Thread: Lurker with a question

Hi all,
I posted here when I was pregnant with my DD about 3 years ago. I am due in May with a new baby. This pregnancy has been great up until the past couple weeks when I started to have some preterm labor. Contrax 5 minutes apart. I am almost positive it was due to me still nursing DD, so we cut that out about a week and a half ago. I had a c-sect with DD. I am having a VBAC with this baby. I am having what I think is BH contrax right now. I don't remember how many is too many to have in an hour. I looked online and it said if you are having 4 an hour you should call your doc. That does not seem like that much to me. I am 35 and 4 days preggo (my ticker here is off). On one hand, I want this baby to stay in for AT LEAST another 10 days, hopefully another month, so if I need to go to stop stuff that should not be going on, I will. On the other, I do not want to be running to my doc if it is not necessary.
So ummm...what should the bh feel like and how many is too many?

If it's a true braxton hicks, then I don't think "too many" is an issue. It won't progress you in labor. But, if you are having contractions that are slowly moving you along the labor process, then it is definitely worth seeing a profressional.
I had 6 contractions an hour FOR SIX WEEKS with my first pregnancy and didn't get more than a centimeter dilated. So every woman is different.

Are you delivering with a midwife or an OB?

An OB. Even when I was having the pre-term stuff a couple weeks ago and having contrax every 5 minutes it did not do anything other than soften my cervix. No dilation. I have had about 10-12 in the past hour. But they feel like BH, not around my back or anything.

Do they seem to stop or slow down if you drink a bunch and lay down for a bit?

Nope just drank about 40 ounces of water and laying down did not help. Sigh.

Originally Posted by jooniper

If it's a true braxton hicks, then I don't think "too many" is an issue. It won't progress you in labor. But, if you are having contractions that are slowly moving you along the labor process, then it is definitely worth seeing a profressional.
I had 6 contractions an hour FOR SIX WEEKS with my first pregnancy and didn't get more than a centimeter dilated. So every woman is different.

Are you delivering with a midwife or an OB?

I agree... I have been told if it was more than 6 an hour, but with DD I had them sometimes for a whole evening. It seemed like they would start when I got off work and was resting, and then they would go every few minutes all the way until I went to sleep. But nothing increasing in intensity or getting closer together. I never worried b/c it was just that tightening feeling and nothing more.

I would say to go with your gut feeling. If you think you need to call or go in, then I would definitely do it.

Do you notice them set in at a certain time of the day? And also, I know you said you just drank a lot of water, but are being sure to do that throughout the day as well? Dehydration is a BIG precurser to PT-labor. And it has been said if you are thirsty, it is too late, you are already dehydrated. Are they still coming regularly?

Just checkin' on ya...how's it going?

Hey Stacey!

I can tell you that I never had as much as a single BH contrax before 38 weeks with my first baby, and with my 2nd and now 3rd pregnancy I get them all.the.time and they started really really early.

I honestly think that the uterus is just a lot more.....reactive? Irritable ? knows its job? in subsequent pregnancies. I know that even though I was having them daily in my second pregnancy they didn't do anything.

I'd hydrate up and just trust your gut, if they start getting painful I would give a call, if they remain frequent but not painful I would just continue with my day

HTH!

They actually did get painful so I went in. Was on the monitor for 15 minutes. Doc could see that I was having some but is not concerned. He said that unless it is for 3 hours and they are getting considerably worse, he thinks I just should take it easy and will be fine. So I am glad that I did go in this time. Thanks ladies! It is so strange because I really did not have these with Sara. LOL
I keep having fears that my doc will push a c-sect if I have any issues, and I need to get past that, because they have been really good about the VBAC. And as my hubby keeps reminding me- they can't make me do anything I don't want to anyway.