If you had days/weeks of pre labour cramping etc, how long was labour for you?

[GlastonburyGoddess]

Just wondering as ds1+2 very long labours but with them had no BH, no cramps, nothing. one was induced(ARM) and the other laboured naturally. from contractions to birth one was 26ish hrs, the other 22hrs.

Have been contracting every 5mins since 10am this morning, at the moment they seem to be between 3-4mins, then I get the odd few that are like back to back, it stops, then less than a minute later another!?

our hospital is about 45min drive away MIL is panicking about getting there on time, Im more woried about going in too early and either not being in established labour, or being not far on.

so- if you had lots of cramping before labour started, did you labour for less time??

Thanks!

Every night for about a fortnight before DD was born I would wake around 2am have 30 second contractions 5 minutes apart until 5am then would all stop.
The day DD arrived I slept until 6am when I was woken up by contractions about 2 minutues apart, had a 2 hour labour including pushing! This was a first labour too.
Hope that helps and you have a nice quick labour this time, although the stopping and starting is quite tiring if stops you resting or sleeping.

ahh! Bump

Interesting to read about long pre-labours. With DD I had 6 nights of 3-6am cx then stopped in the day. Had a sweep at 12pm 40+5, cx started again at 4pm and had her 9 hrs later.

With DS, had a sweep at 40+9, started niggling ineffective but tiring cx 5 mins apart, ended up transferring (was homebirth) cos needed pain relief (long story), they eventually broke my waters 2 days later at 40+12 and I had him 1.5 hrs later.

Not very conclusive, is it? Sorry. But am now 36wks pg and am determined not to have a sweep but to try and let it happen naturally. I do agree that long pre-labours are tiring and I am concerned about needing childcare for a long time, plus DP having to start his paternity early because my uterus faffs about.

Wishing you a speedy delivery and a healthy baby!

hii, when i was pregnant, i started contracting when i was 35 weeks pregnant i went to hospital they hooked me up to the machine that measures the contractions and gave me the steroid injection to mature his lungs, but 2 days after they stopped, and then on my due dat he still hadnt arrived, and didnt till they induced me 41+5 days. i really thought he was going to come early but he tricked me

With 1st pg I ended up in hosp a week before birth for something else, and they told me I was contracting regularly (I just thought it was BH). Felt bit 'on the edge' for the week but nothing too uncomfortable or dramatic so assumed it was just a blip but in hindsight I reckon it was all a big old build up. When I went into labour the following week it was done and dusted in 4 hours.

All the best for you, how exciting!

38 weeks 4 days and still waiting !
had contractions last week when I was 37+4, and I really thought that was it as it started exactly as with my DC2. Every 8 minutes, then every 5. started at 8pm and went until 5am, then just stopped. I had been having braxton hicks for a while now, and tonight I keep on having one now and again, but it is so annoying. I was excited last week thinking I would finally meet my baby.

Oh well. I have a ELCS next Friday if it doesn't kick off, and so at least I'll know that hopefully next week whatever happens I should have babe in arms.

Good luck.

Hi GlastonburyGoddess. I was in a very similar position to you, both in your on/off contractions and distance from the hospital. I had contractions like you describe for the preceding night and on/off throughout the day. At around 8pm they were getting more regular and by around 11pm they were 5 mins apart, but not that painful. Mindful of the distance to the hospital I rang up and we went in at which point they promptly stopped. I was examined and I was just starting to dilate but was by no means in established labour. It was recommended I stay in but I chose to go home, expecting nothing to happen for ages.

Well around 4am that morning I woke with stronger contractions which continued. I was pretty sure this was the real thing but it was still perfectly manageable. I had a bath which made the contractions strengthen and lengthen, and I rang the labour ward when they were lasting a good minute or more. I was "in the zone" by this point. We got to the hospital at 8am and the contractions were piling on top of one another. At 8.15 I started pushing and at 8.40am DD was born.

So after hours and hours of intermittent cramping/contractions my actual labour lasted less than 5 hours. As for going in too early - yes it was gut wrenching to find out the first time I wasn't in established labour, but then I nearly left it too late! We nearly had DD in the car so the moral of that story that if in doubt it's better to go in and get checked out!

I am 39 weeks and have cramping on and off, with painful BHs for a couple of days now but it comes and goes (not regular contraction coming and going, just disappears for an hour or so). Certainly not regular enough to measure time between/time of 'contraction'.
Do you think I need to just wait until they are time-able? Feel fine otherwise, energy levels up and down - had these pains a couple of weeks ago to which (obviously!) came to nothing....
It is my second pg by the way, but first time was induced so no idea what spontaneous labour feels like!