As many of you know, the care and medical treatment of pre-term babies has changed dramatically over the past decades. The one fact that remains unchanged is that the uterus remains the best place for a baby to reside until term, under most circumstances.

Recent studies with 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate (17P) have shown promise in treating women with a history of pre-term birth. It is becoming common for women to be prescribed injections of this hormone beginning in the second and continuing into the third trimester. Due to my personal history of pre-term labor and birth, I was a candidate for the progesterone injections. I was started on 17P last year in my 19th week of pregnancy and continued through my 36th week. I had my healthy baby girl a week after discontinuing the injections.

Like many women, I was concerned about the potential risks of exposing my baby to this drug. I read everything I could find and decided that it seemed like a safe option to help avoid another pre-term delivery. In my reading, (which included everything available online) I had come across more than one mention of the pain associated with this particular injection.

17P is not available as most medicines are. Once you have a prescription for this, then you need to get it filled from a pharmacy that has the capability to “compound” the ingredients in a carrier oil. The compounding pharmacy in my area mixed the 17P with sesame oil. Once mixed, the 17P has a limited shelf life and must be refrigerated. If you stop and think about a syringe full of thick, cold sesame oil being injected into your gluteal region, it can be just a little unsettling.

I do not have a big fear of needles but I was not exactly looking forward to my first injection. It hurt as bad as I had expected while it was being injected. The oil tends to cause both aching and burning sensations. It was also quite painful for days after. When the pain and swelling would finally go away, it would be time for the next weekly injection on the other side. Then I would start all over with the swelling and the pain. It was bad enough that it would wake me up in the night if I rolled over. I decided that it was time to work on technique since I had many weeks of treatment left to go.

The first thing I tried was ice prior to injection. Icing the target area for 15-20 minutes before injecting is surprisingly effective. If I iced for that period of time, I would not even feel anything other than a little bit of pressure as the oil was injected. It was a huge improvement. It made the injection itself tolerable but did not seem to help with the residual pain. I remembered reading about hot packs helping the oil to disperse into the tissues and decided to try that as well.

The next dose, I used the ice for exactly 15-20 minutes pre-injection, followed by a hot-pack for 20 minutes after. I would then use the hot pack 1-2 times per day for any residual pain. With this combination of heat and cold, I was able to get through months of 17P as painlessly as possible.

This guest post comes from Lisa, mom of a 28 weeker (and just a handful of other kids). Read more at Lisa’s blog The Loony Bin!

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