expecting 2nd baby, 5.5weeks away amd feeling tightening, HELP!

[kutilputil]

can anyone please explain what is happening to me. my first baby was induced as my waters broke but had no contractions so dont know what normal contractions feel like but this is weird. i am 5.5wks away from due date (13th dec) and since yesterday around 11am i have been feeling tightening pain accross my belly and on my back every five to six minutes lasting for about 30 seconds, also am feeling sharp lightening striking pain way down below and i cannot make any sense of it. i really dont want to contact my local labour ward as there are animals there for midwives and all they would say to me is come in and we will check you.i'd rather sit at home and bear it cos i can and see what happens. i dont remember feeling like this with son1.i am getting more discharge than normal and its quiet thick and cream/yellowish in colour but not red, i know thats serious. pls help, any advice is appreciated.

It sounds like a contraction. Have you tried having a bath? This can help. You should phone the hospital. They will look after you.

if this has been going on since yesterday then you should get hecked really

excess discharge is very common at this stage in pg, but bh's are not regular and shouldn't be painful.

is your partner with you?

hi, to both of you, firstly phantom i did have a bath today, i felt great and no pain, but once i was out it was there again, on and off throughout the day.its not terribly painful but painful anyway if you know what i mean?!and sorry but i have no intention of calling the hospital because they will give some excuse to go in and i cant stand that place, and they certainly wont take care of me, my poor friend who just had a baby is there now and she is being very ill treated, probably as i speak!liahgen, i suspected the same, that it doesn't sound like bh's as its comming regular and is painful, not unbearable though. and yes my partner is with me, and i'd rather be here at home with him and my son than the hell hole of a hospital that they call royal london! has anyone had any experience of this around this time of their pregnancy?

are you having bubs at home Kutil?

I went into premature labout at 34 weeks (it stopped thank goodness and I had to be induced). The pain in the fanjo gave it away. They can give you something to stop it. Can't you phone your midwife instead? I would try another bath and give her a ring.

no, yes, oh i dont know, my life is so complicated right now!i want to go to my local birthing cnetre(fab place) but my iron level just wont reach level 10 (what ever that means)and so they wont accept me till i do, i dont want to end up in the hell hole and so am determined to go gp and find out about home birth as i'd rather that then hospital, but i may be too late or they might give me some bull about iron level etc and deny me that right as well!

phantom, explain further what happened to you pls, you went into prem labour then how did it stop, then why were you induced (i hated it when i was induced with my first, it was ten times the normal pain!)what does the pain down below feel like and how frequent is it?also how does the bath help/

There are 2 things it could be.

Firstly it could be BHs. These are harmless and I am afraid that you will just have to put up with them.

Secondly it could be labour. At 34.5wks this is not harmless. It is actually pretty dangerous in your own home. If it is this you need to be seen by an obstetrician. You need to contact the labour ward and accept that you need t obe seen. If they can they will try and stop labour progressing with drugs. If they can't do this then your baby will need the expert care of paediatricians as soon as it is born. 34.5wks is a good gestation and baby shouldn't have any lasting problems but will need to be checked by a peadiatrician and may spend some time in special care.

You need to make a decision. Are you sure it is BH. If so then stay home and get some rest. If you are not 100% sure it is BH (and I would say that you are not or you wouldn't be posting) then you need to get checked. A good rule of thumb (and it isonly a rule of thumb) is that if the contractions/tightenings/pain is happening more than 4 times in an hours period then you need to be checked.

you sound as if you are very angry.

did you have your 1st dc at the london? Is there not another hosp you could go to?

We are not medically trained, the majority of people on here will recommend you see a mw to get checked over. Could someone sit with dc, and your partner go with you to speak up for you?

On a scale of 1-10, 1 being least and 10 being unbearable, where is the pain about?

I should also say that they will only attempt to stop labour before it becomes established - 3cm I think.

So you are DEFINATELY better off getting checked sooner rather than later.

The pain just stopped. I had it for 24 hours, cramping and bad fanjo pain. I was induced because the little sod didn't want to come out at 41 weeks, I'd been bleeding and was getting really tired. It was the same pain as the contractions when I was induced. The bath helped to relax the muscles (but can speed things up if it's too late to slow it down).

A Hb level of 10 is very low and you could pass out during the delivery. You are anaemic and you do need to be in a hospital if you are in labour. Mine were 12 after I had ds and I collapsed in the shower they made me have. I now have medical training (not medicine) and I seriously advise that you phone the hospital. The last thing you need is to deliver tonight. A Hb level this low is not good.

dontattempt-what do bh's feel like and when do they start?do they start this early and do they then last till full term?how will the medics know if my labour has started?what is it that they will do?yes the tightening is happening more than four times in an hour, it comes every 5-8 mins or so buts its not very painful, just occaisionally its like lightening and stops me in my tracks and i have to breathe deeply to relieve it but this doesn't last for more than 10-15 seconds. a friend of mine went into hospital at 35 weeks with bleeding, they admitted her but left her to it and suddenly in the middle of the night she was in immense pain and within 2 hours her baby was born weighing 5lbs, she was then discharged a day or two after...so whats the hope for me?liahgen-i am angry, after seeing my friend today torn apart by the midwives ignorance and reflecting on my previous experience, the rest of the hospitals i have no clue about so dont really want to consider them and lastly, the pain is about 2-3 but the sharp pain is about 4-5...

my pain after being induced was mind blowing and i was in another dimension throughout the labour, comming in and out of consciousness,i was also attached to a monitor which i didn't like at all as it restricted my movement completely but apparently they need this to monitor baby and i couldn't do without so there was no chance of walking or lying in a bath!

