Preterm Labour

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Hey All,

I am just wondering if anyone on here/in here has had a preterm baby and the problems were with contractions and not related to Cervix OR some underlying issue/diagnosable medical condition?

I have had a few tests now and many ultra sounds so I am looking for someone who is a bit more like me in the respect of Contractions leading to preterm birth.

Sorry if that doesn't make much sense I know what I am trying to say but cannot articulate it.


Thanks

Nae x

Hi Nae,

My DS was born at 36 weeks so not really pre-term (but small for dates at 1.6kg). Our issue was irritable uterus causing threatened pre-term labor from 24 weeks onwards. I had contractions every day and was managed through drugs and home and hosptial rest.

This did lead to cervical changes which was monitored but the cervical changes came as a response to contractions not the other way around.

Is that what you are asking?

Rachel

Hi Nae Nae
Sal went into preterm labour at 28 weeks, no problems with cervix, infection etc just went into labour. She had back pain all night, which we thought was 'normal' pregnancy stuff ( you are sooo uncomfortable a lot of the time :lol: ) and it wasn't until she started timing the 'pains' in the car that morning, ironically on our way for an obstetrician appointment in Melbourne, that we started to think that something was up as they were every 5 minutes.
They think she was in active labour from 8am and Charlie was born at 3pm that day, so pretty fast! He didn't get any steroids into him, so struggled with his breathing through NICU and Special Care but is now a strapping 7.6 kilo baby boy.
We probably won't ever know why she went into labour so early, but she willl be monitored very closely next time and 'fingers crossed' next baby will go full term.
All I can say is, listen to your body, we ignored the symptoms for a long time as A. we didn't know you could labour all in your back and not even have contractions picked up by the monitors as she didn't contract in front at all and B. we didn't want to believe it was happening. The earlier they can try and intervene to attempt to stop labour, the better your chances. If you spend the next couple of months on bed rest to get over the line, then that might be what you have to do.
Good luck for your little girl, we will be keeping an eye on your progress and crossing fingers for 37 + weeks for her. You know only too well what a difference a week can make for premmies so just know that you have others out there who are counting weeks with you.
We are so grateful every day that we brought our little boy home and I hope you know the joy this time of walking out of the hospital with your daughter. My heart bleeds for the loss of your Nikita but so full of hope for this little girl.
Congratulations!

Hi,

Are you talking about "irritable uterus"? Where you get bouts of regular contractions that stop.

I have experienced IU with 3 of my pregnancies. All from about 30 wks onwards. Only one of those was delivered premature at late 34/early 35wks.

She was delivered because during a bout of IU, she went into distress so they had to deliver her then.

Thanks so much for your replies ladies.

I was just wondering about other people who just went into labour for no reason, no diagnosis' as to why, absolutely nothing found to be wrong with either baby or myself. I have had a few tests done during this pregnancy and everything comes back normal so I have no explanation as to why I went into labour early last time which also resulted in my girl Nikita being born early.

I am just approaching ( a week off) when I had problems last time so I guess in someways I a looking for women who have just gone to labour for no reason whatsoever but the next pregnancy goes on ok I s'pose a reassurance on some part but also to see if "one of those things" just happens for no reason with anyone else .... not sure how clear that is its 4.45am.

I am trying to stop my brain from going into over drive but I think because I have no reasons why what happened last time happened I am feeling restless about it :lol:

I am going to try to get into a Dr in the morning (suspect I have a UTI) to get checked out I guess I am starting to be a little paranoid.

Thanks again for all your responses I hope my early morning thoughts are a bit clearer than they were yesterday :lol:

I was up at 4am this morning worrying about this pg too!

I have just past the mark where things went wrong with the last pg. Pre-term labor started for us at 24 weeks and I am now 28 with this one. Last time IUGR was picked up at 30 weeks so we have already started measuring that with this one.

All looks good so far but seems I might be developing gestational diabetes and pre-eclamsia. Cant be an easy pregnancy can it? That would just be odd!

I was very stressed leading up to 24 weeks. I am still pretty tense about this pg as at anytime it could all just happen again. I dont think we can be expected to be anything other than anxious and on hyper alert. You will be noticing more changes and twinges in your body than other pg women. I know I am very tuned in to this baby and this pg and am every watchful for any little sign of things going wrong. Gee I wonder if that is why my BP is up?? :lol:

I am just trying to seek out things that are good for my body and that I find relaxing. I have stopped work (sort of) and am trying to concentrate on giving this baby a smooth ride. Not easy but it helps to focus on what I can do.

I hope you get a better nights sleep tonight (hope I do too I'm knackered).

