Hello all,
Sorry in advance for the ridiculously long post. I just wanted to give context to my question.
This is my first time posting, but just looking for some stories of how things turned out from other people in a similar position to me. I know everyone's pregnancy's are different, but I don't personally know anyone who has has anything similar. So, I'll try to be brief as possible with my story.
I'm 37 and this is my first child. About 10 years ago I had LLETZ surgery on my cervix and have had a couple biopsies since. I was told at the time that if I ever decided to have a baby, I may need a stitch, but it would be determined at the time.
Anyways fast forward and I was referred to the pre-term birth clinic when I found out I was expecting and was booked in for when I was 19+1 weeks pregnant. My pregnancy went without problem (other than bad morning sickness) until I was 15+6 and I experienced brown discharge. I was given anti-d at this time as I'm rhesus negative and they hadn't yet had babies blood type back.
Then at 19 weeks, just before my first appointment at the pre-term birth clinic I had another loss of pink discharge. When I went to the appointment I was told my cervix was 2.8cm and I wouldn't need a stitch, but was put on pogesterone 200mg. I was also sent up to triage for an actim partus test, which came back negative. By this point I found out baby also had a negative blood type so didn't need anti-d again.
At 20+3 weeks I had a proper bleed, which was like a gush and then stopped. I was checked over by triage and because the bleeding had stopped and there was no active signs of labour I was sent home and told to rest.
At my next pre-term birth clinic appointment (21+1 weeks) by cervix was measuring 2.6cm, so they upped my pogesterone to 400mg to see if that helped. Then on the Friday (21+4 weeks) I had another gush of blood and this time was admitted to hospital and sent for another scan and cervix scan and all looked fine and my cervix was showing to be 3.1cm. I was discharged and advised to take some time off work and rest. Which I did and then at my final preterm birth clinic appointment (23+1 weeks) everything was looking fine and my cervix was still measuring above 3cm, so I was left on pogesterone 400mg and was to be reviewed at 32 weeks.
All went fine and I got back to work. Then at 29+2 weeks I noticed i was having a lot of tightenings. They were like braxton hicks, but stronger and much more regular. Was put on the monitor at triage, which showed I was having 4 in 10 strong contractions. They couldn't believe they weren't hurting. They just felt uncomfortable and tight. They did an examination that showed my cervix was still closed and another actim partus and it came back a strong positive for risk of pre-term labour in the next 2 weeks. I was sent for a scan and my cervix had shortened slightly to 2.6cm. I was given my first dose of steroid injections and sent to a hospital 2.5 hours away from my home as none of the hospitals in my area could accommodate a pre 30 weeks baby. The contractions went on for about 48 hours in total and theb just stopped. I had another course of steroids at that hospital and then was discharged after a couple days. They put it down to either irritable uterus (but couldn't specify a cause) or practice labour.
At this point I finished work earlier than planned and just rested and pottered about. I was told to stay on the pogesterone until 36 weeks.
Then on Saturday night (31+5 week) the same regular painless tightenings started again. I went to bed hoping they would settle down, but they didn't so went to triage the next morning and was showing regular contractions again of 3 in 10 mins, but my cervix was still long and closed. I was put straight on to labour ward for monitoring as I was "threatening pre-term labour" and they prepped a bed in SCBU for baby just incase. The contractions continued until 4pm and then just stopped. No other symptoms of labour. I stayed in over night and was discharged the next morning (Monday).
The tightenings started again on Monday night, but were very infrequent so went to bed to see if they would settle on there own and when I got up they had worsened, so went back to triage and they weren't showing any real pattern this time, just spikes. Cervix was still closed and no other signs of labour so was sent home to rest and told to come back if contractions got worse or built up to a pattern or i had any other signs of labour. Again this has all been put down to irritable uterus or practice labour. They did say that they didn't think I would go full term, but could never be certain.
Today I feel fine and no tightenings. I'm really hoping that we can get to atleast 34 weeks.
Surprisingly I have remained relatively calm throughout all of this with the odd in hospital melt down. Baby has always been fine on scans and monitoring and I've never had an infection or anything. They can't say for sure whether everything that has happened is connected, but I'm assuming it must be in some way.
My question really is has anyone experienced these practice labours or irritable uterus as early as me. Did you have pre-term labour. How quick did it happen? I'm worried about these practice labours making real labour quicker and not getting to the hospital in time with a preterm baba.
Thanks in advance to any respondents.