Preterm labor?

[waiting4allie]

After posting yesterday in the Third Trimester Forum that I was having cramps and a backache, I called my doctor and they told me to come directly to Labor and Delivery. I was having contractions every 5-10 minutes and when they checked my cervix, I had not dialated ( thank goodness because I am only 31weeks), but the doctor said her head was sitting very low on m y cervix. He blamed her being positioned that way for my contractions. After giving me medicine to make the contractions stop, I still had to stay the night for observation of course. I was checked again this morning and thankfully had still not dialated so it was safe to say I was not in any kind of preterm labor. By the way these contractions lasted from about 1 pm yesterday until about 1 am this morning. He said they were jsut really strong braxton hicks. Well my concern with all this happening is if it will happen again?! I was sent home with a prescription for the medicine that finally worked to end the contractions. I am to take 3 of those a day atleast until I go to the doctor on Wednesday. I did not see my usual doctor in L & D because he was not the doc on call. Im worried that once I come off the medicine I will start having contractions again and Im scared that she will come too early! I want her to be as healthy as possible. Oh and when all of this started, I wasnt doing anything strenuos, I was doing the dishes! So now Im not on bedrest, but I was told to take it easy, no heavy housework or anything and no sex for atleast 2 weeks. Im sure I get further instrustions from my doctor on Wednesday.
So here are my questions....
1. Has anything similar to this happend to any of you and you still carried until or almost to your due date?
2. What do you think my chances are of actually going into preterm labor?

 

[MAJL]

Having BH this early is completely normal, mine started at 10 weeks, and now I am 33 weeks. If you are not dialated you should be fine, even women who do dialate 1-2 can still carry to term or past. I wouldn't worry too much as that will just put stress on you and the LO. Your doctor will help put your mind at ease!! Good luck and I hope you get the answers you want!

 

[loveinbinary]

I went into preterm labor at 32 weeks that resulted in a miserable 4 day stay in the hospital. Mine started with bleeding after DH and I had sex-- called the doctor and was advised to head into the hospital as soon as possible. Cramping didn't start until I was already at the hospital and even then it wasn't anything extremely painful, just uncomfortable. When my doctor checked me I was 2cm dilated and baby's head was putting a lot of pressure on my cervix. They had me hooked up to a magnesium drip for nearly 3 days which stopped the contractions (though I wasn't feeling them), gave me 2 rounds of steroid injections to help mature baby's lungs and had me on 2 separate antibiotics to prevent infection. Once the contractions were under control they took me off the magnesium and I started taking nifedipine (procardia) pills every 6 hours. They moved my doses up to every 4 hours because the contractions would start again as it was time for my next dose (though I still didn't feel them). After 4 long days they released me because the contractions were under control and I hadn't dilated any further. I was put on bed rest for the next 5 1/2 weeks with weekly appointments and pelvic exams. I stopped taking the nifedipine and within 24 hours started having cramps. Since then I've had several days that felt like I was going into labor-- cramping and regular contractions but they would eventually die down. I keep getting my hopes up that "today's the day" he'll finally arrive but so far no luck. I'm just a few days away from the due date my doctor is going by and he's still in there happy as a clam.

Luckily you didn't go into full preterm labor and hopefully with bedrest and taking it easy you won't. Talk to your doctor about your concerns and if anything doesn't feel right at any point in time don't hesitate to call. I felt silly calling when I started bleeding because I figured they'd just think it was nothing because DH and I had sex. Turns out I was in preterm labor and having contractions I couldn't feel, so never hesitate to call. It's better to call for a false alarm than not to call and it be the real thing. Fingers tightly crossed your LO stays put a while longer. Mine wanted to come too soon and now that we are ready for him, he is deciding to stay put-- go figure. If you need anyone to talk to feel free to pm me anytime.