Rach

Hun, my DS was born at 35 weeks, so early, but not terribly so.........would you still like me to share? :hug:

:lol: Rach , for some of us an easy pregnancy is like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow :lol:

Janie, I would love for you to share your story if you want too, it would be great to hear about anyone who has been in a similar position to me.

Nae, I know my story is not the same as yours, but I did go into preterm labour for no real reason.

My waters broke at 35 weeks, and labour started straight away. At the time I thought I had no prior warning, but in hindsight I could see that I'd been in prelabour all day, and possibly in the week leading up to it. DS was engaged from very early on (before 30 weeks) and I had been having BHs from 22 weeks, which really ramped up from about 30 weeks. We were also a little concerned about IUGR, so I was having weekly scans and foetal monitoring from 32 weeks (although it turned out that my placenta was absolutely fine, but DS was very skinny, and didn't grow well for the first 12 weeks of his life).

Being that I was 35 weeks, there was no big fuss about it, there was a paed present for the birth, but everyone assured me that my baby would be fine, so I wasn't too concerned. My Ob said that we will likely never know why I just went into labour, or rather why my waters broke early, but I did have a broken foot at the time which may have contributed. Sorry, not that the foot contributed, but being on crutches LOL! And apparently I have a increased risk of it happening again, but we'll worry about that when I actually have a successful pregnancy.

I HTHs in some way Nae xoxo

Its always stressful when you come up to and into the same gestation where things were not so good.

Be kind to yourself and talk to your medical caregivers openly and honestly to try and help relieve a bit of the anxiety.

If you need to be reassured several times, then thats ok. I found my caregivers understood and were very helpful.

Thinking of you :hug:

NaeNae - my first baby was born at 24wks follwoing contractions and waters breaking. He was too young to survive the labour and was stillborn. There was no explanation as to why I started to labour, no cervix issues, no infection, no placental problems etc etc. A complete unknown.

My second pregnancy was monitored from 18wks to 27wks with no abnormal complications or anything, my beautiful daughter was born at 37wks following a normal spontaneous labour.

I am now pregnant again and equally as terrified that my first pregnancy will be repeated. Even though I have a beautiful healthy little 18mth old I still remember the trauma and consequent distress of my first pregnancy.

All I can say is a healthy baby is not impossible - many people have unexplained losses and go on to have normal pregnancies. Hopefully your GP/Ob will be keeping a close eye on you this time around which is definitely good for the stress-levels.

Good luck honey, I hope this helped, Tess.

NaeNae - sorry I don't have any advice but I just wanted to send a big cyber hug! I can understand why you are nervous. Sending lots of positive and full term vibes your way.

Hi Nae,

I have possibilites for pre-term labour but that is only from reading my pregnancy notes and googling.

My waters broke 8pm and contractions started 45 minutes later and DD was born 1.5 hours later (got to the hospital with just enough time ;))

I spoke with my OB and she couldn't give me a reason as to why, I had no pre labour, or any hint that labour was eminent I was in yoga just prior to waters breaking, so was very relaxed and calm.

The following were all things that "may have" lead to preterm labour...
Amniotic band - one showed up on our 19 week US, it was through the middle of the Uterus, not causing any damage to limbs, DD's legs/bottom of her bottom was resting on it.
Septate Uterus - showed up on our dating scan, it looked like there were two halves to my uterus (we thought for a minute twins :o)
PPROM - spontaneous labour, we have a family history of very quick spontaneous labours, my mums longest labour was 1hr 30min followed by 45min and 15 min. My grandmothers were also very quick. The longest pregnancy was 38 weeks, with mine being the shortest at 33 weeks. I had mentioned this to my OB at my appointment at 32 weeks and she said it is possible that you will have a quick labour, but these sort of things are not necessarily genetic, but I believe that in our case it is and following delivery she agreed. She also said that next time I almost need to sleep on the doorstep of the hospital.
My belly also dropped from about 28 weeks, and at 32-33 weeks it was very low.

These are all considered "possible reasons for Pre term labour" but I was given no official reason, this was only from my own research.

Next time... well the stats for me (as given by my OB) a 50% chance of having another Prem, 33% it will be between 31-35 weeks, will be monitored weekly from 26 weeks, to see if we can identify any changes that may indicate PTL.

Nae I really wish you a nice long pregnancy, try to look at the positive side of the stats, half glass full rather than empty. I beileve that you can also think yourself into labour, I still look book at something I said the day bafore I went into labour and delviered.

"I am aiming for Tuesday as that gets us the extra Baby Bonus ;), 36 weeks that means I can deliver at my private hospital, 37 weeks cos that is term......" I wonder why I said, it, why on earth did I have an aim to get only two more days and I was only 33 weeks, I think I subconciously knew.. IYKWIM.

Take Care Hun, and will be thinking of you.
xxoo