm also accepting whaps
upside the head accompanied by "quit worrying", and opinions on
whether I should mow the front yard tomorrow ;-)


I had a lot of BH contractions in my first pregnancy. I could trigger
them just by going to the loo and leaning slightly forward! In my
case though they were often being caused by dehydration, having a very
large glass of water would usually settle them down within about 20
minutes. If it's getting warmer where you are it might be that you
aren't drinking enough. I had a lot of trouble drinking water when I
was in my first trimester with #2 so I had to resort to a tip that
someone else told me, which was to drink one glass of water every hour
on the hour when I was awake.

The other tip I was always told was to take a bath - anything that is
labour you will still feel while you're in the bath but if it's not
labour the contractions will probably stop. Or you could have a glass
of wine, that has the same effect.

Oh, and no, don't mow your front yard.

--
Cheryl
Mum to Shrimp (11 Mar 99), Thud (4 Oct 00)
and Mischief (30 Jul 02)
  #7  
Old May 18th 04, 04:53 PM
Fer
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Posts: n/a
Default this had better NOT be preterm labor (sorry, longish)

Cheryl wrote:
||
|| The other tip I was always told was to take a bath - anything that is
|| labour you will still feel while you're in the bath but if it's not
|| labour the contractions will probably stop.

That's why I got concerned over the weekend with my contrax, a bath didn't
stop them.


|| Or you could have a
|| glass of wine, that has the same effect.

See and I smacked myself in the head last night remembering that I should
have tried that!

--?

Jenn
-DS Feb'92
-DD Feb'97
-34 weeks!


  #8  
Old May 18th 04, 04:58 PM
Fer
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Posts: n/a
Default this had better NOT be preterm labor (sorry, longish)

P Harris wrote:
||
|| If anyone has stories about "I too had very-frequent BH contractions
|| and a little bit of 'show' at 30 wks and everything turned out fine
|| for me" I'd sure appreciate hearing it. I'm also accepting whaps
|| upside the head accompanied by "quit worrying", and opinions on
|| whether I should mow the front yard tomorrow ;-)
||
|| Thanks very much for listening,
||
|| Pat
|| edd July 21
|| (btw, my "reply to" address listed above doesn't work)

Apparently I had all those things and it turned out to be 'nothing' see my
recent post :no more watching labor shows. The only advice I would give is
that if certain activity causes too many BH just don't do it --?

Jenn
-DS Feb'92
-DD Feb'97
-34 weeks!


  #9  
Old May 19th 04, 02:50 PM
P Harris
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Posts: n/a
Default this had better NOT be preterm labor (sorry, longish)

"Fer" wrote in message news:hkqqc.19369$0e6.497@clgrps13...
Cheryl wrote:
||
|| The other tip I was always told was to take a bath - anything that is
|| labour you will still feel while you're in the bath but if it's not
|| labour the contractions will probably stop.

That's why I got concerned over the weekend with my contrax, a bath didn't
stop them.


Me neither!

And similarly, drinking a couple glasses of water made no difference
either (in fact I *think* it made them worse, possibly because of the
resulting extra bladder fullness).

Bodies are strange things :-P


Pat
edd July 21
  #10  
Old May 19th 04, 03:05 PM
P Harris
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Posts: n/a
Default this had better NOT be preterm labor (sorry, longish)

Thanks very much, y'all, for the reassurance. I'm still having a whole
lot of BH, but I guess maybe the doctor is right and I am just
peculiar ;-)

I've been taking it easy, but maybe I'll try just a little
weedwhacking in the pasture today. It is all well and fine for people
to say 'enjoy the opportunity to take it easy', but a) some things
*have* to get done, and b) I *hate* just sitting around. But I will
stop if I get uncomfortable. Er, that is, more uncomfortable than I am
already. Urgh... my mother says that pregnancy was obviously designed
by someone who had no intention of going thru it themselves ;-)

THanks again, I feel less worried,


Pat
edd July 21
 




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