if you were/are a chronic contractor

[Finch]

Please tell me about your experience(s). With ds, I was a chronic contractor, starting at 31 weeks. Thankfully I started up at work (L&D), so I was taken care of right away. Got terb and fluids, betamethasone just as a precaution, put on light duty until 36 weeks. Continued to just contract and contract and contract all. the. time, but never did dilate, just effaced a little bit. So not really preterm labor so much as just a chronic contractor, kwim?

Fast forward 3.5 years....I'm 20 weeks today, and for about the past week or so....grrr...I contract all. the. time. Right now they're particularly annoying because I feel pressure with them. I contracted like crazy last night after working all day, of course....and I always have a run of them for a couple of hours when I clean the house, and right now I've been contracting for about 3 hours because I chased ds at the children's museum today in 95+ degree heat (yes I stayed hydrated...).

I know what to do, all that, etc. etc.. I haven't checked my cervix, I really don't think I need to, quite frankly. They don't hurt, they're just tightening and pressure, so I'm not alarmed so much as annoyed and mildly concerned.

I guess what I'm looking for is reassurance from other women who are chronic contractors but don't dilate. How early did you start this crap with each of your pregnancies?

It's hard for me because I do L&D for a living, so 1/2 of my brain is arguing that this is nothing, to just ignore it because they're just b-h ctx, that they are obviously kicking up due to activity in high heat, etc.. The other 1/2 of my brain is of course remembering all the patients I've had who were silent dilators, who came in complaining of pressure or mild ctx like I'm having and lo and behold were something like 7-10cms or something ridiculous. However the logical side of me knows that is rare, and most women like me who I have triaged are usually fine, just contracting but not dilating or effacing.

I called work, talked to my friend, she thinks the same as me, that it's due to activity but it's hard to calm my brain down 'cause I know too much. :lol :bag:

So give me some reassurance, tell me about your experiences.

[AlpineMama]

I started contracting last Thanksgiving, umm, I think that makes it about... 20 weeks or so? Slightly less. I went to a lot of prenatal visits and they always asked me if I had BH and I always told them yes, a lot. They didn't seem to care. Then one day I had a NST because the baby wasn't moving for two days, and while he was just fine, they discovered I was contracting every few mins. They freaked out, and I said, yeah, it's been that way for months now, just like I TOLD YOU ALL at every visit. Heh.

They panicked anyway as if my contractions were the worst thing ever (I didn't have any dilation or pain or anything though) and sent me over to the hospital for tests and monitoring and terbutaline. The terbutaline actually made the contractions stop for the remainder of the pregnancy and I didn't get any more until after my waters broke at 37 weeks and 1 day.

I'm kind of more concerned about it this time because this is another very close pregnancy and I don't want to go into PTL this time. Terbutaline took pretty good care of the contrax last time, and despite hating medicine (and that was one nasty one, I'll tell ya) it did its job. I'm not sure if I would have gone into labor sooner (prematurely) if I hadn't taken it, actually. I just barely made it into safe territory with the 37 weeker, and he was tiny too, so if he had come any sooner and he wouldn't have been a happy camper.


Also, I could have sworn last week I felt some mild contractions in the morning, and I'm only 12 weeks so I'm chalking it up to paranoia or gas, but I could have sworn it felt the same. My stomach didn't change shape but I think the uterus is still way too small. I'm keeping an eye on it... Is it even possible to get it so early? But there was no pain or bleeding, so I'm assuming it wasn't anything serious.

[Finch]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm worried now, I checked my cervix (I know what baseline feels like since I did charting and all that ttc...), and it's super duper soft...:duh. Grumble. I'm still contracting my butt off...ugh. I stopped for about 2 hours then it started back up when I had the audacity to take a shower. :eyesroll Seriously irritating.

