19 weeks and concerned ... tightening in pelvis

Yesterday, I published this post on Abbyloopers:

"Hi, Ladies,

I am hoping you can help put my mind at ease. I thought I was doing really well with this pregnancy that is obviously set-up to be anxiety-ridden. Dr. Davis placed my pre-pregnancy TAC and now I am 19 weeks. I am seeing the local perinatal group that delivered my 24 weeker because to be honest, there are few options. I had a scan yesterday and my cervix was 3.3. I told the doc that I felt tightening in my pelvis. He asked if it had a beginning, middle and end. I said no, it was more just a constant tightening. He said that is not PTL/contractions and probably just my bowels.

I am also taking P17 shots weekly and on Wednesdays find I tend to get crampy as the solution seems to "wear off" so to speak. The doc said it was okay to take Prometrium before my next shot is due if it makes me feel better physically/emotionally.

Anyway, the Prometrium seemed to work and my tightening subsided last night. I got my shot this morning. Now, my lower left back hurts and the tightening is back. I called and made an appointment to see Dr. Davis on Monday but it's Thursday and I'm worried.

Should I call my local group and demand to be hooked up to a monitor to see if I'm having contractions? My local doc said it's nothing to be concerned about if the cervix doesn't change but I want to avoid that, right? I feel stuck right now. I think *woman from group*, you had home monitoring, and I requested it. I was told no, they don't do it anymore. *Woman from group's baby* is not even three, right? Things couldn't have changed that much in such a short period of time.

I did have contractions with my daughter that I did not feel, but were detected by the fetal monitor once I was on Trendellenburg because my membranes were bulging.

What should I do???

Thanks for your help!"

This pretty much sums up the past 18 hours or so. Things started to creep up on me while my little girl was napping yesterday. I was really scared that I was having contractions and made an appointment to see Dr. Davis who will put my mind at ease, I'm sure. Or if there is something wrong, will get to the bottom of it instead of brushing me off.

The tightening/back pain continued into the evening and by 9:00, I called my local group. Thankfully, Dr. C was on-call and told me I could go to L&D if that would make me more comfortable. He felt it was just stretching/round ligament pain. It's funny because both Hubby and my mom said the same thing. As for holding off on going to the hospital, Dr. C said to take a couple of Tylenol and apply warm compresses. The Tylenol thankfully worked and I was able to fall asleep. It must be exactly what Dr. C thought because at 3:00 A.M., when the Tylenol wore off, I was immediately awakened with severe pain. I took two more and went back to bed.

I'm glad I found a way to control the pain and discomfort. I'm not crazy to hear Dr. C say this could last until 24-25 weeks - my danger zone. Having this coupled with the stress of my last pregnancy experience is no picnic. One or the other would be plenty, both just compounds things.