Possible Polyhydramnios? (long)

So some of you may remember, this is my second and last baby. With my son, I had premature contractions starting at 33 weeks and had to take oral Terbutaline pretty much daily from 33 weeks to 36 weeks. I was told after that he would come "anytime", then he ended up being 2 days late. This pregnancy, I was taken off work at 27 weeks for irritable uterus/preterm contractions which were sporadic at the time and only felt like period cramps. This week (33 weeks), I was going to venture out of the house to finally try to go Christmas shopping, but by the time we got to the first store I was having contractions every 6-8 minutes which were pretty intense, but only painful in my back. I called the doctor and he asked me to come in. They did a fetal fibronectin test and put me on the monitor. By the time I got the ffn test back (which was negative), I was contracting every two minutes and they were wrapping around to my lower stomach from my back. He gave me a shot of terbutaline and told me it was no longer standard in their practice to do terbutaline orally at home (FDA says it was causing too many heart attacks?). After about 15 minutes, the contractions slowed down, but an hour later were right back where they had been and just as strong. He basically told me at that point that I wasn't dilating and the ffn was negative so he felt like he could discharge me (since I am almost 34 weeks and won't stop my labor at that point anyway), but was conflicted in feeling like he should admit me because I was contracting like I wanted to go into labor. We agreed I would just go home and come back if I felt like it was active labor or I had bloody show or water broke. Well...fast forward 4 days later and I am still contracting between 2-6 minutes and they are intense, but really only painful in my back. If I do anything except sit or lay down, they increase in intensity and frequency for a couple of hours. He is not going to give me meds to stop the contractions, but obviously not going to augment me either to deliver. He said the only thing he and the other doctors can come up with as to why I am doing this is they suspect I have too much amniotic fluid. So I go Tuesday for an ultrasound to measure her and the fluid amounts. Anyone have experience with any of this? Basically he told me he expects she will be close to term and that I will contract until then...

I have no experience or knowledge about that, just wanted to say I'm sorry, That really must suck and I hope the contractions stop. That would be a very long time to have continuous contractions.

I'm sorry you're having complications again.  If the scan Tuesday does show too much fluid, is there anything they can do about it?  Can they reduce the fluids and would that stop the contractions or would the fluid just come back? 

I hope you get some answers - and relief - but more than anything, I hope your little one arrives healthy and strong.

Best wishes.

Thanks ladies. Holly, I am not sure what the next course of action would be. I know they can do an amniocentesis to remove some of the fluid, but I think it would probably only be a temporary fix. I will be sure to post a follow up. Right now, I am actually only having one or two uncomfortable contractions in an hour which is MUCH better than it has been in days. *fingers crossed*! I want to do whatever I have to do for her to be healthy of course.

I had that with Blake, my 11mo old. I had too much fluid and he weighed a whopping 9lb 9oz at birth, so my skin, muscles and uterus were absolutely miserable by the time I delivered. I feel for you!!! 

I was told to take it easy and was put on a modified bedrest of sorts. There's really nothing they can do other than monitor you closely. I went twice a week for nonstress tests and sonos to make sure that Blake wasn't in any type of distress. They monitored his heart rate and movements pretty closely in the end. During delivery my doctor broke my water. She was worried that with all the extra fluid that a gush could prolapse the umbilical cord so she broke my water and managed the flow of the fluid so that it maintained a trickle instead of a gush. She was also concerned that if my water broke on its own that it would happen so when I went into labor I was sent to L&D immediately. She didn't want to take any chances. 

Polyhyromnios happens in about 1% of all pregnancies and there is usually no cause for it. Basically the baby doesn't swallow enough fluids to decrease the volume of the amniotic fluid that the mother is producing. Over time there can be a build up. If there gets to be too much it can cause pressure on the baby, as well as mommy's uterus and such. Your uterus is irritable because its stretched to capacity. 

Have they done a sonogram to look at the baby? Sometimes there is an etiology of why the baby isn't swallowing. If they haven't looked, they need to. There are signs in the baby's stomach that they look for to see if they are indeed swallowing. If there's no swallow then the fluid is going to continue to increase. In my case, Blake was swallowing, he had no reason for not being able to swallow (ie his oral structures were fine) and he and I were in no distress, so the doctor let my pregnancy continue. At any time if his heart rate would have dropped or he started to get less active then the doctor would have gotten him sooner. 

All in all they had no idea why it happened, just another medical mystery. It's just a fluke thing that happens sometimes. Other than being miserable and contracting for over a month there was really nothing to be alarmed about. I had two sonos a week so it was cool to see him every couple of days. He's a happy, healthy little boy.

Good luck!!

Thank you Tracey. I have a scan tomorrow to attempt to confirm their suspicions. When they did her anatomy scan at 22 weeks, her kidneys appeared normal and we saw a nice full belly and watched her swallow. I read that a risk factor was gestational diabetes. I was given this as a diagnosis after a 1 hr test, but my blood sugars have been 80-100 so I can't imagine that has anything to do with it. I guess we will know tomorrow. If it isn't this, I don't know what it is! How did you finally distinguish you were in active labor? I spent a few hours in active labor at home before I decided it was real when I had my son. With all of these BH being so regular and increasing in intensity at times, there has been twice already that I thought I was headed into active labor just for them to slow down after a while. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!

Like with Blake, they don't know why it happens...it just does to 1%. Lucky us! Don't get me wrong- no etiology is a good etiology!!!

If I laid down and drank water and the contractions didn't let back up then it was "labor labor". Usually I could get them to subside by laying on my side and drinking some water. Usually, but not always. The last few weeks I was in the dr's office more times than naught for them to put me on the contraction monitor thingy. The last time it just kept going and going and the contractions were getting more intense and closer together. With the thought that she didn't want my water breaking on its own she really didn't want to chance sending me home. I was already dilated to a 2, the contractions were regular, I was miserable, Blake was huge, and then water thing got me a pass to the hospital. After she broke my water I didn't progress like I needed to so I ended up with a c-section. You would think that a uterus that's been doing exercises for over a month would have the stamina to get that bundle out of there- but no. lol 

Hopefully tomorrow your levels will have gone back down. With Blake, mine kept fluctuating. Some days it was a 27, others a 29, one time a 25. Maybe you'll be down past 25 and everything will have cleared itself up! Good luck!

What'd the dr decide?

Thanks for checking in on me Tracey! My appointment went really well. My levels are slighly elevated at 21, but not anything my doctor is worried about. Lily appears to be in the 70th percentile at 5lb 9oz. She has huge feet which measured 3 inches long and she has a head full of hair! So, no explanation for all of the contractions, but it was really rejuvenating to see her sweet little face on the ultrasound and got me back into a better mindset with all of the discomfort I have been having. Also, although I would prefer not to be induced, he did say that if I keep measuring ahead, he will probably not let me go to my due date (if I even get that far). That was kind of comforting to hear that this discomfort isn't going to go on indefinitely (even though I know no one stays pregnant forever!). Thanks again :)

Glad to hear!!! 21 is a tad bit high but its still within normal. Take it easy and lay down and drink tons of water when you can. It will help. You're in the homestretch girl!!! You can make it!