Breaking News! Indocin Works! (Update at Bottom)

So while I was in the hospital I was on Indocin for 24 hours. This isn't a drug that can be taken long-term in pregnancy because it reduces the amount of amniotic fluid, which is bad (and after 31 or 32 weeks causes bigger problems), but for short term use, it works quite well as a tocolytic, as I've discovered a couple of times now. So, while I was in the hospital, my contractions went down to only a few per hour, which is great.

I didn't bother to monitor the night I got home, because I figured I'd been monitored enough all day. And the next morning (Tuesday morning) I had zero contractions. This isn't shocking, considering that I still had some Indocin in my system. (Though, honestly, I can hardly remember another time that I had zero contractions in an hour.)

Tuesday night, however, I had fifteen contractions in an hour. The Indocin, clearly, was no longer in my system. (I had my uber-husband look up the half-life of Indocin, which turns out to be 4.5 hours, so that worked out about right) So I had to give myself a demand dose of terbutaline and remonitor (shock of shocks). And I had 10 contractions. So the nurse said "Well, should I have you remonitor again, or just call the doctor?" Uh, yeah, let's think about this. It was 10:30pm. If I remonitored, by the time I heard back from her it would be close to midnight, by which point if I still had that many contractions, they'd be calling and waking up a doctor. No thank you. So I told her to call the doctor. In an ideal world, frankly, I would have called the doctor, but for whatever reason the after-hours nurses prefer to speak to the doctors directly, so whatever. I suggested that she mention that I do have Indocin at home and ask if I could take that for another 24 hours.

Dr. R. was on call again (she was the doctor on call who admitted me on Sunday), so she knew that my fetal fibronectin on Sunday had been negative, knew what my cervical length was, and knew what the orders in the hospital had been off the top of her head, so she was okay with me taking the Indocin for 24 hours, and was otherwise unconcerned. For the record, I wasn't concerned either. This is just what I do at this point. I contract. A lot. Often. But, admittedly, if it had kept up at that rate, there was no way I was going to get any sleep, because it was making me pretty darned uncomfortable. And so.... I went back on Indocin for 24 hours last night. Easy enough.

And this morning I had 3 contractions. And tonight? One contraction. Gee, do you think this stuff works? I think so. Shame I can't take it continuously.

Edit: Jennifer from Arkansas asked You've posted about the side effects of the terbutaline (sp?) as far as how it makes you feel. What is the indocin like? Any immediate sife effects to speak of? (other than the fact that it ROCKS in taking care of the contractions!!)

Well, all drugs have a side effect profile, of course, but the short answer is that Indocin doesn't really have any negative side effects for me. Indocin (or indomethacin) is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) like Aleve or a variety of other drugs. Normally NSAIDs are contraindicated in pregnancy, but obviously there are controlled exceptions like this one, but I wouldn't recommend taking an NSAID just for fun while pregnant. Anywhozit, the main side effect for me is that it helps my headaches ever so slightly. It can also cause stomach pains or upset, so it's recommended that one take it with food or Tums, which I find is helpful, but rarely remember to do. (I never found that Aleve hurt or upset my stomach, but I do find that the Indocin does a bit... which is funny because I took a LOT of Aleve before I was pregnant and the Indocin isn't any more potent) Anywhozit, that's pretty much it. I don't think there are any other major side effects.

I'm also now taking the Nifedipine every day which has a few side effects itself, most notably it is a beta blocker, so it can lower blood pressure (which isn't a bad thing, since Terbutaline raises blood pressure). The lower blood pressure can also lead to dizziness and whatnot, but that hasn't been a problem for me. Yet.