Irritable uterus?

LittleLady77 · February 2014

For those of you who got an irritable uterus at the end of your pregnancy 3 questions: How long after diagnosis did you deliver? Did you get put on bed rest or pulled out of work? How did you deal with it, just do stuff and ignore the contractions?

TheDairyQueenx3 · February 2014

I had it with both pregnancies. First baby delivered at 36 and 6 but he was huge and my cycle was way off that month so I'm thinking he was more like a 40 weeker. My twins I had it from 17 weeks and delivered at 33 and 6. But for reasons other than that (IUGR on baby B and less than ideal cord flow so they needed to induce to save him) it didn't cause any bed rest it was mostly just an annoying feeling. I did have PTL and short cervix but that's because Cayden decided he wanted to shove his head as low as he could from week 21 and on. I just ignored them since they were so mild compared to the real pressure of my normal labor contractions. I didn't have bed rest until 27 weeks and HBR at 31 weeks but totally unrelated to the irritable uterus.

legaleagles · February 2014

Is it just contractions? Are there any significant cervical changes? I started having regular (as in at least hourly) contractions around 19 weeks. I was put on meds for a few days to see if it made a difference - they stopped for those few days, but the contractions weren't/havent made enough changes to my cervical length to require MBR or BR at all....just told to take it easy. No hour long walks or strenuous exercise, limited lifting, but I'm still working. I keep track of any changes and went in about 2 weeks ago when along with my usual contractions I was having a lot more menstrual like cramps that didn't go away with ibuprofen. But again, no significant cervical changes - still ranging from 3-3.5 cm. so for now know worries about PTL or needed BR. Annoying as heck for sure.

LittleLady77 · February 2014

Okay good. It's scary but it sounds like it's not too big of a deal.

legaleagles · February 2014

Definitely scary and even 10 weeks later it still makes me nervous that all of a sudden something could change, but I suppose that could happen without an irritable uterus during a twin pregnancy. But don't ever hesitate to call L&D (or the preterm labor services at KP) if you're not sure or if the contractions get really painful. I"ve gone in twice this pregnancy (and one of my good friends is an OB at our hospital) and I've been told they'd rather us go in and see us and send us home than have us stay home when we should be seen and it's too late to try and stop what is PTL.

ceechie · February 2014

I had it with my two singletons and then with the twins. It's awful.
I went over due with both singletons and made it to 37 weeks with the twins. I was shocked bc I kept thinking I was in labor and would head into L and D every week. I though for sure I would go early.
I did have to go on leave earlier than I expected. With the singletons, about a month before due date. I was a hair stylist, and just could be on my feet that long. It caused my uterus to freak out and spasm. With the twins, I knew more about the condition so I was prepared. Plus, my lease was up at my salon, so I left at 4 months. I probably would have stayed one more month if I could have gone to a month to month lease.
The best thing you can do for it is water and rest. Most likely, it won't cause PTL, but it's not worth the risk. It's your uterus acting like a giant muscle spasm. If I felt it triggered, I would instantly go into my room and lay down on my side and drink a giant glass of water. I called it self induced bed rest. By being proactive about it, I helped avoid bed rest prescribed by the dr. And in general felt better.
Good luck and take good care!!!

LittleLady77 · February 2014

I work in a corporate office building. There is no laying down for a while at work for me.

LittleLady77 · February 2014

legaleagles said:

Definitely scary and even 10 weeks later it still makes me nervous that all of a sudden something could change, but I suppose that could happen without an irritable uterus during a twin pregnancy. But don't ever hesitate to call L&D (or the preterm labor services at KP) if you're not sure or if the contractions get really painful. I"ve gone in twice this pregnancy (and one of my good friends is an OB at our hospital) and I've been told they'd rather us go in and see us and send us home than have us stay home when we should be seen and it's too late to try and stop what is PTL.

I love the high risk nurse line at KP. I was on the phone with them last night, they were the ones who told me about an "irritable uterus". I have my doctors appointment tomorrow so I guess I'll wait and see what she says.

ceechie · February 2014

LittleLady77 said:
I work in a corporate office building. There is no laying down for a while at work for me.

I would say that for you to take it super easy when you get home or on days off. I found that the only way to stop IU was to get the pressure of the uterus. It was hard to deal with.

Brummy14 · February 2014

I started having BH contractions 24-7 at 22w -- and heard the docs throw around the term irritable uterus from time to time, but we never had an actual discussion about it to that degree. At that point, they pulled me off of exercise -- and basically told me I could work (desk job) and be a couch potato. They also had me call anytime my contractions changed -- in either frequency, duration or intensity. That ended up landing me in L&D weekly from there on out. They put me on a Procardia dosage every 6 hours, but that never so much as touched the contractions.

They put me on MBR at 26w after my weekly L&D trip resulted in a positive FFN, with a cervical length that made them a little wary. I ended up rupturing just two over two weeks later.

I really don't know or really have any idea if the constant contractions had anything to do with my pPROM. It might have, it might not have. Plenty of women on here have BH their entire pregnancies with no issue.

cukimerrydoll · February 2014

I had it from about week 28 to delivery at 31.6. I'd been on MBR for 12w at that point, but that didn't change. It wasn't a huge deal until A starting dropping his heart rate when I would contract: that was found on the NST the same day B had reverse diastolic flow in his cord doppler on the BPP. They were delivered the next morning.

SamanthaJoD · February 2014

I started getting fairly frequent BH around 29 weeks. Sometimes I would get one every 6-10 minutes, never painful though. I went to the hospital for PTL at 32 weeks because they were so frequent. I'm not actually sure I was in PTL or not, but my doctor put me on modified bedrest after that. I kpet getting frequent BH, but my cervix never changed. I don't know when I would have naturally gone into labor because I was induced at 35 weeks due to growth issues for one of the babies. I was taken off of bed rest a few days before my induction and I tired everything to go into labor naturally, walking a lot, sex, spicy foods, nothing worked. Just goes to show that just because you get a lot of BH does not necessarily mean labor is imminent, but do call your doc if your worried.

The previous posters all have great ideas for trying to keep those BH in check. I went to this website a lot for more ideas: https://birthbliss.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/natural-ways-to-stop-and-prevent-pre-term-labourlabor/

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