Bath in early labour?

[cocoachannel]

I am hoping to stay at home as long as possible when I (finally) go into labour? I like the idea of having a bath to help with the pain and relax but have been told this could slow things down?

Does anybody know if/when having a bath would be okay?

Many thanks!

You know what, you need to do whatever you feel is right at the time. When you ring the hospital and tell them you're in labour they will almost certainly tell you to take a paracetamol and have a bath. If it DOES slow things down you are more than likely not in established labour. (And if a paracetamol helps then you DEFINITELY are not ).

It so depends on your individual circumstances. With DS I was sent to have a bath because they wouldn't let me in the pool (too early). It was hell on earth, because DS was back to back (so it turned out) and I could not stay still and certainly could not sit or lie back. I still have flashbacks.

With DD I did most of my labouring at home - normal labour, far less painful . I made the decision to have a bath and found it really soothing. I was in the bath when I phoned the hospital and was having contractions every 5 mins about a minute long. That was less than 2 hours before DD was born.

So basically, what I'm trying to say is that whatever you feel you want to do is OK. OK?

HTH. And good luck.

Thank you so much, gaelicsheep. That is a great help- fantastic advice

I started labouring about 6am, went about my business, MW came on prescheduled visit at which point my ealry Cx's seemed to stop so she left . I was determined things wouldn't stop, so decided that going shopping was a good idea (?!). By the time I had purchased 2 waterproof mattress covers from the pound shop there was no way this baby was not coming out, so after a fast drive home I got in the door and literally stripped as I went upstairs and got into the bath, where I stayed for about 2 hours. It was fab. Luckily I had a homebirth planned so I only had to go downstairs - but the bath was brilliant/perfect and I thoroughly recommend it.

I also recommend staying at home for as long as humanly possible and only going to hospital for the last bit.

I guess in summary i could say I had established labour before I got into the bath, but as long as you're at home - well - you're at home, so you do what you want.

I had a doula for birth of DD. Her advice when my contractions started was to:

1. eat as big a bowl of pasta as I could manage (for energy)
2. go for a walk
3. have a nice bath with a glass of red wine

It was great advice. If anything, my contractions started coming stronger during the bath. I got out of the bath and tried to relax in bed with a magazine, but had to get up, stick on the TENS machine and then it was all systems go!

My DH ran me a bath when I thought I was in early labour. 75mins later I was still in the bath and holding my baby :) Like gaelicsheep said, in your house, do what you feel you need to do.