Exhausted by DC3 false labour

[KernowMother]

I feel like such an idiot. Am 35wks with DC3 and have spent the whole weekend pacing the floor with a midnight trip to hospital on Sat night to add to the drama.

I waited and waited and waited, contractions went from BH during Saturday and about 8pm starting to establish ... .waited until 11.30pm when they were about 10mins apart and DH made me ring the midwife.

MW says 'can't believe you've waited this long' and insists I go in.

Of course, 20min car journey calmed everything down. Yesterday 1pm it all begins again, 20 mins apart. All clamed by the evening. they wanted to keep me in, but at 3am I knew nothing was doing (contractions had calmed, not gone away) o I went home instead.

At hospital they said baby was 3/5 engaged but no dilation found on VE.

How can I have got this so wrong with my THIRD baby? I feel like a complete idiot and of course feel so disappointed as would have quite liked to meet her.

Anyone else had such experiences?

*calmed not clamed (D'oh)

But 35 weeks is too early - I fully understand how exciting it is to meet your new baby but it is better to try now to make up for lost sleep in the hope that in a couple of weeks time she's good to go.

FWIW with dc2 and dc3 I had a period of much more uncomfortable and pretty regular BH at about the same gestation. But having gone to hospital too early with dc1 I decided ythat until a contraction was so painful I couldn't talk or walk, I would ignore ignore ignore.

DC2 was 1 week late, born within an hour of getting to hospital and thinking bloody hell, this is agony.

DC3 was born after a 2 hour labour that began with waters breaking (had never happened before) and an hour of not much happening contraction-wise. 3 days early.

Hope you get some rest, even if not sleeping then feet up and only moderate nesting. :)

Thanks Pooka,

Yes, 35 weeks is a bit too early, although they were not overly concerned at hospital due to her size and the fact that neo-natal protocols lessen significantly at 35 weeks (as opposed to 34).

Just feel very emotional, tired and a bloody fool. I honestly waited and waited and even when I rang the midwife just asked if I could go back to bed, but due to the distance from the hospital and the fact it's a third baby they really wanted me in.

Am taking today off work to make curtains and hoping to get some rest. Also get my head back round to thinking she won't be here until October after all! ;)

It's an absolute drag. You do have my empathy - and it is such a fine balance between reacting too early/delivering the baby yourself!

With dc3 I felt it was likely to be reasonably quick given dc2's speedy arrival. But was fortunate in that my waters broke (previously they only broke at delivery) and so of course called the midwife out (was having homebirth). With ds1 I think I left it too late, to be honest - was supposed to be a homebirth but by the time we called, I really wanted gas and air and was told that they'd have to try and rustle up a midwife from a different area as mine were all out. That was too vague for my liking and so off we went, and he arrived very shortly after.

Hope you manage to rest. Good luck!

Oh and I live in urban area with lots of hospitals nearby - if I was in Cornwall and facing long journey in, then that of course would make me more trigger happy. So you mustn't feel like an idiot.

Hi,
If it's any consulation at all, I just went through something similar myself on Sunday. We were due to fly home from Cork on Sunday but I didn't feel right when I woke up, had back ache, went for number 2s 3 times in the morning and had progressively stronger and stronger contractions. So we went to the hospital only to be told that my cervix was closed and the contractions stopped. I missed my flight so had to spend a small fortune getting home. This is my third DC and I was 36+5 weeks gone on Sunday so had to get home otherwise I'd be stuck in Cork! We were over in Cork for my sister-in-law's wedding so a lot of drama for a false alarm. You'd think I'd know the difference after giving birth twice already!