Did 17P work for you?

[JasmineMama]

I didn't have pPROM, went into labor spontaneously at 36 weeks with my first. I got the shots with my second and hated every single shot....but I did carry him until almost 39 weeks, so I guess I would do it again.

[colin-mylilguy]

The thing is, the uterus stretches with each pregnancy, so it may be less "irritable" after carrying a child, so the second pregnancy can go a little further (stretching the uterus a bit more).

I have bicornuate bicolis (uterine anomaly) and this applies, at least, in my situation. Other causes of pre-term labor/birth may or may not have better outcomes with 17p.

In my experience, I was diagnosed with a uterine anomaly known to cause pre-term labor before I even got pregnant so we (me, DH, midwife, back-up OB, Perinatologist and MFM doctors) all knew pre-term labor was a real possibility due to uterine irritability (due to the small size of my uterus and it not being able to physically stretch to accommodate a full-term birth - or so they predicted). Since I had never been pregnant before, and wanted as few interventions as possible, we decided to see how things went before doing anything. I began having contractions around 12 weeks. They got stronger and more intense until I was 23 weeks. One morning I was awakened from my sleep from the pain of the contractions. I tried a bath, nothing helped. My friend took me to the hospital and I was admitted and given many medications to stop labor (and steroids to prepare LO's lungs in-case he came). I had been telling my providers about the contractions but they dismissed them as BH. They weren't.

I started 17p at 23 weeks and received it until 3 days before LO was born at 36 weeks. I was also taking turbutaline every 4 hours around the clock. My bag of water spontaneously ruptured and I delivered him vaginally 4 hours later. My cervix had already been dilated to a 3 by 27 weeks and was 90% effaced. LO's head was literally up against my cervix putting constant pressure on it from ~23 weeks on. I think we (me, DH, providers) wanted to "do something" to actively prevent a pre-term birth but looking back, I'm not convinced that anything we did was necessary or even helpful.

Do I think 17p helped me get to 36 weeks? No. I really don't. I can't know for sure but I noticed no difference in my contractions (frequency or strength) while taking the turbutaline or 17p. After talking to my Perinatologist (who felt that both medications were unnecessary and unproven to be beneficial with limited info on long-term risks), I have decided (with his blessing and DH's support) not to do either of these medications with future pregnancies.

If I had another condition, with different reasons for taking these medications, I might choose differently, but for my situation, I do not feel that 17p or turbutaline (or nifedipine, which I took for a few week in place of turbutaline) are beneficial.

For the record, I'm an RN (NICU, NBN, M/B, M/S). I believe these drugs (like all others) need to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

[Almacham]

I agree with the poster above me. It should be considered on a case by case basis because it does not work for everyone. I'm one for whom it did nothing. I began taking the shots at 18 weeks and after laying in a hospital bed for 47 hours, trying to stop labor, I had her at the tail end of the 33rd week anyway. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't!