Labor signs?

[etmama]

Contractions have been keeping me up most nights lately...some painful, most not. My last pregnancy came on with consistent painful contractions, but no other signs prior (like mucous plug, bloody show, or the contractions that have been waking me up lately, etc).

Just curious what other women have experienced prior to labor and how soon they started labor after those signs.

 

[jgonz]

Hhmm... With my last 3 pregnancies, I had early labor for about 3 weeks before I actually hit active labor. 3 weeks of contractions waking me up Every Single night~ but then they'd peter out by morning. It was Extremely frustrating. The only thing that kept me going at that point was remembering that getting early labor stuff out of the way Before hitting active labor would shorten my labor considerably.

Once I was "really" in labor though, I knew by having diarrhea, starting to lose my mucus plug, and an "inward" awareness of my body. With my last labor though, I honestly didn't realize I was in labor At All until I got very serious during contractions (contractions were all over the place~ never time-able or progressed normally). By the time we got to the hospital, I was 9.5 cms.... but still didn't give birth for 4 hrs. It just didn't feel like transition~ I was still talking and acting normal.

This is your 3rd? For me, and a lot of other lots-of-kids moms I know, the 3rd, 6th, and 9th labors were very odd. It's going to be hard to know how this one will go...

 

[etmama]

Hhmm... With my last 3 pregnancies, I had early labor for about 3 weeks before I actually hit active labor. 3 weeks of contractions waking me up Every Single night~ but then they'd peter out by morning. It was Extremely frustrating. The only thing that kept me going at that point was remembering that getting early labor stuff out of the way Before hitting active labor would shorten my labor considerably.

Once I was "really" in labor though, I knew by having diarrhea, starting to lose my mucus plug, and an "inward" awareness of my body. With my last labor though, I honestly didn't realize I was in labor At All until I got very serious during contractions (contractions were all over the place~ never time-able or progressed normally). By the time we got to the hospital, I was 9.5 cms.... but still didn't give birth for 4 hrs. It just didn't feel like transition~ I was still talking and acting normal.

This is your 3rd? For me, and a lot of other lots-of-kids moms I know, the 3rd, 6th, and 9th labors were very odd. It's going to be hard to know how this one will go...

Uh-oh, odd how? This is will be VBAC2, the first was a c-section. My last VBAC was 26 hours of labor (2.5 hours of pushing). His head was cocked to the side. I'm reading it may be because they broke my water about 12 hours prior to delivery. What do you think? Should I not have them break it this time?

It's good to know that the prelabor every night will most likely shorten the real thing...anything less than 26 hours would be great!

 

[jgonz]

Odd in just being really different than the first 2.

However, I didn't realize this would only be your 2nd vaginal birth! Typically 2nd babies come Much quicker~ the birth canal has been stretched and everything just happens faster. You'll probably just pop this baby out.

It would be better to Not let them break your water early on... There is a much higher chance of a prolapsed cord, which means an automatic c-section. Plus, laboring with your water intact is actually more comfortable... it sort of "cushions" the contractions. The 2 labors that I had where my water broke first were Much more intense than my others (just my experience, but I've heard other moms say the same thing).

 

[etmama]

Oh I absolutely agree about it being much more painful after the water breaks. I was doing great until they did that, then I was begging for the epidural. If they hadn't broke the water, I probably could have labored for quite a while longer before the epi. I didn't even think about the prolapsed cord. Definitely don't want another C/S!

Do you think breaking the water speeds up labor? Or does it normally run about the same either way?

I sure hope I pop it out...just not too quick as I tore last time even with lots of perineal massage and am hoping not to this time.

Thanks for your advice! I really appreciate it!

 

[Leanna]

My last pregnancy I had several nights of contractions 2 minutes apart for hours.... when I finally went into real labor it was only 5 hours long, so I guess my body did some of the work in advance.

 

[etmama]

Wow, 5 hours would be much better than 26 (which I had with my last (and first vaginal) birth). Just this evening, I've been having strong Braxton Hicks about every 15 minutes or so. I could have him on Friday (leap day) which would be kinda neat.

 

[-~Truth_N_Trust~-]

I had pre-labour for a week before I went into labour. I was woken up every night. My labour was good when I finally went into it!

 

[jgonz]

I had 21 hrs of labor with #1 (very mellow contractions though).

With #2, labor was 4 hrs. It was fast & intense~ but over so quickly!

Do you think breaking the water speeds up labor? Or does it normally run about the same either way?

You know, doctors Say it speeds up labor, but in my experience it hasn't... Not until I hit transition that is. Once I was in transition (at least 7cms) then they broke my water, it tended to speed things up. I usually wanted to push within a minute or two.

One thing that breaking the water early on does is put you on the clock. If you haven't had the baby by whatever time "they" say you should, they'll be pushing for a c-section because "you're at much higher risk for infection". Well, if it's going to risk infection, they Why break the water to begin with?! Sometimes their logic escapes me...

 

[etmama]

Hhhmmm... I'm thinking I'll pass on the water breaking for a while. Afterall, it did take another 12 hours for delivery and I had to have the epidural right after (which may have slowed my labor as they did give Pitocin to speed it back up). So speeding up labor with breaking the waters and slowing it right back down with the epidural sounds a little contradictory, right? My doctor was awesome though and I can't complain with any other part of my experience. She was very up beat and positive about my VBAC. Kept telling me there would be no c-sections happening. I only hope she is on call this time as well!