Steroid injections during pregnancy - side effects if given before 30weeks???

Katherine - posted on 01/16/2013

i am 27 weeks and 4 days i have placenta previa and i strarted to bleed last night the baby is good and health but i have to go in to get Steroid shoot to help the baby lungs devolp they might have take him early

Christine - posted on 02/29/2012

My nurse said normal side effects were itching on the nose area sides or lower bach. Bad side effects were shortess of breath adn tightness in the chest. But I am staying up late. Wondering if lack of sleep is one of them.



I am at 32 weeks. Live in the middle of know where so I have to make it to 36 at least so I dont get coptered out.

Hollyanne - posted on 01/21/2012

I went into premature labor at 29 weeks. They gave me a steroid injection and another one 24 hours later to help develop his lungs. I was put on bed rest and he was born at 34 weeks. He was in the NICU for 3 weeks and came home on oxygen. He was on oxygen for 14 days at home when we had a follow up apt, and he was able to come off of it. He has been fine and very healthy ever since.

Jordana - posted on 01/19/2012

Hello



I'm 28 weeks pregnant and today they have given me the steroid in the drip because last Friday when i woke up i realized my left side of the face was numb and i couldn't close my eye and my lip had dropped, they have diagnosed me with a bells palsy and they have given me this to try and help my nerve start working again. Has this happened to any of you before bells palsy during pregnancy? I am a bit worried even-though they have told me that it wont affect the baby

Jennifer - posted on 12/12/2011

My daughter was born at 26 1/2 weeks due to my uterus not being strong enough to hold her. I was given 2 steroid shots a day for 1 week before her birth and I am happy to report that even though she weighed 1 lb 12 oz at birth and had to stay in the hospital for 3 months until her actual due date. She is a healthy 15 year old with no health problems. Not sure what the side effects are, but my daughter had no issues

Mia - posted on 08/06/2011

Hi ladies,

Bub number 3 came along at 35wks 4 days (18/7/2011, 6:43 pm 5lb 6oz) after 3 hospital stays for pre-term contractions, I had 3 round of steriods & thankfully the birth & after went quite well. His lungs are fine (well so far) & he needed to stay in SCN for 3 nights only as a precaution then spent two nights up on the ward with me before we both came home together. I am so glad we went down the steriod line! Apart from sleep deprivation & apparent reflux, he & I are both doing well!! THANKS !!

Marcie - posted on 08/06/2011

I was 29weeks along in the delivery room and my water had to be broken cause i refused to stay a whole wopping 2 months with nothing to eat!but they were only able to give me 1 out of the 2 steroid shots i was supposed to be given(they were to develope his lungs better) but he is now 3 and healthy as ever,he had a problem with doing this breathless spell cry but you lay them down on there backs and they come right out of it and they say it is normal in both premies and full terms.But i would wait till i was over 24 weeks atleast befor doing that.Hope it helps and good luck

Em - posted on 04/21/2011

i'm so glad to see other people have got this shot and held onto bub for weeks later! a friend told me her aunt got the shot and went into labour only a couple of weeks later. if my little man is born too early, we have to transfer to a hospital 5 hours away :(

Natalie - posted on 04/21/2011

I got the shot at 29 weeks and my son was born at 30 weeks and he was in hospital for 5 weeks weighing 2lbs 9 oz but the shot worked because he did not really need any help with breathing.

Brooke - posted on 04/21/2011

Not sure the side effects. I went into labour after a fall at 29 weeks. I had the steroid shots and had my baby at 35 weeks at 6 pounds 2 oz without any problems at all.