I'm calling the doc in the morning. :(

[hapersmion]

Well, I don't know if it's the same, really, but I could feel my contractions as a tightening starting at two months pregnant. They were never particularly close together, except when I was walking uphill or something like that, and I never did anything to stop them. It was nothing to worry about - I had my ds only 8 days early.

hapersmion

[zjande]

Here's my experience as a chronic contractor (I have called myself The Irritable Uterus Queen in the past :D ):

During all 4 of my pregnancies, my ctxs start up right at 11 weeks. They start out a handful of times per day & build up to several an hour by the 3rd tri. Right now at 22 weeks I feel maybe 15-20 a day. They slowly build in their painfulness as well, from a tightening, to take my breath away "ouch!"

I get them the most when there is anything pressing on my uterus. Tight clothes, my BLADDER (#1 culprit), a seat belt, & also from sex or from nothing at all.

Baby #1: I was put on bed rest & Terb by about 20 weeks. I did have preterm labor & my DD was born at 35 weeks after my 3rd bout of pt labor. I never dilated until true labor at 35 weeks. However, I don't believe my BH had any relation to my preterm delivery. My DD was born extremely sick with a major bowel defect & was rushed to surgery. I was told if she' been born much later she would have been stillborn. I think my body knew she needed to get out.

Baby #2. My caregivers were so freaked out by my early ctx that I was put on light bed rest by about 12 weeks. I ctxed constantly during my pregnancy, my providers always thought I was in early labor at every appt (lol), but I didn't even begin effacing until labor! I had an OB appt at 8am one day, had no signs of dilation whatsoever, then labor began at noon the next day & I arrived at the hospital at 2pm, 8cms dilated. :p I was 40w3d.

Baby #3. This time I declined any kind of bedrest, but my midwife did request I have the fetal protein tests done starting at about 24 weeks, & every 2 weeks until 30some weeks. Which I did, I never tested pos for the protein but DID ctx sometimes every single 5 minutes I laid there. LOL One time I was heavily ctxing every 9 mins for a few hours & allowed myself to be pressured into getting Terb. :rolleyes Then I felt physically HORRIBLE & also stupid for allowing them to give it to me when I knew I really didn't need it. I did not begin any dilation whatsoever, again, until labor. And also declined any further Terb they offered me. I birthed again at 40w3d.

Baby #4. And then we come to now, I am 22 weeks along & have finally learned my lesson. I am just a Contraction Queen. :lol In fact I haven't even mentioned to my midwife at all about my ctxs & bedrest history. I have finally accepted that this is just what my body does & I am not at all fearful of preterm labor. I will decline any suggestions of bedrest, monitoring or Terb, unless of course I am actually dilating & feel that I'm having preterm labor. I will probably go for a couple cervical checks in my 3rd trimester, just to set my mind at ease after some nights of heavy contracting.

Baby #1: labor was 24 hours
#2: 7 hours
#3: 90 mins

:lol I think all this contracting preps my uterus for FAST labor action. I am planning a hospital birth but preparing for a UC this time. lol ;)

ANYway, there's my history. :wink Some of us really do contract like maniacs all the live long day for MONTHS of discomfort on end, but don't dilate until labor. :belly

Oh yeah, I do want to mention that after such a massive number of contxs for months, I have a hard time telling when labor actually begins! With baby #2, I was ctxing for 2 hours before I really caught that they were perfectly regular & right about then I had an *extremely* strong ctx that made me cry. Only then did I realize it was true labor & my ds was born 5 hours later. With baby #3 it was the same thing, I'd been ctxing all night for so long that it wasn't until suddenly I had that *extreme* ctx that made me cry that I realized it was labor..... my labor may have been 2 or 2.5 hours long but I just didn't notice until 90mins before crowning. :) I went from suddenly having that intense ctx, to being in hard labor. It was rough. So, I'm going to be nervous about that this time!

[Llyra]

I am a chronic contractor. With my DD1, I started in with regular contractions at about 28 weeks. I had an Ob who took them VERY SERIOUSLY even though I wasn't dilating, just thinning a bit. I had mag sulfate and nifedipine and bedrest and hospitalization and the whole nine yards. And I carried to term with no trouble. Labor started spontaneously at past 39 weeks and was very obviously different from what I'd had before.