They will monitor the contrations and may have to give you an internal to see if you are dialating. It would be the same everywhere. They can give you medication to stop the labour and monitor your baby for signs of distress. Your baby is a bit early so may need help if she/he's born now. Hospital is the best place. BH's don't normally hurt. They are tightenings around your stomach.

If the pain isn't frequent then they may not be strong enough for full labour so they may go off or they may get worse. The sharp pain needs to be there with every BH. BH normally start late in the pregnancy (around 7-8 months).

In the UK, the most common definition of mild anaemia is an Hb level of 10 g/dl (100g per litre of blood) or less. Severe anaemia is usually defined internationally as 7g/

I wouldn't worry too much over your iron as you can ask them for iron injections to pull it up very quickly. I had these, bit stinging but ok. ome hosps wouldn't bother with tabs at 10 tbh.

Anyway, you get bh throughout your pg, its just that some women experience them more than others.

bath will slow down and usually stop bh, but will not prevent true labour. It may slow it down in the early stages but real ctxs will return.

I'm really sorry your friend had a rotten time, but that doesn't mean you will too. Better you get checked and come home tomorrow than leave it too late and end up having a prem baby, when they may have been able to do something to slow labour down or stop it altogether.

Keep us posted and fwiw, i really think you should get checked out.

pls tell me what are bh's then?what do they feel like and whats the earliest they start?

The pain you feel when you are induced is because your body's endomorphins have not had time to kick in. Normal labour is slow, an induced labour is like 0-70 in 5 minutes. My BP went up to something really silly (160/97?) so it was not fun.

They present as irregular contractions. This means that there may be no pattern to the manner of contractions. You could have one contraction in every five minutes or every hour. Each contraction could last for a few seconds to minutes. They can keep reoccurring continuously for weeks or months

? The contractions may be significant enough to take your breath away. It could also be felt as a dull ache or even painful. Some expectant mothers have been woken up from their sleep by these contractions

? Braxton Hicks contraction are often felt earlier by expectant mothers who have had previous babies and the pain may be more intense in these mothers

bh are present throughout pg.

braxton hicks just feel like your bump goes as rigid as a rock. They start in first trimester - but usually you dont feel them until 20+wks - and yes they will continue until you give birth.

They will know if labour has started probably by checking your cervix - either with their fingures as they do when you are in labour - o rmore likely they will do a similar procedure to a smear test - except they will be visually checking rather than sticking something up your fanjo to take a cell sample.

It is most hospitals policy to admit you for 24hrs after any blood loss as a small blood loss can be superceded by a dangerously large blood loss. It happened to me twice too.

Incidently I gave birth at 27wks. There was little warning. Premature labours can be very fast. I had a whole 45mins to prepare myself for birth after being confirmed in labour.

I know that you don't want to go to hospital. And I understand and respect the reasons why. BUT if you sit at home and do nothing, and you do happen to be in labour you could be putting your baby (and yourself) at risk.

am i just being a wuss bag then?maybe its just bh's, as its tightening and slightly painful but not unbearable, its just because they come quiet frequently i got a bit worried.

if you change your activity and bh are still present, then you should seek advice.

Dehydration, can make them worse, eat slow release carbs, drink water.

BH's are the muscles working out to prepare them for the delivery. They feel like a tightening in your stomach. Strong ones can be painful but they should not be felt in your fanjo. This is your cervix, meaning the BH are pushing your baby's head downwards in an attempt to open it. This is labour. Sometimes the contractions are not strong enough to open the cervix. Your baby can get distressed and tired when this happens so you do need monitoring.

phantom- did you have normal contractions before you were induced, my waters broke but there was no contractions and so after 24 hours the hospital decided to induce me, so i went from 0-70mph...in 20 mins of having the drip!

I had ones before, the ones when I was in premature labour however, they were infrequent so were not strong enough to deliver ds. They stopped and I was sent home. They induced me 5ish weeks later.

It's standard practice to deliver the baby by any means if the waters have broken after 24 hours because of the risk of infection. I had a pesarie, it took 5 minutes for the contractions to start, they broke my waters a few hours later, it took 11 hours for ds to come out, start to finish.

You need to phone them.

truthfully i am so SHIT scared (pls excuse the bad lang!)i dont want to go hospital...i hate the place and hate the treatment there and hat staying there over night and hate being away from my home and family....i am so scared!why cant i jst pretend to be oblivious to this?pretend we did not have this chat?!i am so confused!