Am I in labour?

[slithytove]

Third baby, 40+5, trying for a home vbac

Previous stillbirth and sections so this is my first 'normal' gestation and labour.

I had a sweep on Sunday and been losing bits of mucus plug ever since, no bloody show though.

I've been getting irregular contractions since midnight, sometimes 1 every 10 mins, sometimes 1 a minute. They take my breath away and I feel like I need to poo with each one. Also have a fair bit of back pain but this is pretty normal for me.

I am constipated and have terrible wind

Could this be labour? Should I take any paracetemol or Fybogel or anything? If I'm going to have a baby tm I'd really like to get some sleep and at the moment contractions are preventing that.

Tmi.

Literally as I posted that I had another contraction and this time needed the loo, my constipation is no more! Had a (semi loose) bowel movement.

It certainly sounds to me like the start of things, especially with the loose poo. I would take a paracetamol and try to rest. Have the midwives told you when to ring them to let them know? Good luck.

When I have regular contractions lasting over 30 seconds each for at least an hour.

Dunno what regular contractions means though! Maybe every 5 minutes? Midwife lives round the corner though so not much of a problem there.

Thanks for advice, will try and get some sleep. Had 3 contractions since my last post so they are pretty far apart still.

Sounds like it Good luck op xx

Have a look at this
www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/hospital-birth-centre-labour.aspx

It certainly sounds like early labour to me. For a first timer you go when the contractions are 5 min apart lasting over 45s. You ring before you go so they can advice first anyway. However I'm not sure if you are classed as a first birth or subsequent. Subsequent births could be a lot faster. If in doubt, give the midwife a call for advice.

I'm definitely a subsequent birth, I delivered my daughter naturally and went into labour naturally at 39+2, it was DS who was a CS a year later. Never laboured with him though.

I didn't even realise I was in labour with dd.

I want to make sure I leave enough time to inflate my pool, or at least get DH to. I had a huge row with him earlier so he is sleeping on the sofa, is that a sign of imminent labour?

I would inflate the pool now. You can never know how quickly things will progress.

Good luck!

Around me, they tell you not to phone the hospital until contractions are 3 in 10 minutes. Having said that, they would not turn you away if you state you want to go in.

In what way you didn't know you were in labour with the first? I assume you are doing a home birth? When you should contact the midwife depends on your previous labour. At least if you had an unusual non text book previous labour! Hopefully that NHS page is useful in showing what a typical labour is like.

Get DH up and inflating that pool!

Good Luck!

wafflewiffle it might depend on the size of the 'catchment' of the hospital? The NHS page is generic for the entire country. Where I am I think there will be people 30min drive away from the hospital at this time of the day. But they always advice ring before you go anyway.but definitely inflate and fill the pool now. It can go quite first if not first. Also do you know the position if the baby, I was told back to back is a lot slower than sideways. And it was for me! First was back to back and second as back to left side (which is supposed to be best position).

How are you doing? Contractions still regular? How far apart?
Good luck, hope it all goes well!

I want DH to get as much sleep as possible so he is functional tm - will get him on pool duty as soon as contractions ramp up. Plus the longer I can avoid telling him in labour the better, he will be worried cos of losing dd.

With dd I was contracting regularly (timed them and everything) for 12 hours before my waters went. Despite the regular contractions, at no point did I think "ooh this is it". Very dim!

Baby is perfect position, and nearly fully engaged, but bobs in and out as most third babies do. She is relatively low right now.

Still getting one pretty sharp contraction roughly every ten minutes, but I've taken paracetemol so they aren't making me quite so breathless.

Starting to doubt me delivering with only g and a for pain relief now!

Ha if I rang my hospital they would want me to come in for a CS, I'm their worst nightmare!

Poor obstetric history, previous still birth, previous CS, relatively high bmi, and post dates. They would just love me

On the plus side, my wind has stopped. Good thing too, I had images of the birthing pool becoming some sort of home made jacuzzi.

You are so brave slithy, I've read your posts on the September threads so knew about your stillbirth.

You will do great, I am sure!

PS - Please pass some of your labour-finally-starting vibes over to me. I'm 40+2 with #4 and really wish this baby would arrive now!

slithy you aren't dim. I have what they term a silent labour. I do not look like anyone in active labour and luckily for me my first was water first so I was in hospital for induction. I have 1-2 in 10 contractions for 3 days before a vaginal inspection found me fully dilated. The entire time I had scans and midwives checking on me. So they were equally as dim as me.

So for my second I had a consultant note to go in when I believe I'm in labour. They must examine me to determine progress. I just had my second and I started contracts at every 5-8min and end my first phase at that same frequency. But I knew it would be like this because of my previous experience. Through my last contraction, I was talking to the booking in midwife when the water went. And then I was pushing.

For all you know you might be similarly non text book. You just didn't think it was labour because you aren't writhing around in pain or the contractions wasn't regular iyswim? Did you have a talk with a midwife or consultant which says how you would handle this labour?

I'm concerned about the still birth too and hope you are getting good medical support for this birth.

I have great medical help, midwife was only here this evening to listen to the HB as I had a bit of a wobble. I've had regular scans and cord dopplers, and we know the baby is lovely and big (dd was iugr) and the placenta is doing its thing.

I am with 121 midwives (I'm so lucky) and they caseload, so I have great support from a team I trust.

With hindsight I do know it was labour with dd, the contractions were regular, I even remember saying to DH I was getting 1 every 4 minutes! When my waters went I was found to be 4cm dilated, and progressed well from then full dilation 9 hours later, to pushing 3 hours after that. Which was slower than it needed to be as I refused to push for a while.

No tips waffle, I didn't think it would be happening today! I went swimming yesterday which maybe helped? Still not sure I'm in labour though, other than the contractions and tiredness I feel great. Hope this isn't going to be a long latent stage though, I'm knackered already.

Hi slithy, definitely sounds like labour, especially the loose bowel motion. That was the sign labour was really getting going for me.

With my second labour (attempted vbac) I was contracting every 8-10 min for hours then suddenly changed to every 5, waters went as I got in the car, contractions went back to back to back, so ambulance was called, 10 minutes later was checked at hospital and I was fully dilated.

Even 1 contraction in 10 can be doing something.

I really wish you all the best, I am sure it will be a lovely birth. I would call your midwife and give her a head's up so she can be prepared if things suddenly speed up.

She is feeling a lot lower, not in my pelvis as such but there is suddenly a lot of space at the top of my bump around my ribs. Will have to go for a decent walk in the morning to encourage her down!

Going to try and get some sleep as I have 18mo old DS to get up with in 3 hours! Thanks for staying up with me, I will update with progress or lack thereof.

Good luck slithy you are indeed very brave. And glad to hear you are monitored and looked after. Hang in there. Given you get to pushing and all last time. You should expect it to be faster this time. Everything is loosened up and ready.

I'm off to sleep post feed now. With some luck you might even have baby in arms when I wake.

Good luck

I'm glad to hear of other people having silent labours, I have had 2 that have gone from feeling nothing at all not even Braxton Hicks to suddenly delivering after a gush of waters, and I still get drs look at me like this >> when I tell them.

I hope you're cradling your baby soon and it's an uneventful labour in the pool.

Resting while you can is a good plan.!

I am sleeping in my toddlers bed because DH is snoring. She leaked through her nappy and wanted to sleep in Mummy and Daddy's bed.

Night night xx

Night night! Good luck!!