Updated 2/14/01
I was put on bed rest at 27.5 weeks after I experienced some strong contractions. I was pregnant with twins and was due in August 1997. My cervix was a fingertip dilated and about 30 percent effaced. After home uterine monitoring revealed I was having too many contractions, I was put on 5 mg tablets of terbutaline at the hospital. I was supposed to take the terb every six hours. After a weekend on terbutaline, I called my OB and asked to be put on a lower dose. I was jittery, my heart was racing (pulse above 125) and my hands shook so badly I couldn't write.
My OB's solution was to put me on the terbutaline pump, which dispensed a smaller, more concentrated dose directly into my leg. A nurse arrived to show me how to operate the pump and change the site every four days.
After the nurse left, my contractions were too high and my legs shook uncontrollably from the terbutaline all night. But I was up monitoring anyway because of the contractions. Finally in the morning, they settled down.
I spent five weeks on bed rest and the terb pump. I was still jittery and could not do things requiring fine motor control (ie. writing) unless it was right before a bolus (larger dose) from the pump. I became breathless toward the end of my five weeks on the terbutaline. One of the monitoring nurses kept on asking me if I was having trouble breathing. I thought it was the ever-growing babies. Now I'm not so sure.
I was hospitalized with too many contractions just before my 33rd week. I was put on magnesium sulfate, kept on the terbutaline and given a steroid shot. The nurses kept on turning up the dose of magnesium sulfate until I was at the highest level. My hands, face and feet felt like they were on fire. I felt groggy and uncoordinated and slow. I spent the night with a compress on my face. Because I was hooked up to an IV, I couldn't get out of bed and had to use a bedpan. I couldn't eat solid food because they were afraid the mag sulfate would make me throw up. I also couldn't drink anything -- just ice chips. My lips were dry and cracked by morning. I was still having contractions, although not as many. I started to get double vision. Blood tests revealed abnormal kidney and liver readings, and my OB thought I had pre-eclampsia although my blood pressure was not extremely high. I ended up having an emergency C-Section when one baby started showing signs of distress. After delivery, I developed spiking blood pressure.
Before my release from the hospital, I discovered I couldn't breath well lying down. I attributed it to nerves. But after I was home, the difficulty breathing while lying down became more pronounced. I also was coughing a lot, although I did not have a cold. After three sleepless nights and calls to my OB's office (she was on vacation), an echocardiogram was ordered. It showed the left ventricle of my heart was enlarged and not pumping efficiently (dilated cardiomyopathy). My cardiologist thinks this heart problem was caused by the terbutaline I took and/or my pre-eclampsia. We held off on the heart drugs since my pre-eclampsia was subsiding and I was no longer taking terbutaline. About 7 months later, a repeat echo showed my heart is almost back to normal. A year and a half later, my latest echo showed my heart is fully recovered -- with normal size and ejection fraction.
My daughters were 7 weeks premature and spent 23 days in the Special Care Nursery. One daughter had magnesium sulfate in her blood when she was born and had several apnea episodes during the first 24 hours that were thought to be related to the mag sulfate.
Symptoms of heart complications
My web site on peripartum cardiomyopathy
Healthanswers.com information about peripartum cardiomyopathy
Cardiac stress of pregnancy, tocolytics
© 1998-2005karens7@charter.net
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