To be upset that I've gone into labour a week before my planned c section, and the hospital are telling me not to come in?

[Elmo311]

Just that really!
Having contractions since yesterday morning. Early stage labour still, but they are getting more painful each time.
I called L&D, explained my situation and why I'm having a c section this time (3 day labour with my son, failure to progress past 3cm, and 11months age difference between them both)
BUT they still told me to wait?! She said i don't sound in enough pain to come in?!
Thats 1) because I'm calling inbetween contractions and 2) probably because I'm not that far along yet.

I just do not understand why i have to go through this pain when a c section has been agreed?
Sorry i know I'm ranting a bit but i just don't understand their thinking and no matter what way i worded the question i still go told to wait :(

Any advice? AIBU to be frustrated?!

Thanks for reading

@mummyhaschangedhername yeah good point! I've put the porridge down! Thanks for that! Baby brain!

Good luck OP

don't eat the porridge!!!!

Hope you're on your way in, OP. Good luck!

@Cheby The consultant initially tried to convince me that a VBAC was a good idea!
I'm going to head in ASAP.

Good luck.

@Moraxella porridge has been put down! Haha gosh, I'm so stupid! Dunno what I'd do without all of you lot!

It's just because British maternity units are woefully underfunded and under staffed. I gave birth in two other European countries and there just wasn't this performance of keeping women in labour out of the ward for as long as possible. Both times I was told to come in when I felt I needed support.

These contractions are so confusing. 4mins apart and then 19mins apart....grr.

You're not stupid! I went into labour when waiting for a planned section too, and ate breakfast because I'm a creature of habit and people say eat for energy in labour! Of course then I had to wait hours and hours in labour for the food to digest so I could have the section that afternoon, which was by then an emergency as baby wanted to come out!

I’d go in anyway. They did the same with me with my 2nd - my contractions were a few minutes apart and they were still telling me to stay at home - knowing my 1st labour only lasted 3 hours!

I just went and it was lucky I did as I was already 6cm dilated and went from 6-10 almost instantly after I was examined. Baby was born shortly after I got to the hospital.

They also did the same with my friend who went into labour at 32 weeks. She ended up just going in as well and again, was 5cm dilated.

I’d honestly just go if I were you. Good luck!

I don’t want to sound like a twat but why on earth is the poor OP having to rely on Mumsnet to tell her to go in? Given her circumstances (11 months post EMCS and with ELCS booked) it’s pretty clear she needs to be at the hospital. This is what she should have been told by the midwives. I know that the services are underfunded and massively stretched but surely this just isn’t good enough?

Good luck, OP - all the best

It’s good that your contractions are irregular, it means you’re probably not I. Established labour yet so there is still time. Go to the maternity assessment ward, see a doctor. They absolutely can and will reshuffle their planned section list for you, but it’ll be a doctor who makes that decision, not a midwife, so you need to be on their radar. If you go to assessment you’ll be seen by a doc and monitored and then you can make a sensible decision together about what to do next and you’ll be I. The right place should labour start to progress rapidly (as it can in a second labour).

I’m a massive advocate of VBAC, I had one myself and I loved it; I did everything I could to achieve it. But I wouldn’t have done that if my previous section was less than 18 months ago, I would have had a planned section.

In any case it doesn’t matter, the key here is choice. You have chosen a section and your choice is what matters.

My team told me I was to go in and I would be an emergency cesarean if I went into labour.

I did have GD so I'm not sure if that's why but I would go in op.

I don’t want to sound like a twat but why on earth is the poor OP having to rely on Mumsnet to tell her to go in?

Totally agree with this. I wonder if the midwife hasn’t fully understood your situation, maybe isn’t listened properly?

I did have a VBAC, I wanted to labour at home as long as possible but they still instructed me to come in if it looked like I was going to have a long latent phase again, because it puts stress on the scar.

Glad your going in, seems weird that they told you to stay away.

I was ELCS for DC2 and 3 (DC2 15months after EMCS with DC1) and I was told that if I went into labour before my section dates to come in straight away, because if I left it I might progress too far for a section. My friend was ELCS with her first due to breech but went into labour a week before it was scheduled. She was told to come straight in and given a EMCS.

Meant to add, you might just have spoken to someone who doesn’t really know their stuff on the phone.

Go in.

The decision made in discussion with the consultant was that attempting VBAC is inappropriate for you and a c section is required.

This might not be proper labour. It would be quite early if so. However if it does become established labour then there won't necessarily be much time for decisions.

Go in and stand your ground. Obviously the cheapest thing for them to is discourage you from going in. You will need to be assertive, even a little disobedient, but politely insist that the conclusion of your discussions with the consultant was to go for c section and you will not acquiesce to waiting to see what happens with labour given the stress and danger that caused on previous occasions.

Go in OP, and go now. I was told not to come in as I was capable of calling/talking. I ignored them as I knew I was ready and lo and behold I was 8cm dilated by the time they bothered to examine me. Your situation is a lot more complex, I had a natural vaginal delivery, so they shouldn't ignore you if you go in. Don't risk your own health and that of your baby because the nurse/midwife on the phone is being difficult.

Good luck OP, hope you get taken care of properly. The recovery from an elective section is so much easier than an emergency after being worn out from days of labour.

Good luck OP

Hope they listen to you. Put your foot down. Like a lot of other posters I was told if I went into labour naturally they would do an EMCS because they had agreed to an ELCS.

Just tell them you are going in and go in.

I had this 25 years ago, in early labour with twins. I could not go to the GP unit or have a home birth, because of previous post partum haemorrhage, and on top of this I was in early labour and it was twins, and I had contractions every 3 minutes from the start. Yet I was still told at 4.30am to come in at 9am when the day staff were on.

I have since found out that the midwife who answered the phone and who was the same midwife in charge of the delivery (that is the way it worked at my local hospital then) was in the middle of a divorce and needed to get home on time for her children. (I know her out of context these days, but she does not know she delivered my babies)

Anyway, I absolutely did the right thing because they were born at 7.30am and one of them needed help with breathing.

I did not have any pain (apart from the agony of the world dropping out of my fanny). Pain of contractions is not a sure fire indication of progress.

I would go in. And be firm. When they suggest going home just a firm 'no' should suffice. I'd request the consultant is informed, so you can confirm when the c- section is going to be performed.

My husband insisted on taking me in when I didn't want to go. The midwife said as I had smiled and said good morning I couldn't be in that much pain.

Baby came 20 mins later in a side room! The had put me there to wait for a while.......