Hi Moms! I am a 29 year old mother of 1 already, expecting my second on or around October 3, 2010. This makes me 29 weeks pregnant. For the last few weeks I have been notice alot of period like cramping in my lower abdominal area. Yesterday it was accompanied with lower back pain. When I started to have this pain I asked my doctor about it and he said it could be due to scar tissue since I had a c-section with my first and wasn't concerned. Yesterday the pain started to really get worse and I felt that while it was tolerable it wasn't the kind of pain I felt anyone should feel and I felt alarmed. I called my doctor and he said to go on bed rest just for the day and if it got worse to call and go to labor and delivery. It didn't really get worse (and I did rest as much as possible) but it didn't get better. It didn't keep me up at night and I didn't have the pain when I woke up this morning but around lunch time the pain came on again. The pain seems to be there when I am walking and when I am just sitting (although it actually seems to be more when I am sitting down or laying down). This time I didn't have any back pain. The baby has been head down for about a month now and I just had an appt a few days ago and he said her head was even farther down and she could very well be making her way down..(I assumed he meant the birth canal). It seems like I have had alot of fluid/discharge more over the last few days as well (my underwear will have a big wet spot on it almost like I went pee in them but I didn't). My question is this....has anyone ever experienced this type of pain? Should I call the doctor and be seen tomorrow or just keep watch?
Thanks for all the responses! I went in to see my doctor today. I am not dilated however he is concerned since the baby is so far down already at 29 weeks so he performed a test that would tell me in 24 hours if was going to go into labor within the next two weeks. I will know the results tomorrow. According to what I found on the Mayo clinic website about symptoms of pre-term labor I have every one of them. I also have an ultrasound scheduled tomorrow to measure my amniotic fluid.
If the discharge is sweet smelling I would worry about it being leaking amniotic fluid. There is a test labor and delivery at the hospital can do to tell you if it is that fluid or not. I had cramps throughout my pregnancy (but I also had my period for the first three months of my pregnancy).
With my 4th pregnancy (and last) around 11 weeks I had lots of cramping to the point I could not stand but I don't recall any discharge. My OB had me go to the ER she was concerned it might be a tubal pregnancy. It ended up being fibroids causing all the cramping. Due to how many & the sizes I had to be monitored and have more ultrasounds than typical. In the long run the baby (now 3) was fine in there with the fibroids. This past November I had to have the fiborids removed as they grew much larger.
If the cramps come regularly (like every 5 minutes) even if they don't feel like labor, you might want to go in and get checked out, since you're only 29 weeks. Also, I would definitely try and see your doc in the office, rather than going into the hospital. Make sure you're drinking plenty of fluids, and consider taking a bath to relax.
I had that a lot with one of my pregnancies. Especially when I was walking around a lot. My doctor suggested it might be dehydration, which led to braxton hicks contractions. So I would make sure you drink plenty of fluids and rest whenever you feel it coming on. Also, walking more slowly helped sometimes.
For me it was uncomfortable enough to make me want to lie down. If it hurts more than that or happens even when you rest, I would call your doctor again.
Best of luck!
C.
