From the article: Treatment for Preterm Labor
Over 10% of babies are born before the 37th week of gestation. Did your doctor or midwife talk to you about the signs of preterm labor? How did you know you were in preterm labor? What types of treatment did you receive? When was your baby finally born? Sharing your story can help other women cope with treatment and bed rest. Share Your Story
26wks
- I think I went into preterm labor because I got verrrrryyy upset!! I was walking in a parking lot with my 2 daughters when this idiot lady just decides to back up almost hitting all three of us. So I yelled at her n she's yelling back. Then I went grocery shopping.. that night my back started to hurt so I took a bath... the next day I could barely walk. I called my sister n she drove me to the hospital they said I was 1cm dialated gave me shots of steroids n I was so scared I was telling the dr.s if my baby didn't make it I wanted to die with it. Next thing I know I'm very tired n I fell asleep they had given me demerol..early next morning I gave birth to mydaughter 1lb14oz. She stayed 12wks n is now 6 yrs old♥♥ love her to pieces
- —Guest luckymomma
angel
- First pregnancy was 20wks.. had cramping n spotting went to the dr. N she said I was fine that night I gave birth to my 15oz son Angel I felt ashamed guilty depressed awful blaming myself for evrrything.. but I couldn't have done anything different
- —Guest mommabear
31 weeks 6 days
- I went into labor that Friday night, didn't think anything about it, got a hot bath and went to bed... Well I woke up the next morning with a major backache, went on about my day (even went to my softball practice), and went to the hospital that Saturday evening.. Was in for 5 days on magnesium.... That was the worst... I got the two steroid shots for my baby girls lungs, and was released 5 days later... Ended up contracting again at 33 weeks 5 days... Was admitted and they gave me fluids and the breathine shot... Sent me home... I am now 34 weeks.. And I am terrified about it happening again real soon... And also with the thought that all this medicine cannot be safe for me or especially her... I have been on procardia for over two weeks, and still taking them... And more with the contractions, I know they can't be safe.... :(
- —Guest Elmoremommy
22 weeks 5 days
- I was pregnant with twins. My husband and i had been trying to get pregnant for a few years and were elated. The pregnancy was going well everything seemed normal until twenty one weeks when i suddenly started to bleed. We went to the emergency room and i was immediately admitted. I was told that i was going into labour and that because the babies would not be saved at such an early stage. I did want to lose my babies and agreed to medication to stop the labour. I was put on bedrest. I stayed in the hospital for twelve days, i was constipated and bloated and in tremendous pain. At twenty two weeks and five days one baby moved into the vagina and had to be delivered. The second baby followed shortly after. I lost both my babies and the pain contniues to be unbearable.
- —Guest A
contractions @32wks born @36wks
- I thought I was having contractions at 32 weeks. The doctor said to go to the hospital. The hospital receptionist told me it was probably Braxton Hicks but admitted me anyway. They kept me in the hospital for four hours and were about to let me go when they saw more contractions on the monitor. They gave me medication to stop the contractions and a steroid shot. Later they sent me home. I went back to the hospital for another steroid shot after that. Then I went to an Obgyn appointment and I just felt like crying. The midwife decided I should be on bed rest for two weeks. After the two weeks was up, she told me to go back to work. I did, and that night my water broke. My daughter was born the next day at 36 weeks. She was 7lbs 14 oz and healthy and didn't have to stay in the hospital any extra time. However, I wish I had stayed on bed rest at least one more week. She has some developmental disabilities and was always behind on each milestone.
- —Guest Mom
Water broke at 18 wks and 5days
- My water broke at 18 wks and 5 days I had no signs that my water was going to break, no contractions just felt like I had to go to the bathroom and then my water broke. This was my second child I had him at 19 weeks and he died at birth. Even after this happen I still want to try for another one, I feel like another baby will help with the loss of my son. Scared that it might happen again, but I guess I'm willing to chance it again.
- —Guest me
30 weeks 3 days :/
- Went in to the triage because of severe back pain. Couldn't even get out of bed it hurt so bad. They gave me IV fluids and told me I was dehydrated. Upon discharge my doctor decided to check my cervix to make sure nothing was happening. Sure enough I was dilated to 3. They gave me my first steroid injection and had me return 24 hours later for a second dose. Day 2 I went and had my next injection and was sent home as they said I could stay dilated to 3 for 3 more months. Day 3 I had a doctors appointment and they checked my cervix again I was now dilated to 4. They sent me over to the hospital to have my contractions monitored. They were not consistent. I woke up at 6:45 am the next day and was bleeding, called my doctors office and was told to stay home because my cervix was irritated and bleeding was normal. Went back to bed and started having pains 10 minutes apart. They quickly changed to 3 minutes. I checked in at 11:20am my son was born at 11:32 am. He spent 6 weeks in the NICU.
- —Guest Whitney
To everyone
- This is my first child and I had her when I was 20. I went into labor 3 months early, we did not make it to the hospital. I delivered my baby on my own and walked into the ER on my own. The dr's didn't think my baby would make it. We stayed in the hospital 3months and in those 3months I learned one very important lesson and that lesson was that no matter what someone says if you just believe everything will be alright. My little girl had a 10% chance of survival.She will be 4months and we are at home doing just fine. I am truly blessed. My heart goes out to you all still going through this storm but just know that after every storm is a clear sky even if you can't see it yet it'll be there when you're ready. Everyone stay strong and keep your faith.
