Preterm labor then full term delivery ?

Arielle27

Sorry in advance for the long story... Just very frustrated and hoping anyone has a similar experience to share! 

With DS I had a very 'easy' (uncomplicated) pregnancy and delivered naturally at 39w4d.

This time everything has been so different! At 33 weeks I went to the hospital with contractions every 5 minutes. They were stopped with terbutaline. At 34 weeks I was admitted again for the same reason. They didn't want to administer more terb and found that I was not at all effaced or dilated, so they let me rest until the contractions slowed down and let me go home.

At 36 weeks, the contractions were 3 minutes apart and much stronger. I went to the hospital again. They kept me overnight, during which time I bled quite a lot, had effaced 60% and dilated to 2cm. After nearly 24 hours there though, my effacement was 100% and dilation 3cm, but contractions were slowing down. They offered me pitocin to speed things along, or said that I could go home and wait for things to happen naturally. I chose the second option. The doctor and nurses seemed to think I'd be back within a few hours, or definitely within 48 hours. They also thought that once it started back up it would happen VERY quickly.

Since being home, I've lost my mucous plug entirely and had days where I've had contractions every 5 minutes - but not strong enough to return to the hospital. At my doctor's appointmen last Thursday, he found that I was dilated and effaced exactly as much as I had been when I left the hospital.

Now it seems like nothing is happening, and I am so confused! My husband stayed home from work with me all last week but we decided that he should go back to work now that I am full term.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? The nurses and my doctor keep telling me how 'weird' it all is, which obviously doesn't help! I'm trying to live my life normally, but I am so on edge all the time!