i am 31 weeks pregnant and 2cm dialated and 50% effaced and i have lost my mucus plug am i going into labor . im having contractions but they dont hurt they just feel like my stomich is tightning up. how long do u think it will be please help me im a little scared thanx for ur help.
Drink a big drink of water (32 ounces) and lay down for a bit, that should stop the contractions, which are probably just braxton-hicks. How often are you having these tightenings? If they don't stop within an hour, and you have more regular contractions, call your provider or report to the hospital ER. Your mucus plug came out because you are beginning to dilate. You could be in labour soon or 2 months from now. Have you had sex tonight? Sex can cause contractions. Why are you being checked for dilation so soon? Have you been having a lot of contractions?
im a high risk pregnancy for pre term labor. my daughter was born a month early. im really scared that im going to have the baby too early. since im only 31 weeks if i do end up having him now will he live?
Princess sweetie, first of all, take a deep breath. Have you called your OB or midwife? Secondly, if your baby is born now, he will have a very high chance of survival. A friend of mine had her baby at 24 weeks gestation, and that little guy was a fighter! He was in the NICU for quite some time, but he survived, and amazed the staff at his progress. Drink the water, like Brighid said. Sometimes contractions can come on due to dehydration. And lay down, put your feet up. But call your doctor or midwife regardless and let them know what's going on. Many hugs, and keep us updated!
yes, babies born after 28 weeks have a very good survival rate. He will most likely be in NICU for a while, though. You need to do whatever your doctor has told you, no sex, stay in bed (but keep changing position and move around a little bit), drink lots and lots of water, eat lots of protein, and reduce any stress in your life. I started losing bits and pieces of my mucous with DD1 two months before her official due date. As long as there's no blood in it, your cervix isn't dilating much. I started having lots of contractions about that time, too. Not just "braxton hicks" - those were different. My doctor said the only difference between false labor and real labor is that at the end of real labor you have a baby. Baby made it to 37 weeks, counting EDD by my last menstrual period, but I have really long cycles and most likely conceived her a week and a half late. Her lowest weight was just over 4lbs, if she had been any smaller, they would have kept her there per hospital policy. She was able to breathe and did not spend time in NICU immediately, rather was re-hospitalized for jaundice and dehydration because she was unable to nurse (I did get her breastfeeding through some really fierce determination and hard work, but not until she was three months old). If I had it to do over again, I would refuse internal exams, all of them, totally. Nothing in my birth canal except baby's head!! If doc really wants to know how dilated I am, he can do an ultrasound (which tells better anyway, because there are two parts to the cervix, inner and outer, that you can't always tell with a gloved finger). I would not pay any attention to u/s weight estimates (three different doctors estimated her weight at around 8.5 pounds the day before she was born weighing three pounds less than that). I would refuse to be stuck flat on my back, strapped to monitors for any reason for any period of time longer than 20 minutes. I would refuse internal monitors for any reason. And I would refuse to let them bully me into interventions I had already decided I did not want for very valid reasons. But now I'm getting on my soapbox... and you can just ignore this paragraph if you want Anyway, it's five years later, and she's the most amazing little person I've ever met in my life. She was born too early, but other than that initial re-hospitalization has never been sick enough to see a doctor. She is reading already, and has a vocabulary larger than some high school students. Your baby might be born early, and it will be so very scary and nightmarish ordeal for you, but your baby will be okay eventually. You will be taking him home, teaching him how to breastfeed and teaching yourself as well, and the time will fly. It won't seem like it at first, those first few months of my first child's life seemed to drag on forever. But next Spring, you will be getting ready for his first birthday party!! It will be okay in the end. Try not to stress yourself. Don't let your doctor's fears make you afraid, doctors are trained to look for all the possible problems. Listen to what your heart is telling you at all times. Be prepared for whatever might happen, so it doesn't freak you out too much. But you will get through it!! ((((hugs))))
I have been exactly where you are. With all my pregnancies. You need to call your health care provider. The survival rate at 31 weeks is very good. But the baby will be in the NICU until at least her due date, if not longer. It is better to keep her in your womb, if you can. I did COMPLETE bedrest, that means ONLY getting up to go to the potty. I laid on my left side for months. I dranks tons of water. I took the drugs they gave me. I spent a few weeks in the hospital. I didn't have sex at all. I talked to my babies and told them to please wait, I knew they were anxious to be born, but they needed more time in my body. I talked to my cervix and told it to stay CLOSED hard and tight. I put pillows under my hips to raise my uterus above my head. I prayed. I did NOTHING but keep my babies in my body. No one (including my doctors) thought I would carry any of my babies to term. I carried them (respectively) 38 weeks, 39 weeks, 38 weeks and 36.6 to 37 weeks. I am grateful that I put everything aside and just did the bed rest. I didn't clean, I didn't do laundry, I didn't cook, I just gestated. They were not the pregnancies I wanted. But, I work in Health Care and have seen babies in the NICU. I did NOT want my babies there. So, I talked to my body and my babies and my womb and kept those babies in there until they were really ready to be born. I started contracting at about 12 to 15 weeks with every baby. I officially went into labor as early as 27 weeks. It was HARD. (as after the first pregnancy, I had other kids. That, I beleive, is the reason the VCR was invented.) I could read to my kids and play gentle games with them, while I laiid on my side. I slept when I could. I carried those babies when no one thought I was able to. Sometimes the contractions just are too much and the baby is born. But DO the bedrest, totally. It made all the difference in the world for me. Most of my clients who deliver too early (no t all, but many) didn't take their bedrest seriously. Some thoought it was a vacation, and did field trips, shopping trips and gave in to "nesting" and cleaned their houses. Most of them gave birth early. As long as your bag remains intact and you are less than 4 cm, you can remain pregnant. Good luck. There is a suppor group called SideLines. Which give phone support to moms on bedrest. I'll try to find the number or site for you. I am hoping you have a lap top and are posting from bed. I had to give up the internet for weeks, because we didn't have a lap top during my last pregnancy (1999) and I wasn't going to take teh chance on even sitting upright for more than a few minutes at a time. Blessings to you and your baby.
Maggie, if you were a midwife and you were close to me, I'd definitely come to you to birth my baby. You're just so knowledged about this stuff.
I am totally with you! If I lived close to Brighid or Maggie, I think I'd be in heaven! These two ladies have quelled most all of my fears and misguided notions with love and patience and tons of knowledge. *hugs to both* Most of my childbirth and breastfeeding ideas and goals come from things they've said.
you need to get to a doctor or a hospital ASAP... have a friend with you to help you out in the meantime
My dear sis-in-law works in a NICU and they regularly see babies of 24 weeks pull through. One baby in the nursey was born at 24 weeks and weighed less than a can of soda!
Thanks, ladies. Moonflower, I haven't forgotten about you, I'll do what I told you I would. Just know I haven't forgotten.
That was remarkable, Maggie! Bedrest is no easy task--it is tedious, worrisome, and tiring. It is so worth it, though!!!