- —mzmiracle11
guest Joy
- Keep going back to the hospital no one knows your body better than you. It's better to be safe than sorry.
- —mzmiracle11
First Time Mom
- Father's Day came and my back was hurting extremely bad, I didn't eat any breakfast, I stayed in bed all morning. around 12:30 I started having contractions or what I thought was braxton hicks until I started timing them and they were 2 to 4 minutes apart. I had a feeling something was wrong so I told my husband I was going to take a shower so we could go to the emergency room. I went into the bathroom to take a shower only to find myself bending over from hurting so bad, I got out of the shower that I couldn't turn off from hurting so bad my husband had to. I got my clothes on and began to walk towards the door when I felt a gush of water, I was 4 centimeters dilated when I got to the hospital I had my son that next hour weighing 1lb 6oz. he was transported to Montgomery where he stayed for awhile. He was transported as soon as he was born. He lived for 6 months and died in my arms.
- —MyzE_Samuel0620
22 1/2 weeks
- During my entire four months of pregnancy I experienced no pain. Until one morning I woke up around 4am to notice that my bed was full of water. I was so unsure as to what happened... I didn't think my water broke seeing that it was so early and I didn't have any pain. I got up and drove myself to the nearest hospital where I was told that I my water had broken and they had no reason as to why.... Was told that I would go into labor in the next 24 hours and that it wasn't nothing that they could do for the baby with him being that premature. I was transferred to a specialialty hospital where i was basically told the same thing and sent home until contractions startesd. Well exactly 24 hours later from my water breaking I was going into labor and gave birth to a 0lbs 10oz little boy. He had a heartbeat but there was nothing they could do for him. I lost him a few hours later. I'm still very sad as this just happened about a week ago.
- —Guest Guest CC
31weeks
- I started having what I thought was Braxton hicks the pains were coming every seven minutes after an hour and a half of that I realized I was in preterm labour I had to wait 6 hrs before I could even be driven to the hospital where they admitted me straight away gave me medication to try stop the labour and steroids for baby's lungs didn't help my baby wanted out I guess I ended up giving birth to a lil girl she weighed just over 2 lb she spent three weeks in hospital she is now 17months and almost bigger then her big sister who is 11months older then her. :)
- —Guest Mummyof4
29 weeks
- Hi all, my son was born at 29 weeks + 5 days gestation. I had stopped working when I was 6 months pregnant but had traveled over 20 hrs on flight to and back to see my parents when I was 7 months. Summer in Italy was hot when I came back. Don't know for sure if all this contributed. I broke waters with M at 29 weeks and 5d. Bed rest for 3 days with tocolytics and steroid injections but having lost all the fluid, my OB decided to let nature takes its course after. 48hrs later M was born & was in NICU for 5 1/2 weeks. Thankfully no major problems. He's a little bit slower with motor development, more irritable and is quite small. But we are glad that despite that he's generally healthy, happy and he's a bright spark at 18mnths. Now expecting baby 3 and we're doing best we can to stop preterm labour as already cervix has shortened. Best prevention: knowledge, cooperation with OB and taking necessary precautions, and bed rest. Prevention is better but nowadays most preemies do well anyways.
- —Guest Medic mom with ex preemie
Pre-Term at 22w 6d
- I went into pre-term labour at 22 weeks and 6 days. In the days before I had been worried what was going on because of pain etc but being my first didn't really know. Went to the hospital to see what was going on -they did a internal exam & told me it was my 'stomach muscles stretching' nothing wrong... 2 days later I went into labour for real - I had a show - back to the hospital - by the time I was examined I was already 3cm & they couldn't do anything. I was transferred by ambulance to a larger hospital where I delivered. ( w/o any pain relief - Im kinda proud of that one, even though bubs was small I still had to dilated to 10cm) Bubs lived for 16 days in NICU before the Dr's said they could do no more. They removed Bub's breathing tube while he was in my arms and Jesus came for him 5 minutes later. To most people I look like I'm functioning normally now but part of me died when my baby did. All I seem to be able to think about is him and what will happen next time around.
- —Guest Mopps
Listen to your Gut!!!
- I had contractions stopped several times during my 34wks that I was pregnant. Every time I went they would not check my cervix and would simply diagnose me with "irritated uterus". This went on from 28 wks to 34wks. at 33wks 5 days I thought my son was in my ribs. I would push him down hold my breath and feel better. (this during birthing class about pre-term labor). The next day I still felt odd and finally went to LD. They pretty much told me I was crazy and to take some tylenol and go to bed. Thursday I woke up, ate two bowls of oatmeal, 2 bean burritos, a cheese roll up, and a chicken burrito. Dropped my Step son off at school, and went to my OB appt. (Drove myself). Walked from the back of the lot to the second floor (took the stairs like always) and told the doc if this was normal preg pains I wouldn't make it. When she checked I was dilated to a 5 and contractions every 1.5mins. Water broke in the office. ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOUR GUT!
- —Guest MommyTo1
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