Irritated uterus?

[oreolovegood]

I'm 35 weeks pregnant, went into mcu today because I thought my waters had broken. They did some tests and said they think it's an irritable uterus but the graph thing showed I was having regular contractions.

She said these will just carry on until baby comes but she might not come early so will just have regular contractions everyday until she comes. Has anyone else had this??

Got a scan tomorrow morning to see if the fluid level has dropped around baby.

YES finally someone going through the same thing as me!

I was diagnosed with an irritable uterus and had irregular but fully painful contractions since about 34 weeks. Am now at 37 weeks and they've started dilating me, but I'm also having weekly sweeps as they are worried that having contractions for this long can be distressing for both my body and baby.

When this all came out at about 35 weeks, my midwife recommended I ask a consultant at the hospital to put a little scribble in my notes asking for membrane sweeps from 37 weeks, and when I went in a week ago with reduced movements the consultant took one look at me and was more than happy to do this. It doesn't guarantee baby will come early at all, and can often cause more discomfort, but if you're already in pain from this anyways, it can't make it much worse.

A lot of people will tell you to avoid sweeps at such an early stage but the fact is that an experienced antenatal consultant is in a better position to asses what is best for you and baby that strangers on the internet are. Mine even recommended early induction if I wanted it, although I didn't.

Had my first sweep today and it has really ramped up the contractions and pain, but I feel more in control because it was recommended that it would be safer for baby and I to take the risk of being born early, than go full-term and risk possible complications.

In my case baby is a very health weight and developing well and this was the best option for my situation, as regardless what people may say, babies don't always come when they want, and having contractions for weeks before labour actually starts can be dangerous for you and baby. I get sick of people saying 'they must just be Braxton Hicks if you're not in labour'. NO. The midwives call them 'practice contractions' and are often a sign of prodromal labour, which might well be what you're in.

I recommend asking your midwife if she would consider doing sweeps from 37/38 weeks if the contractions don't stop, but be aware she can't do anything without a consultant writing notes in your book, and you can only get that at the hospital.

Keep us updated, as you're in such a similar situation to me and I rarely hear of anyone going through this so will be interesting to see how it goes xx

@BexusSugarush wow thank you for all the information! I left the hospital this evening feeling a little bit lost! It's annoying isn't it, because you aren't having the baby yet people just pass it off as BH!

My scan tomorrow is for them to see whether any of the amniotic fluid has leaked and that the levels are as they should be.

I'll mention that to the midwife at my next appointment though! I've got my 36 week one next week I think so I'll mention it then!

I'll keep you updated, hope everything is going well for you other than that and you and baby are happy xx

I was told I had an irritable uterus when I was monitored during my second pregnancy. I would have been 35 weeks at the time IIRC. I can't say that I could tell - had a few tightenings but nothing out of the ordinary from my previous pregnancy! But apparently I was having mild contractions that were picked up on the monitor. I was in for raised BP (they decided it was white coat hypertension in the end).

DS2 was born at 39 weeks by ELCS and wasn;t showing any signs of budging by himself at that point.

Yep! I just got told I had this too at 35 weeks! Went into hospital at 4am with a slight bleed but it was the graph showing all the activity that they were more concerned with. They did some test and another scan etc and couldn't find anything that was causing it and the baby was fine. I'm having more regular appointments now and another scan at 38 weeks if DC has not arrived before. Definitely been feeling them more frequently now but there's still not really any pattern so been told not to worry. If they get too intense or worrying they've said just call up and they'll monitor it again

I had my scan to check if the waters had broken and I'd lost around 1/2cm in the past 6 days days when I had my last scan (they wanted to check for something so put me in for a scan last week). They didn't say if this was normal or not but she said she was happy with what she saw. I'm still not dilating or anything so they said it's literally just like labour everyday but without the baby yet!

I've got the midwife next week, I was wondering if it's possible to ask for early induction or anything. I don't expect it now but I've been sitting at home crying and overwhelmed at the thought that I have to deal with this until her due date even if it's only by a couple of weeks!