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

[paysensmom]

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.

First, I don't appreciate your rude comments and twisting of my words.

UM, I don't see how you think I dialated to 10 in 30 seconds. WHERE did I write that?

I did not say she didn't have a reason to check me. She had ZERO reason to try to feel the baby at all at 31 weeks. She checked me for a good FIVE minutes. It's not like she checked real quick like and her hand just happened to slide up there. She was PUSHING and hard and for what reason? The hand in my uterus was sarcasm dear. My point is that this nurse was an idiot.

 

[2girls4me]

I had my first DD at 32 weeks due to abrution placenta. When I got PG again, at my 12 week sono the dr mentioned the shots to me.

At my follow up with my OB, he asked if I wantd the shots. He said that they could do nothing and I would have the same issue, OR they could help prevent that.

But he made me no guarantees. I chose to get the shots. I went every week from about week 20 until week 35. I was supposed to get it at my 36 week appt., but my OB said I was in the clear if I went into labor so I didn't need it.

Yes they are painful and a bit time consumming. But thanks to them, I had my second DD at 38 weeks, instead of 32 or 33.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Christine]

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.

Don't worry I'm not taking it personally and I can tell this upsets you.

Now, let me say a few things. First, what golfgal just posted above is correct. You could not have gone from 0-10 cm in the course of her exam.

Second, I know what it's like to be in a medical "scare" and freaking out. I'm sure that you were based on your spotting and being treated by strangers. When you get into these situations, it is always easy to misunderstand what is going on and/or to think back and try to revise what happened. Based on the things you have stated, it is very, very unlikely that this nurse caused you to go into labor. Very unlikely. Nothing is impossible, but I am betting you were dilated when you went in (hence the spotting). The reason she probably had her arm up there is because once she "easily" felt you were dilated, she was trying to then get a fix on how high up the baby was and what its position was which, for someone at your weeks along, would have been a reach.

I only try to say these things because I don't think you should endanger this pregnancy based on your perceptions of what happened that day. It is obvious that you believe she caused labor but, objectively, it would have been very hard for her to do that. I think if you sit with your doctor and explain to him everything that happened to you that day and why you feel that you had an erroneous early labor, you may get some better perspective on it. If the doctor still thinks you need the progesterone after that, then I would say that medically, he also believes that the nurse did not cause it.

 

[golfgal]

First, I don't appreciate your rude comments and twisting of my words.

UM, I don't see how you think I dialated to 10 in 30 seconds. WHERE did I write that?

I did not say she didn't have a reason to check me. She had ZERO reason to try to feel the baby at all at 31 weeks. She checked me for a good FIVE minutes. It's not like she checked real quick like and her hand just happened to slide up there. She was PUSHING and hard and for what reason? The hand in my uterus was sarcasm dear. My point is that this nurse was an idiot.

AGAIN, she could NOT have felt the baby unless you had already dialated, period. She did NOT cause this. How did I think you went from zero to 10 in 30 seconds, from your posts. You claim you were not dialted until she started checking you then. If that were the case and she then felt the babies head, you HAD to have gone from zero to 10 in no time. She was "pushing hard" because she was probably surprised that you were dialated so far without knowing it and was trying to see where the baby was positioned to know if it was breach, etc. because delivery was imminent.

 

[paysensmom]

I did not say that I dialated to 10 during her exam. If you go back and read about 45 minutes to an hour after the nurse checked me, a second nurse checked me and I was at a 5. I said I called my husband and it took about 30 minutes for him to get there, so the second nurse checked me around 45 min. to an hour after the first crazy nurse.

 

[Christine]

I did not say that I dialated to 10 during her exam. If you go back and read about 45 minutes to an hour after the nurse checked me, a second nurse checked me and I was at a 5. I said I called my husband and it took about 30 minutes for him to get there, so the second nurse checked me around 45 min. to an hour after the first crazy nurse.

Just for reference, I walked into the hospital for an inducation at 41 weeks. I was 4 centimeters dialated and had not clue. And yes, at that point they had their arms up there trying to get the position of the baby--it was not like a normal visit at my doctor.

I know you didn't specifically say you were at 10 cm. 10 cms is obviously what one needs to be at before you can deliver, but even if you were at 3 or 5 cm when that nurse examined you, she would have been able to feel the babies head. I'm not trying to be all up on the nurse's side, just playing devil's advocate here. As everyone has said, it is very unlikely for the nurse to be able to pull out your mucous plug and cause dilation of ANY sort on a body that's not already well on it's way to doing that.

