Irritable Uterus Question

Im 30wks today and have been confined to bedrest for the past three weeks since having a threatened PTL. I was given steriods and other (magnesium based) medication which thankfully stopped the contractions. I was then informed that my uterus was irritable ( I thought there's no wonder why - its under alot of pressure and being prodded by a big baby boy - That makes me irritable at time too :lol: :lol:)

Since then the contractions have continued on a daily basis - mostly at hourly or so intervals but at times more regular (10 - 5 mins) and extremely painful. Im starting to read my body a bit better and learning to manage the pain when things get regular but I was wondering if anyone (Alan??) could answer the following questions for me.

Does the regular contractions means that I could / will dilate and or efface ? I havn't been checked since leaving hospital (3 weeks ago) - on my last OB visit she only did the normal checks.

Will I feel / know if I've dilated ?

I've also had a wetness everyday, not CM more watery - does this indicate anything or is it all part of the 3rd trimester changes ?

Thanks in advance.............We feel like we're walking on eggshells waiting / worrying about labour beginning any day and I've still got so far to go. Any advice is appreciated.

Another question - How can I or DH check to see if there has been any change to my cervix ??? Will DH be able to tell be looking at it ????

Hi Joe's girl. I *think* you can do internals yourself, but I never have before. Because I don't really know I'm not sure how easy it would be to tell how far you are. But because you say you feel 'wetness' I would be a bit cautious of doing anything yourself, just in case your waters have broken & infection could be caused by doing a self examination IYKWIM. Not that I'm saying I think your waters have broken!! Wetness is very common in 3rd tri! But just to be cautious.

When is your next OB visit? I would probably ask about it then, they may do an internal on your request just to ease your mind.

Thanks Linda, that's a good point.

I see my OB tomorrow so I'll ask her and perhaps get her to show me how to d it myself. I'm just so conscious of wasting the midwives time when presenting to the hospital each time the contraction become regular (3-5 mins apart for a couple of hours).

Thanks again.

No worries. It's good you are seeing your OB tomorrow. Let us know how it goes. :)

How's it going, Joel's girl? I have a friend who seems to be in a similar situation to you who has been having contractions on and off for about 5 weeks now! APPARENTLY her doc said he had only seen it once before in a woman who had contractions for 12 weeks (she only had one child, I wonder why?!!!!). My friend also got the steroid injections and the one to stop the contractions, but they didn;t really stop - the dr said the baby could come any time, or still take ages - she sometimes has contractions lasting 50 sec or so 10-5 mins apart and will go on like that for a while, but then they will stop for hours, or a day, and then start again. Her cervix is apparently 3cm dilated, but her waters haven't broken yet.

HTH. Let us know how you get on at the docs today.

Well the OB didn't seem surprised that things have not settled down. She said again that this is likely to go onto labour starts :cry: That rest and drinking plenty of water is the only things I can do. She would consider giving me a slow release medication to stop the contractions if I reach 32 - 34 weeks. She reiterated that I should go to hospital if the contractions are regular and do not stop with some R & R ( bath / rest ) as I will not be able to tell if I'm dilated or not.

She didn't check to see if I had dilated or effaced, I really thought she would given the amount of time I have been contracting. I so hate coming across as rude or pushy so I didn't ask her to check:doh: Like I said, she didn't seemed concerned at all and I need to trust that I suspose. She is the doctor, right ?

Oh then she measured me.......................although Im technically 30+wks Im measuring 35+ weeks:confused:. She has booked me in for a scan in 2 weeks time to see the size of the baby. Not sure what to make of this. Genetically the baby could be big, DH was 10.4lb born but are there any other possible casues for such in growth spurt ?? Im off to do some reading and see if I can understand this a bit more.

Sportchick - Has your friend been told it's an irritable uterus ?? How far long is she ?? I really feel for her.......this is not much fun at all.

Well perhap the reason I'm measuring large for my dates is I have gestational diabetes.................as if IU was not enough:cry::cry:

I'll see the specialist next wednesday and will find out what changes I need to make to manage this. I've read that I'll need to exercise to assist with GD but my OB has stated 'bedrest' for the IU, geez this is going to be interesting.

Hey there Joel's girl,

I had an IU with my previous two pregnancies, I had my baby 7 weeks ago.

With my second pregnancy, I went into preterm labour at 23 weeks due to a domestic violence situation. They stopped labour, but after this I developed IU. I had regular and strong BH contractions most of the time, I had a 18 month old at the time as well and I had no help, my husband at the time refused to help with anything housework or child related, so doing things obviously made it much worse. At 29 weeks the pain started and I was sent to a major city hospital 2 hours away and they were going to keep me there until I was 36 weeks. I had to discharge myself though as my husband was unsupportive of this and was giving my young son a very hard time at home and the stress of being there was way worse than being at home and taking the risk, if that makes sense. It really was an awful time.

Anyway, despite not resting, having IU and living in a somewhat violent and extremely emotionally abusive situation, I carried my daughter till 42 weeks. I actually think because I felt so threatened, that I went overdue for that reason, I didn't feel safe bringing a baby into the world at that time.

With my most recent pregnancy with a new partner, I also had IU. At 22 weeks I got contractions 3 minutes apart for 4 hours, I left going into hospital for a couple of days when it was apparent that it wasn't going to settle down. they diagnosed IU. I had left work (lawn mowing for a living) at this stage so I just had to be careful about lifing things and doing most housework and have my feet up a lot.

I had BHs really through the whole pregnancy, very often they were regular and I also developed PIH then PE starting at 31 weeks, as well as having this IU. I desperately needed to get to 37 weeks so I was extremely careful till then. I didn't stay bedridden but I didn't do anything strenuous ie lifing, vacuuming, washing, etc. No exercise either.

When my mum got here at 37 weeks and I knew my baby was large, I stopped being careful as it didn't matter too much from then on when I went into labour. Over this time I dilated 3cm without being in labour. This was good because I had developed definate PE over the last week with protein showing up in big numbers and BP went quite high. I went into labour on my due date in the end and gave birth the next day.

So this too was a good outcome for IU. I reckon by far the worst thing that affected me was stress, it definately caused the contrax to get much worse and go regular. Much more so than activity, so if I could give you any advice, it would be to avoid stress as much as possible.

GTG, baby is crying for me, but good luck and big hugs to you, it's frustrating and hard to deal with, but in the long run, most of us go full term. It apparently heightens the risk of PTL only slightly (according to OBs at the hospital).

Take care hun :hug:

Thanks for sharing Tara - your story is very reassuring indeed. Congratulations on your new little baby. I hope you enjoy this special time.

Joel's girl - so sorry to hear about the GD as well - you poor thing! Not sure if my firend has been told its IU, but she only has 2 weeks to go till her due date now, and has a date for an induction (this coming wed, I think) so the pain will be over for her soon!

That's great news about your friend, Sportychick. Best wishes to her for wednesday - Im sure she'll be glad to be out of pain.