Em - posted on 04/21/2011

hi! my first bub was born at 35 weeks, 2nd at 34 weeks and 3rd at 33 weeks.
my first baby didn't need any assistance when she was born. the second needed a couple of hours in the humidicrib and spend a week in hospital. the third needed a couple of days on oxygen and spent 2 weeks in hospital learning to suck. none of my kids have any problems so far. they are 9, 7 and 6 this year!
but when i fell pregnant again i asked my doctor quite early on about steroids in pregnancy. he said he only administered them if they thought it was completely necessary.
i moved to another state and the doctor here has given me my first injection of steroids today at 28 2/7 weeks. i have the next one tomorrow. she didn't mention about not being able to have them again, so i will make a note to ask tomorrow!
i also spent time researching getting a stitch put in, but the doctor told me it was reserved for women who have their babies before 25 weeks.

Mia - posted on 03/20/2011

Well my son's paed explained that if you have the shots before 28 weeks and before they know if you have gestational diabetes, it can throw your sugars out as well as it can make you a bit crazy (but hey who isn't with all those preggars hormones). So that helped chatting to him but he said that's the best I can do for my bub, there's no other tests etc to ensure they're lungs are developing ok. I also will be asking for an extra scan or two to check.

Margie - posted on 03/08/2011

Hello,
Not sure about what side affects they are talking about. My water broke at 23 weeks and I received two shots I believe before he was born at 24 weeks. My son is diagnosed as having Chronic Lung Disease as well, and he is now 13 and you would never know. I am thinking this may be a kind of generic term that they give to premature babies who had under develped lungs. Don't quote me.. because I dont know. I just know this scared me when they told me this, but he has no ill effects. He does not have any asthma or any kind of obvious lung problems and he also came on on oxygen and a heart monitor. Probably doesn't answer much of your question, but thought I would throw a little more info out there. If I can be of any help with anything else, let me know.
Margie Borbely

Kate - posted on 02/06/2011

i got given the shots at 29 weeks when they thought id be delivering that weekend, ,but held out till 35 and a half, ella still needed oxygen for the first day but that was only due to a negligence of the midwife looking after me, otherwise i had no side effects from that and her lungs are nice and healthy now

Mia - posted on 02/02/2011

Hi Alison,

Yes my second bub who was prem needed to resusiated, was put straight on cpap which didn't last 24hrs before they had to put him on the ventilator. He was then ventilated for 12 days, had two rounds of surfactant with no real great results. They were preparing us for the worst, he developed complications & nearly both lungs collapsed. They put him on the high frequency ventilator and that seemed to do the trick. He then went back to cpap then to oxygen. They fiddled around with room air, oxygen and the amount, sent him off for a sleep study which he apparently gave them a scare and wasn't in room air for long at all. He came home on oxygen and came off oxygen at 15months. Such an ordeal, so don't want to go through that again.

Jessica - posted on 02/01/2011

My second baby was fine, she came home 2 days after delivery I think? I had to do projesterone shots with her though so she would stay in longer.

Alison - posted on 02/01/2011

Hi there, I wish you all the best in your pregancy. I hd my 1st at 34wks, no steroids. I then had my twins at 31wks without steroids, when boen they didn't need any intervention (no cpap ventilation) I wouldn't like to give anyh advice, but was wondering if baby two was ventilated?

Jessica - posted on 02/01/2011

I was put in the hospital at 26 weeks and was there till I had my son at 27 weeks and I think I had 2 injections of it. I was in Omaha and my doctor was a specialist at Children's Hospital and he said they do it to help mature the lungs if you are having serious contractions like I was.

Tiffany - posted on 01/29/2011

Per my OB the steroids are effective for 2 weeks once given. I had the 2 shots 24 hours apart at 28 weeks 6 days. My son was born at 29 weeks 1 day and still need surfactant shot and nasal canula with room air for the pressure in order to keep his lungs from sticking for a week.

Mia - posted on 01/28/2011

Yes I am keen to have them to avoid another child who had to be resusitated at birth and has chronic lung disease!