 

[paysensmom]

Just for reference, I walked into the hospital for an inducation at 41 weeks. I was 4 centimeters dialated and had not clue. And yes, at that point they had their arms up there trying to get the position of the baby--it was not like a normal visit at my doctor.

I know you didn't specifically say you were at 10 cm. 10 cms is obviously what one needs to be at before you can deliver, but even if you were at 3 or 5 cm when that nurse examined you, she would have been able to feel the babies head. I'm not trying to be all up on the nurse's side, just playing devil's advocate here. As everyone has said, it is very unlikely for the nurse to be able to pull out your mucous plug and cause dilation of ANY sort on a body that's not already well on it's way to doing that.

And of course, this is what I asked for. Devils advocate! I was not dialated to 5 until almost an hour after the initial check. AFTER an hour of contractions that started right after the first nurse thought I was livestock.

 

[aaarcher86]

I don't think there are any negatives to the shots are there? Other than of course, being a bit painful.

If there aren't any negatives that the shots can have on the baby I would say to get them. I'm sure your doctor is going off of your medical records which indicate you had an early delivery. No matter how you feel about the previous labor and how it came about, the doctor will go with what the medical records state.

You of course can refuse, but IF you are wrong about the nurse beginning your labor you would want those shots. I wouldn't chance it personally.

Congrats on this pregnancy!

 

[paysensmom]

The thread has completely gotten off track from the reason I posted. Which is why I should have went with my initial instinct and kept the labor out of it.
I am a very anti-medication person when I am pregnant. After my c-section with my daughter I did not take the pain medication because I was pumping for her. My hesitation with the progesterone injections is that it might cause some sort of side effect to my baby. I could care less about how painful it might be or maybe a little weight gain, or not. But I won't even take a tylenol when I get a headache if I am pregnant.
I know it is a hormone naturally produced during pregnancy, but how do they know if my body isn't already producing enough? I don't want extra, you know? My main concern is for my baby. Of course I feel a certain way about my last pregnancy and don't feel I need the injections. BUT, what if I am wrong about it? I don't want to chance it either way. I hope that makes sense.

 

[aaarcher86]

The thread has completely gotten off track from the reason I posted. Which is why I should have went with my initial instinct and kept the labor out of it.
I am a very anti-medication person when I am pregnant. After my c-section with my daughter I did not take the pain medication because I was pumping for her. My hesitation with the progesterone injections is that it might cause some sort of side effect to my baby. I could care less about how painful it might be or maybe a little weight gain, or not. But I won't even take a tylenol when I get a headache if I am pregnant.
I know it is a hormone naturally produced during pregnancy, but how do they know if my body isn't already producing enough? I don't want extra, you know? My main concern is for my baby. Of course I feel a certain way about my last pregnancy and don't feel I need the injections. BUT, what if I am wrong about it? I don't want to chance it either way. I hope that makes sense.

I don't know if you saw my post just above yours.

I don't believe there would be side effects with the injections. That's definitely something you would want to talk to your doctor about. If there aren't any, I would get them. As strongly as you feel about the previous pregnancy/labor, there's always the chance you could be wrong since it wasn't exactly normal. I think you should definitely talk to your doctor before making a final decision.

 

[LovableGluttons]

Sorry OP, those pelvic exams are awful. They hurt the patient and I definitely remember my hand getting sore performing them.

If your amniotic sack is not ruptured, you can't feel how much hair a baby has. When it is ruptured, you can feel the hair between your fingers. When intact, we feel for presentation (knees, buttocks, head, arms). If the baby has not engaged into the pelvis, there is ballotment, the baby floats up higher into the amniotic sack. When a baby is ballotable, and the mother is dilating, the exam is very important. If dilation continues, delivery is inevitable and cannot be stopped in time, even using magnesium or terbutaline.

The presentation would require the c section, also, sometimes, the prematurity.

Also, the cervical os is sometimes underneath and behind the cervix, which makes the exam really difficult as our fingers only reach so far.

OP? Do you have any obstetrical knowledge outside of being a patient? I think researching how all of this works on your own might be the best way to explain why the events surrounding your pregnancy happened the way they did.

 

[Minnesota!]

I did progesterone with 2 of my pregnancies (out of 6). Those are only 2 living children I have.

Progesterone saved my boys. Plain and simple.

No side effects to the baby. They can tell if you are producing enough before you start taking it with a simple blood draw. Your number should be above 20. Anything below they medicate for.

I had a very awful experience with my youngest son's birth. It resulted in him being in the NICU for a few weeks, priests being called in to get him baptized ASAP, and a few calls (to me) from the doctors that he wasn't going to make it. Even through all that...even though it WAS medical error that caused it all...I am able to see that not everything that I recall is fact. But based on emotion.