With the twins, it was the same ball game. This time I started with the contractions at 24 weeks. We're talking every-three-minute for hours contractions. This time, my new OB and midwife were really laid-back about them, and just suggested taking it easy, said they'd prescribe nifedipine for symptomatic relief if the constant contractions drove me nuts, but otherwise recommended doing nothing, since once again I wasn't dilating, just thinning a bit. I tried really hard to get bedrest, but with a two year old in the house, true rest wasn't really possible.

And again, I carried to term with no trouble. Well, the babies were born at 37 weeks, but that's because we did a planned section because of my liver disease. I would have carried them longer.

It's such a tough call. On the one hand, preterm labor is nothing to mess with. On the other hand, going through all the hoopla to stop labor when it's not really labor is miserable and there's always the potential for undesired side effects for mama and/or baby when you unnecessarily medicate.

I remember every single night weighing up the possibilities and trying to decide if this was the night I was gonna call and go in to L&D, or not. For months.

So anyway, I'm no help but I sure do understand what it's like.

[justmama]

me. started at 23 weeks i delivered at 34weeks

[flapjack]

Yep, me too. I visualise it as my uterus giving the baby a hug :throb I don't start as early as zjande, but by 28 weeks every time they've been close to unbearable and at 36 weeks it's OMG, they're every 5 minutes apart, this has got to be labour soon, right? Wrong. 43.5 weeks, 37.5 weeks and 42 weeks. What all of these ctx did do was enable me to get one incredibly large, one incredibly wide (and fat is squishy, but shoulders aren't) and one incredibly long baby out safely, calmly, quickly after painfree labours- that is to say, once I dilate to 3cm it stops hurting :lol. Before that it's hell on earth.

Get a TENS machine. Get one now- buy it off ebayUK and use it every day for the next 20 weeks if necessary. If you know that this is almost certainly just how your body does pregnancy- with strong BH ctx that are uncomfortable, then you have this knowledge and this power. TENS really can help with the pain of not-yet-labour.

[Finch]

Thanks so much for the reassurance. :) It really does help to read about other chronic contractors. I talked to my MW a few minutes ago, and she agrees, I probably am just one of the lucky ones to have a very irritable uterus. :p

Since my cervix is very soft (as in super duper squishy soft) and I just hit the 20 week mark, she wants me to come in to be checked on Thursday just to be sure. However she did think it's probably going to be fine, which made me feel better. I don't have time for bedrest and I don't want a preemie, so I'll take an irritable uterus that contracts all the damn time but doesn't dilate if that's the price. :nod

She did say that a prenatal cradle/girdle type thing can sometimes help minimize uterine irritability. Did you find this to be true?

[flapjack]

I haven't tried one, but I ordered one today (my pelvis is falling to pieces, quite literally, and I'm only 16 weeks...)

[celestialdreamer]

I had this in my first two pregnancies from the very beginning and progressively got worse until I finally had both my kids. I talked to my midwife about ways to prevent it and she suggested I take a good quality calcium/magnesium supplement daily and make sure to drink lots of water. So I've been doing that since I found out I am pregnant again, and wouldn't you know...NO cramps! If I miss a day or two then it starts back up like it did in my previous pregnancies. I don't know if this is a helpful suggestion or not, I just figured I'd let you know just in case. I never would have thought that it would make such a huge difference!

[paranoidprego]

i'm so happy to read all your stories! i am a former NICU nurse and it has caused me to be the most paranoid person, so the irritable uterus doesn't help matters. my only frustration is that my doctor and midwife have not used this term (irritable uterus) and won't give me advice either way. i'm glad i am not alone (although, i wouldn't wish an irritable uterus on anyone).
Good luck to all of you and thank you for starting this thread!

[dctexan]

I have been having contractions since about 24/25 weeks. Well, I am 39 weeks tomorrow with no baby in sight. I am not sure what is going on with my cervix because I have turned down all VEs and I am too big to reach very far in there.