I am 31 weeks pregnant and have been having lots and lots of braxton hicks contractions, sometimes more than 6 in one hour. I have been to labor and delivery 3 times and my ob/gyn is very concerned that I might deliver early. My cervix is is not dilated at all, but I keep having contractions and some are a little painful. I talked to my friend whose parents are both doctors, and she said they think that the contractions are caused by all the adhesions etc from my surgery that are irritating my uterus, and that it has nothing to do with me delivering early or the baby because I'm not dilated. Has anyone else had a early baby from j pouch surgery? Is my dr. legitimately concerned or are my friend's parents right? Am currently taking procardia every 6 hrs for the contractions, and am concerned about its safety for the baby. Thanks.

I think lots of women have BH contractions, most even, and if you're not at all dilated, I think that is a good sign. It sounds like your doctor is monitoring you and that you are in close contact with your L&D department, so that is good. I don't know about adhesions causing contractions, but I would just stay in touch with my medical team and let them monitor you since you are their patient.

My son was born at 34 weeks, but I had been in preterm labor at 31 weeks, but I had all the signs of preterm labor -- I was having contractions (not BH) on the monitor during a NST (though I never felt them). Because of that, they did a FFN (Fetal Fibro Nectin) test that came back positive and upon examination, I turned out to be 3-4 centimeters dilated, 80% effaced and at -1 station and had lost my mucus plug (sorry if TMI). The usefulness of the FFN test is debatable as to its meaning, as it could mean that labor will happen within two weeks, it's by no means definite, but along with the other signs, it was looking like my son was going to come early. They were able to stop the preterm labor for a while and give me steroids to develop my son's lungs, but then at 34 weeks, I developed an infection and my water broke on its own while I was in the hospital being treated for that.

My son is thankfully fine with no lasting effects of his early arrival.

Bottom line -- I think the fact that your cervix isn't dilated and that your having BH contractions and not labor contractions is a good sign. Good luck and keep us posted.

Also if you do go early you are in a good timeframe. One of my friends has a boy born at 31 weeks and he's great - asthma and a few developmental delays but nothing significant and now at age 4 he's no different than my full term kids. I have another friend who delivered twins at 32 weeks and they are beyond fine - no development issues and they are bigger than my kids.

Hang in there, the worry of the last few months is very normal for all pregnant women not just those of us here.

Sounds like you have Irritable Uterus caused by your scar tissue. I had the same thing. I experienced regular contractions from 28-38 weeks. I also had a positive fetal fibronectin (FFN) at 28 weeks, but went on to deliver at 38 weeks.