Irritable Uterus - anyone else got one?

[tootsroots]

Other than being generally irritable myself, my uterus has joined in, according to my Consultant.

I have been have daily, several times a day deeply uncomfy tightening, rock hard tummy since 18/19 weeks. Sometimes when I walk too far, sometimes at work and Always about 7-9pm for up to 3 mins on and off for 15 mins. In the evenings they take my breathe away and mean I cant walk as want to double over, not painful per se but deeply not normal.

She said it is not Braxton as I thought but 'irritable uterus' which means I need to watch them and monitor them and to expect quite a few false alarms but to contact the delivery suite if they become REALLY bad.

She told me firstly to only do 30 mins light exercise three times a week , no ab work , to do my Pilates but opt out of the harder stuff and to keep eating healthily but to ensure not to over exert...

Does anyone else have this, what helps, what is the risk of preterm and how worried /irritable should I be about it?

ooooh me too!

Went in for monitoring last week after bump wasn't moving like normal. Started performing as soon as the monitor went on but they were asking a lot of questions about the tightenings which were every 5 mins. I thought this was normal braxton hicks as they aren't painful as such.
They just said to take it easy and keep an eye on things. If they got more frequent and regular or painful (beyond the general uncomfortable) to call.

I think DH is more worried about it than I am. I'm learning to trust my instincts a bit more and I generally feel fine about it. I'm 30 weeks so even an early appearance now would have pretty good odds of being fine.
I've just told work who have pulled me off some of the more tiring jobs and am trying not to get too tired.

My MAU have told me I potentially have this!

I started off with quite irregular BH type pains a few weeks back, but it has recently become a daily occurrence and I feel like I'm going into labour. It also happens around the same time each day, mid/late afternoon. It is AGONY! I have regular tightening and pain so bad it has me in tears. They are exactly like the start of labour, they come every 3/4 mins and last about 30 seconds each. It goes on for about 2/3 hours.

I have spoken to my MAU several times about it now as I have been so worried (I am having twins and I know that pre-term labour is a strong possibility). They don't seem concerned and tell me to 'take some painkillers and have a warm bath'.

It's awful to think this will keep happening until the babies are born!

I literally walk 2 mins and bam rock hard and painfulish tummy making me winded! Crazy!

Now I am obsessed about preterm labour! Dr Google is not offering much!

Yes, I have this. There is an increased risk of pre-term birth, but the risk only increases from 11% to 18.5%, of something, so it is still more likely that you will not have pre-term labour.

I got diagnosed and checked for pre-term labour at 30 weeks and am now 37 weeks and still no labour. However, I did have to take it very easy (stopped going to work as couldn't manage the 10 minute walk to the station). I was on moderate bed rest, which meant I spent a few extra hours a day lying on my side. Mine is always worse in the evening, when I will have a couple of hours of contractions every 5 minutes, and can be bad all day during the day if I overdo it. Sometimes I notice the tightenings less (they are not really painful, unless accompanied by diarrhoea), but when it is really bad I know because baby is constantly kicking to complain. Mine does seem to be linked to IBS-like symptoms too, but I don't know which is contracting first!

How did you make the call to stop working? I don't think it is right to stop just yet, but i am worried it will get worse as a result of long hours, northern line, walking to and from tube, stress and it will be too late to calm work down :( as the outcome is preterm!

Did you go to the GP with it?

I also get bad IBS - and it is def worse when that happens, just not linked the two before!

I had one with DS2 - now 16. I was admitted to hospital at 25,28 and 34 weeks as they initially appeared on the monitor to be actual proper contractions. In the end I delivered all 9lb 13oz of him at 41 weeks after 3 hours of labour and two pushes - think my body was well prepared then!

wow that is majorly honed uterus muscles! Well done your body

Fx all this is toning mine. I'd love a labour like that!

Does anyone have tips on how to calm it down? Sitting here and its tensing away as i walked home quickly in the rain and holding lots of things! 30 mins and it is still being grumpy!

I find some painkillers and a warm bath calm mine down quite a bit, but I'm struggling to get in and out of the bath now so think I'm going to try a hot water bottle/heat pad too.

I was lucky, in that I had already prepared to do some work from home in the 3rd trimester, so I was able to do that. My doctor (GP - Ob can't write sick notes) was happy to sign me off though - they don't like to take risks with these sorts of things, so if you can afford to do that/want to that's one option.

The only thing that calmed mine down was rest - laying on the left hand side for a few hours.