Pregnant and doc wants me to get progesterone injections....

[paysensmom]

This is my third pregnancy. My second child I had at 31 weeks. It is a VERY long story, but to keep it short I was put into labor my a nurse. Like I said, LONG story, so I won't get into that.

Anyway, my current OB wants me to start progesterone injections every week starting at week 18. I am currently in week 12. So, I have a little time. I don't feel like I need it because of the way I went into labor. I was dialated to 10 and my daughter was still transverse (horizontal) way up in my belly.

If you have had experience with this, please tell me your opinion. pros and cons please. I may end up making my doctor mad when I tell her I refuse the shots. I have heard they are painful and can cause weight gain. NOT reasons for me to refuse the injections BTW. I would like to know your experiences.
Thanks a bunch.

 

[tar heel]

I took them for a few weeks when I was pregnant with my middle child. I had had a miscarriage a few weeks before getting pregnant with him and was having repeated "threatened miscarriages." The ultrasounds showed that he was growing, but I still had these bleeding episodes (possibly because he probably originally had a twin as evidenced by the collapsed sac seen on the ultrasound). I don't remember the shots being a big deal except they were weekly and in my hip.

 

[maciec]

Sounds like you need to have more of a conversation with your Dr. If he/she still wants you to take Progesterone and you dont want t0 do the shots try the inserts. I did and didn't gain any extra weight. I asked my fertility Dr what the difference was between the shots and the inserts and he said nothing. I had to take them up until about week 12 because I was going through IVF. Good Luck!

 

[superdiz]

I need more info - I know you don't want to get into details - but are you positive it was the nurse that put you into labor? And does your doctor know the situation that caused your premature labor? I would be hesitant to go against doctors orders, especially if labs at that point previous pregnancy indicated you were deficient of progesterone and that could have brought on the premature labor. Better safe than sorry. But at the same time, if there is no other indicator and your doc is not aware, a frank discussion with him could dispel some of the ideas you have about the reasons why you went into premature labor - or shed some light to him in respect - and then you can make a decision from there, fully informed. Good luck.

Progesterone injections are just intramuscular which means they go in large muscles like those on your hips. They're not really a big deal - think flu shot.

 

[LovableGluttons]

after delivering a baby at 31 weeks and dilating to 10cm without head pressure, I would be thrilled I was fortunate that I might be able to avoid that with an injection instead of a cerclage.

Maybe you need to have another conversation with your physician.


I worked L & D for a couple of years and gave Pitocin to induce labor plenty, but I don't invests why labor would be induced on a transverse presentation at 31 weeks.

Sometimes Progesterone is offered for threatened miscarriage especially of the patient has a history of preterm bleeding bleeding or dilation.



eta: In my first paragraph, I'm referring to the OP's pregnancy experience, not my own!

 

[Chime]

My first child was born at 24 weeks. The reason I went into labor is unknown, but they couldn't stop it.

Now that I'm pregnant again I've started progesterone and am getting it between the 16th and 36th week of pregnancy. I'm getting suppositories instead of shots, my doc says there's no difference between the two. So maybe you can ask about getting those instead.

I agree that if you're concerned that your need for progesterone isn't legitimate talk to your doctor about it before refusing it.

 

[Green Tea]

I was in PT labor from early in the pregnancy. I had a lot of meds to slow the contractions, but never was given progesterone.

Good luck with your baby! I'm sure you and the doctor can come up with a plan that works for your situation.

 

[DisneyScraps]

I took them for 3 months. I had a skin allergy to it so it ws really difficult. I would scratch the skin off the area it got so bad it made it difficult to sit. I was so glad when they were over but there was no way I was taking any kind of chance with the pregnancy. I would have taken it every day if that was what it took.

Good luck!

Lisa

 

[paysensmom]

I found a spot when I wiped. A tiny spot, not bigger than a spot you might find if you crack an egg open. I was not actually worried, but they tell you to always get checked out if there is ANY spotting. My doc was closed for the day, so I had to go to the ER. I dropped my husband off at his softball game and took my 2 year old son with me to the ER. I told my husband that they will probably tell me not to pick my son up any more.
The first thing the nurse had me do was to pee in a cup. The nurse then told me to put the gown on and she wanted to check me. So, I did and this is where my night of hell started.....
This nurse did not just check me like the doctor always does. She got up on the end of the bed with both of her knees. She had her face pressed against the inside of my thigh and I believe she had her ARM up there. It hurt wo bad I was in tears and begging her to stop. I had my right foot on her shoulder and I was trying to push her away from me. She kept telling me she was almost finished and she just needed to feel the baby. She finally told me that she felt my baby's head and that she was going to have a lot of hair. No, I am NOT joking.
I have never felt pain like that ever. Not five minutes later, I started having contractions. More to come in a little bit....So, what do you think happened?

 

[golfgal]

I found a spot when I wiped. A tiny spot, not bigger than a spot you might find if you crack an egg open. I was not actually worried, but they tell you to always get checked out if there is ANY spotting. My doc was closed for the day, so I had to go to the ER. I dropped my husband off at his softball game and took my 2 year old son with me to the ER. I told my husband that they will probably tell me not to pick my son up any more.
The first thing the nurse had me do was to pee in a cup. The nurse then told me to put the gown on and she wanted to check me. So, I did and this is where my night of hell started.....
This nurse did not just check me like the doctor always does. She got up on the end of the bed with both of her knees. She had her face pressed against the inside of my thigh and I believe she had her ARM up there. It hurt wo bad I was in tears and begging her to stop. I had my right foot on her shoulder and I was trying to push her away from me. She kept telling me she was almost finished and she just needed to feel the baby. She finally told me that she felt my baby's head and that she was going to have a lot of hair. No, I am NOT joking.
I have never felt pain like that ever. Not five minutes later, I started having contractions. More to come in a little bit....So, what do you think happened?