Paula - posted on 01/27/2011

Hi
My son was born at 26.6 weeks and I managed to get one steroid shot before he was born. He was born less than 24 hours after I had been admitted to hospital in pre-term labour. He did spend 10 weeks in the NICU but for much of that time he was able to breath on his own and was breathing when he was born. He is now two years old and has not had any lung problems. I am now 31 weeks pregnant with my second child and had 2 shots 24 hours apart during week 29 as my cervix has shorten and I have been on bed rest since week 23. In my experience the doctors would not recommend the steroids unless they think they are necessary and it is better that the babies lungs mature just in case. Good luck.

Rebecca - posted on 01/26/2011

The reason they wont give you steroids too early is because they want the baby to develop normally at a regular pace. So many changes happen in the baby in the first half of the pregnancy, organ development, bone formation, etc. that its not usually reccomended until after viability which is around 24-26 weeks... I got steroids at 31 weeks with my daughter but they were watching me for preterm birth but held off until they thought i was extremely possible that i would go before 37 weeks and I did go at 35 weeks after 4 weeks of bedrest. the side effects for you are nothing serious.. the inj. burns, you wantt o eat 24/7 and i gained like 10 pounds in a week! lol.. but its whats best for baby that they are lookng out for!! Good luck! I hope you have a healthy pregnancy and carry as close to term as you can! I now someone that was on bedrest from 24 weeks (dilated and leaking amniotic fluid and she went to 38 weeks!! healthy term baby!) you never know! Babies are strong!

Cheryl - posted on 01/26/2011

My daughter was born at 29 weeks and I had the steriod injections days before she was born and they told me if I wouldn't have had them she would have most likely ended up on a ventilator. She was on oxygen for the first 3 months and has not had a problem since.

Sarah - posted on 01/25/2011

Mia,

I'm speaking from getting them myself. My OB highly recommended me getting them as soon as my water broke at 30 weeks. and I got the 2 injections within 24 hours apart. There were some side effects (stretch marks) but other than that I was fine. Receiving these injections helped my son who was born at 33 weeks with his lungs. You can't repeat the shots at all, and they do last until you deliver. Just a heads up :)

Mia - posted on 01/25/2011

Ok thanks Jessica that's good information to know. My OB hasn't mentioned much about my chances of having another premmie but I've heard the stats are pretty high & it was my son's paed who suggested the shots first. As my boys were 37 weeks and 34.5 weeks. I have endometriosis and adenomyosis so I've a lot of scarring in and around my uterus so am guessing that doesn't help the premmie thing much.

Jessica - posted on 01/25/2011

There are no side effects for the mother or the baby, the thing is that the 2 shot series can only be applied 1 time, the effect will last about 2 wks and after that its as if nothing had been applied, so its a matter of hoping you are you using the right window of time or that the baby ends up being full term.

Sarah - posted on 01/24/2011

Oh, I asked my perinatologist before getting the shots what the side effects were, and he said that the only side effects were that if I was diabetic it'd make my blood sugar spike. I'm not diabetic. I found that I got REALLY REALLY hungry after them and incredibly hot. And didn't sleep real well, although that could have just been normal pregnancy discomfort and stress since I had a weeeee bit of stress in my life at the time. :) Good luck.

Sarah - posted on 01/24/2011

I found out at 17 weeks that i had a huge aneurysm in my heart and if I stayed pregnant, the baby would be premature. We kept the baby and so at 24 weeks they gave me the betamethasone in case I had to have the baby before 28 weeks. At 27 weeks I went into the hospital for monitoring so at 28 weeks I got a booster of the shots. at 28 weeks 2 days they discovered that my aorta had a tear in it, so I had an emergency csection (and heart surgery at the same time). My son is now 13 days old and was only briefly on a ventilator (until they realized he was out performing it). So he's been breathing on his own since birth. I'd say go for the shots.

Sarah - posted on 01/24/2011

Hi there,

My son was born @ 32.6 weeks but I went into the hospital at 30 weeks and didn't go into labor for 3 weeks. I was put on bed-rest though and given 1 steroid injection when I arrived at the hospital, and another injection 24 hours later. The steroid injection helps mature the lungs in case a baby is born premature. The actual injection is called Betamethasone.