Preterm Labor...

Listen, to all of the women on all of the forums out there. I understand your doctors. Cramping is normal, discharge is normal and so on. Let me tell you as someone who has suffered preterm labor and lost babies and someone who has suffered preterm labor and had a sucessful pregnancy. 1 in 8 babies are born premature. Yes 1 in 8. So I want you to think about your doctor who dismisses your concerns, Then same healthcare professional pushes all sorts of tests. Tests that check for things with probabilities that are one in thousands.

Preterm labor symptoms and pregnancy discomforts are similar. But to brush it off when the ods are so high is ridiculous.By the time its so bad they will listen its usually too late even for steroids to help little babies lungs. So you need to speak up. If your doctor wont listen then go to the er. demand testing, monitoring. Beleive me, your insurance would rather pay for your hospital bedrest then a baby in the nicu. So some test they can do.

Placenta Monitoring: Measure the effectiveness and health of the placenta
Fetalfibronectin: Test discharge to see if there is a chemical presents that can be an indicator of preterm labor.
Cervical ultrasound: check the length and integrity of the cervix.

If all else fails and you still feel that something is not right ask for a bedrest order. Bedrest saved my sons life.

Update.

I am 14 weeks according to my doctor. 15 weeks according to the baby. I had some hemorrhaging yesterday and spent last night in the ER. I hate all of this. I don't know what to do. I brought up to both of my doctors at both of my appointments the idea of a progesterone shot to help with an irritable uterus and preterm labor. They both shot me down. I went over all of the signs I have all of the cramping, the pressure on my bladder. Nope nothing. My perinatologists words were. "We already know whats wrong with you. That is for people we don't know whats wrong with them." They refuse to monitor me closer over these next crucial weeks. I am at a loss. Even with the bleeding and cramping yesterday still nothing. In fact they just wont even deal with me now. They just keep telling me to call the other one. "I don't want to step on his toes." They are so busy trying to not step on each others toes that they are not talking to me about these issues. The ER doctor was so irritated that she told me to get new doctors.

Then my mom. My mom is a weird person. When I had Lily, I was at home with a temperature of 103 infections, preprom, and labor and she wanted me to stay home. We knew we had to go to the hospital. But she felt that if I lost the baby it would be my fault for going to the hospital, that I should wait it out until her water refilled. We went anyway, her water had not refilled and I had to be in the hospital for days due to infection. She's also convinced my bladder is not emptying enough and that is then causing cramping which eventually causes my miscarriages. This is not true. But she wont drop it. She came to the ER last night at my request and would not drop it. At one point I was thinking about getting a catheter to see if it would help with the cramping because I kept feeling like I had to pee. Pressure from the cramping causes this not the other way around. I asked my DH what he thought about it and if I should get one. HE said no at first because it causes infection. UTI's for me make everything so much worse and he's right. My mom flipped out. That I need to make decisions for myself, and I can't let other people decide for me. Blah blah blah. She left after that. Which was not only stressful but also she was my ride home since DH had to go to work. I ended up having to take a cab.

I called her today to tell her I was home and everything was fine. She freaked out on me again. "You have to live with the decisions you make." And just overall implying that if I lose this baby too then it will be my fault. I DO NOT need people telling me it will be my fault. I eventually had to hang up on her because she wont drop it. Well I said "I'm going to go now." and hung up.

I guess I just feel alone. I am stuck in bed. My doctors wont listen to me. My family makes it worse. I know it stresses out my DH because hes the only one who is here to help me deal with all of this stuff. It's a lot to ask of him. I'm just scared, sad, and stressed out.

But on the plus side I get to hire  a cleaning lady to clean my house!

On A Better Note

My bleeding has stopped entirely. This is huge for me as the worst is usually about now. I have no cramping and also over feel that this pregnancy is going a much different direction than my previous two. We are on day two of no bleeding.


I have been on lovenox once a day, (Still bled) progesterone twice a day (Still bled)

Then against my doctors annoying wishes. Modified bed rest, and pelvic rest and.... the bleeding has stopped. I cannot express how much relief this gives me. I have an ultrasound on Monday and an appointment. For the first time this pregnancy I am very much enjoying it and cannot wait to see that little baby on the screen. I love it so much already.

On a side note. It has been years since I sewed anything. But ( was thinking about making little baby outfits for babies as small as mine were. Ones that I can send to the hospital maybe that tie in the back to accommodate size differences. I just look back at my pictures and wish the clothes had been more of an outfit and less of a sock you put them in. I mean they might never use them, but if it made one woman's experience a shred better, it would be worth it to me. I am going to look into it.