A nurse can't feel hair on a head without you being dialated-it sounds like you were in labor before you went in there. It happens. I had a friend that was close to being due and had a back ache. She called the hospital and they said come in for a check. She didn't even bring her bag because she didn't think it was anything. She was dialated to a 9 and pushed twice and delivered an 8 lb baby girl about 15 minutes after walking into the ER.

 

[Green Tea]

I think you were already in labor when the nurse checked you. You can have cervical change with painless contractions. From about 13 weeks on I had 10-13 contractions an hour. Most I didn't feel.

 

[paysensmom]

I think you may have misunderstood a little. I was NOT dialated AT all. This nurse actually stripped the membranes and put ME in labor!

 

[Christine]

I think you may have misunderstood a little. I was NOT dialated AT all. This nurse actually stripped the membranes and put ME in labor!

Even if she had done that, I don't think she could have felt the baby's hair if you weren't fairly dilated. Even if she stripped your membranes, you would not have dilated that much for her to get that kind of detail in 10 minutes.

 

[paysensmom]

There is ZERO reason why this nurse should have even attempted to feel my baby in the first place. Plus, really, she put her hand into my uterus to feel the hair, that by the way, my daughter did not have.

I called my husband to tell him that they were now going to observe me over night because I was having some contractions. It took my husband 30 minutes to get to the hospital. He came in and calle his mom to come and get our son for the night. He was going to stay the night with me. So, right as he was about to go home and pack a different nurse came in. She said she wanted to check me and I told her NO! I thought, the people at this hospital are crazy. She explained that she had to check me to see what is going on. She checked me and it was just like EVERY other time my doctor has ever checked me. It did not hurt at all.
She looked at my husband and says, "you aren't going anywhere, your wife is dialated to 5, she is going to have this baby now" Of course I start bawling and telling them they need to stop the labor and it is too early etc...
Finally doc shows up and checks me in the labor and delivery room and decides they need to to a sonogram because I was now dialated to 10 and no urge to push at all.
The sonogram showed that she was way up high where a 31 weeker should be. So, he decided to do an emergency c-section because he was afraid if my water broke and the umbilical cord washed down, the baby could be hurt or worse.

 

[Michelina]

I was given progesterone shots during my last pregnancy from week 18 on. My son was born at 33 weeks so they hoped that the progesterone would prevent another early delivery. From my understanding the progesterone injections are different than progesterone given earlier in a pregnancy, the injectable was called 17P I think.

I was on bedrest due to a shortened cervix so my husband gave me my shots twice a week. The progesterone comes in a oil solution and it's thick The nurse told him to take a minute and a half to inject it so that it wouldn't come back out. We would time it. If it got on my skin it would make a really itchy rash. Also he would roll the syringe between his hands for a little bit to try to warm up the solution. The colder it is the thicker it feels. Also he would rub the injection site for a few minutes after it was all in to help disperse it (and it was all the action that he got during those weeks, lol).

That being said, I would do it all it over again. Unfortunately, I went into labor at 22 weeks and we lost our baby girl.

Good luck for a long, healty pregnancy!! Please let me know if you have any questions that I could help with!

 

[paysensmom]

Even if she had done that, I don't think she could have felt the baby's hair if you weren't fairly dilated. Even if she stripped your membranes, you would not have dilated that much for her to get that kind of detail in 10 minutes.

My point is this lady could NOT have felt my baby's hair at all. She had no business trying to stick her arm up there. NONE.

 

[Christine]

My point is this lady could NOT have felt my baby's hair at all. She had no business trying to stick her arm up there. NONE.

Okay, but that does not mean that she caused your labor. That's the important fact to keep in mind. *Maybe* she did, but since you had some blood or spotting, this tells me that your womb/uterus was no longer sealed. As I'm sure you know, after a certain number of weeks, the mucous plug is set and it is a closed system. That you were even having light spotting is indicative of some form of dilation. Because of that, I think it might be prudent to do the progesterone. Just my opinion. And not to get too detailed here, but even at that stage of pregnancy, your body can take certain "disruptions" in that area that would be similar to what the nurse was doing. Regular physical relations are going to cause this type of contact with your cervix.

 

[golfgal]

I think you may have misunderstood a little. I was NOT dialated AT all. This nurse actually stripped the membranes and put ME in labor!

So you went from zero to 10 in what, 30 seconds, impossible.

Yes she did have a reason to check you, you came in because you were spotting and the first thing they do is check you to see if you were dialted. If you were not dialated she could NOT have gotten her hand into your cervix and up into your uterus as you claim. I think it would help you if you looked up female anatomy on a website to see that what you are claiming happened couldn't possibly have happened.

 

[paysensmom]

Okay, but that does not mean that she caused your labor. That's the important fact to keep in mind. *Maybe* she did, but since you had some blood or spotting, this tells me that your womb/uterus was no longer sealed. As I'm sure you know, after a certain number of weeks, the mucous plug is set and it is a closed system. That you were even having light spotting is indicative of some form of dilation. Because of that, I think it might be prudent to do the progesterone. Just my opinion. And not to get too detailed here, but even at that stage of pregnancy, your body can take certain "disruptions" in that area that would be similar to what the nurse was doing. Regular physical relations are going to cause this type of contact with your cervix.

Please don't take what I write when I am talking about that nurse as being aimed toward you in any way. I am not upset with things you are saying. I just get extremely upset when I think about her. I fully believe that if I did not go to the hospital on that day that I would not have had my daughter on that day.

 

[crz4mm2]

I think you may have misunderstood a little. I was NOT dialated AT all. This nurse actually stripped the membranes and put ME in labor!

Can't strip membranes if a cervix is CLOSED.... doesn't work that way.