29 weeks pregnant & just spent week in hospital with contractions. Any advice, similar experiences?

[Claire236]

I went to hospital having noticed I was bleeding & ended up spending a week there. The bleeding was minimal but they found my cervix was slightly open & that I was having contractions. One night the contractions were actually painful rather than just making my bump feel tight so I ended up taking quite a lot of tablets to try & stop them. I've now been home a week & am feeling a bit bewildered about what & how much I'm allowed to do as the hospital have been pretty vague. Seeing obstetrician on Thursday who will hopefully clarify things. I'm also feeling pretty down. A combination of worry, boredom & being stuck in the house on my own a lot of the time. I don't feel like anyone understands how scared I am & now I'm home from hospital there seems to be an assumption that everythings fine. Dh actually had someone ask why I wasn't taking ds to school the other day.

Sorry you're going through this. I had a stay in hospital at 25 weeks due to pains and the doctor doing an ffc swab which came back positive for iminent labour whithin 7 days. They gave me steroids to mature babys lungs should she come early and when I eventually came home the midwives said I should do nothing but wriggle my toes until I got to 28 weeks which they regarded as much safer. I did find it worrying and frustrating tip-toeing around scared incase I set things off but after a while even my dp expected me to carry on as normal. Once I got to 28 weeks I relaxed quite a bit and tried to get on with life and catch up with jobs that needed doing. You're 29 weeks so please dont feel too anxious but just try and rest and allow things to pass you by for a while. Shop online if you can, catch up on sleep, read. I spent alot of time online window shopping for baby things and making an emergency list of things needed just in case I went into labour early. At this stage every day the little one stays put is a bonus so just go easy on yourself. I'm 34 weeks now and so pleased I took it easy a few weeks back. Take care and good luck. X

Oh dear, sorry to hear you have this worry. I dont know what to suggest but if i were you i would probably rest rest rest, drink plenty of fluids as im sure dehydration can cause early contractions? Hope you are ok, sorry i cant give more advice hopefully someone else will come along and help! take care

Thank you both.

ellaeleven - congrats on getting to 34 weeks. Must be a relief. It's been suggested to me that 32 weeks will make a massive difference.

I forgot to mention that they did find I had an infection so hopefully now that's sorted everything will be ok. Very scary though

Hi Claire, I had similar with my first baby. Had suspected early labour at 29 weeks, and had a softened cervix.

It is very scary and makes you feel very on edge. How are you now?

I was told to be prepared for him to come early but to try and relax once things had settled down. He was eventually born at 35 weeks and absolutely fine.

It will feel for you like each further week you reach is a milestone, but be reasurred that if your baby did come now they would probably be fine after some early care.

Rest as much as you can, and start planning things like your hospital bag in case anything happens in the next few weeks.

Good luck x

I'm not having contractions & haven't had anymore bleeding. Physically I feel fine but I always had which is difficult in itself as I don't feel like I can trust how I feel to tell me if there's anything wrong. If I can make it to 35 weeks I'd definitely be happy. ds1 was born at 36 weeks & had severe jaundice which meant he was in SCBU for a week but this time round that would seem like quite a good outcome as obviously he'd be a lot longer in SCBU if he arrived now. dh has got a hospital bag ready for me which I suppose I should check just in case I end up back in hospital.

Hi, just wanted to say the same thing happened to me when I was 30 weeks, I was kept in and given steroids to develop the baby's lungs as they thought he could arrive any minute! I was sent home and asked my doc to sign me off work and then just tried to relax as much as possible.

My waters broke when I was 37 weeks and all was fine, so try to relax and take tings easy as much as you can. I'm sure that if I'd carried on working he would have arrived sooner.

Sorry to hear you're going through this. I started getting contractions at 33 weeks with DS they were coming thick & fast at one point which was rather scary. I was given steroids to help mature his kungs & placed on a drip to try & halt labour, I was then transferred to a hospital over 2 hours away as it was the only one that had both a SCBU cot & delivery suite free (hard to believe but true). Thankfully the drugs did their job & my labour was halted, I was however told if I was to go into labour again they wouldn't try & stop it again. I was kept in for a few days before being allowed home, I rested for a few days but with a toddler to care for I couldn't sit sill for long. I'm pleased to say DS ended up staying put til 2 days before his due date!

I would just take things easy for a little while & recover from the shock. Stay positive & I hope baby stays put for a little longer at least!

Not direct experience but my DSis went in to prem labour at 27 weeks - very harrowing 48 hours - steroids for the babies lungs and drugs to stop the labour which fortunately worked. She also was told if it started again they wouldn't try and stop it again. She eventually delivered her twins at 38 weeks!

A close friend also went in to prem labour at 29 weeks. She too was given the steroids and the drugs to stop labour. Which sort of worked, but not fantastically and she basically spent 6 weeks on and off having contractions and eventually gave birth at 35 weeks, baby absolutely fine (now nearly 2!) and no SCBU... but she was kept in hospital the whole time.

So I think there are lots of really positive stories of it all being ok in the end...

Hope you manage to rest and relax a little reading people's stories here.

Thanks for all the positive stories. I saw my obstetrician this morning & everything looks fine at the moment so hopefully it will stay that way. Definitely won't be going back to work though. dh & I were both worried she'd examine me & I'd end up being admitted again although we only admitted that to each other in the car on the way home. I'm gradually relaxing as when I started this thread I was scared to death & feeling really down which was worrying as I have a history of depression & could see myself heading that way.