Take the progesterone if your levels are even slightly disconcerting...no need to be a martyr.

 

[Ana~n~Joseph]

I was on progesterone suppositories for weeks 4-15 of my pregnancy because my levels were a bit low. I didn't think twice about using them - it actually made me feel a lot better. I had my son at 35 weeks (premature) although I too question the actions of my doctor (but tha'ts a different story for another day).

I am sure progesterone shots sound scary but I honestly believe in the "better be safe than sorry" - having spent two weeks in NICU with a premiee, I would take them in a heartbeat. Before I started taking my suppositories, I did some research on babycenter.com, they seem to have good stuff there and a lot of people who have used it in the past.

Best of luck with everything.

 

[DizBelle]

Is anybody else wondering why her DH went to a softball game instead of going to the ER with her?

For the OP, you're going to have to decide what is more important to you: not having shots or helping ensure a healthy pregnancy.

Have you told your doctor everything about the previous pregnancy and delivery? I would assume you have because you should tell your doctor everything. So, even given what happened before, your doctor wants you to take the progesterone. If you don't trust this doctor's judgement, it seems you should find another doctor. Why would you stick with one whose judgement you don't trust?

 

[Green Tea]

If your doctor believes the nurse set off the labor, then you don't have a history of premature labor, just of medical malpractice. If he thinks the baby was coming anyway at 31 weeks, then maybe the progesterone is warranted.

You need to talk to the physician, get the test that indicates if you have a deficency. If you trust your doctor with you baby's life, then trust him/her to know if progesterone is the right course of treatment.

As I mentioned, I was having contractions with cervical change from really early in the pregnancy. I had some killer exams and some some things that I didn't feel. None of them changed what was going on with me. I was going to contract whether they didn't do an internal, did a normal one or did something that felt like they were pulling the baby bump completely off my body. It didn't seem like the right thing to me to have so much going on in there, but I trusted that the doctor knew what he was doing. And also that the hospital he practiced in knew what they were doing in regards to his standing orders.

Trust your doctor after discussing all the benefits and risks. If after that you still don't trust him/her, then get a new doctor that you do.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

If the nurse caused your labor then you shouldn't need the shots. I doubt that the doctor would recommend the shots if he believed that to be true.

I had the shots with my twin pregnancy. I tried the suppositories after several weeks but began bleeding and we thought we lost the pregnancy. Thankfully we didn't but I had to go back on the shots for a total of 10 weeks, once a day, ie 70 shots. Yup it was a total PIA, literally. My DH had to give me the shots and I might just as well as have had a gorilla giving them to me. But ultimately I delievered two healthy babies so yes, it was worth it.

 

[LuvLDM]

Is anybody else wondering why her DH went to a softball game instead of going to the ER with her?

Yes

 

[KiKi Mouse]

I did not say that I dialated to 10 during her exam. If you go back and read about 45 minutes to an hour after the nurse checked me, a second nurse checked me and I was at a 5. I said I called my husband and it took about 30 minutes for him to get there, so the second nurse checked me around 45 min. to an hour after the first crazy nurse.

I agree with the PPs that say your cervix must have already been dilated. Because you were in preterm labour I would not hesitate to do the shots.

I have a history of miscarriages and did progesterone suppositories which were messy and inconvenient but worth every minute because it may have saved my baby's life.

 

[paysensmom]

I want to say thank you for the input on the subject. I will let the doctor test me to see if I have a progesterone deficiency. I will go from there if I actually need it or not. If I don't have a deficiancy, I don't see a point to getting the progestrone. Does that make sense or is there another reason to get the injections even if there is no deficiency?

 

[cm8]

Sorry OP, those pelvic exams are awful. They hurt the patient and I definitely remember my hand getting sore performing them.

If your amniotic sack is not ruptured, you can't feel how much hair a baby has. When it is ruptured, you can feel the hair between your fingers. When intact, we feel for presentation (knees, buttocks, head, arms). If the baby has not engaged into the pelvis, there is ballotment, the baby floats up higher into the amniotic sack. When a baby is ballotable, and the mother is dilating, the exam is very important. If dilation continues, delivery is inevitable and cannot be stopped in time, even using magnesium or terbutaline.

The presentation would require the c section, also, sometimes, the prematurity.

Also, the cervical os is sometimes underneath and behind the cervix, which makes the exam really difficult as our fingers only reach so far.

OP? Do you have any obstetrical knowledge outside of being a patient? I think researching how all of this works on your own might be the best way to explain why the events surrounding your pregnancy happened the way they did.