Contractions bloody agony but not frequent enough for hospital

[gloucestergirl]

Having 1 contraction every 10 mins, but hospital says that it must be 3 every 10 minutes to be accepted. It's been like this for over 12 hours. The latest have been agony with no pain relief (parecetamol and hot water bottles make bugger all difference). Am in tears and can't face a night of this. The contractions are sticking at 10 mins and not getting more frequent, although they are DEFINITELY getting stronger. Anyone else been in this situation?

Is it your first baby? FWIW when my contractions start they are agonising every two mins from beginning to end but with my first I was told they were apparently not 'long enough' even though they were every 2 mins. Of course when I became v loud they checked and I was in active labour (have shortish labours).

What I'm trying to say is not everyone has the pattern of contractions where they start off gently ten mins apart and then get more painful and closer together. If you are in agony and you have tried every pain relief you have at home, bath, paracetamol, tens or whatever - then go in. Tell them the pain is unbearable and assertively ask to be examined.

Mine were 5-10 mins apart from the outset and just got stronger. 22 hours before I was dilated enough to be admitted!! Although my hospital has said I should come in when I felt I needed to, not based on any specific timing, and would have admitted me sooner if I had wanted it but I preferred to labour at home as long as possible.

If you are in agony just lie to them and say they are coming more frequently than they are... Then when you get there take all pain relief you can and if they say anything just say they've slowed down again. Good luck !

How are you feeling now ?

Have started bouncing around the house. Has speeded up the contractions no end and makes them more manageable. Getting closer to hospital and proper pain relief. Thanks for your answers...helps so much to know others have gone through this and survived.

I was in hospital and waiting to be induced in the morning,but had bad pains,i was walking round and a nurse put me on a monitor and said nothing was happening,i couldnt believe it,after an hour i asked to be examined,and was found to be fully dilated,i knew i should have been on the gas,so if you feel you need more pain relief,i would go in,as things can be happening,and if not they will always send you home.good luck..

What happened?

I went in when i felt i needed to be in hopital, got there was examined, told i was 3cm dilated, wasnt sure if waers had or hadnt broke, they admitted me totthe monitoring ward, sent now exH, home, and 1hour 20 minutes later were ringin back to say i was over 8cm dilated and being taken to the labour ward.

My midwife throughout my pregnancy told me to listen to my own body and it would tell me, and it did!

Don't take Loonybins advice! Why would you do that?

Why not just ring labour ward and talk to a midwife honestly. She can give you advice and tell you ways to help you in this early stage of labour?

Ps. Not telling the truth on the phone does no good. The midwife knows when you aren't telling truths. Be truthful, and then health care professionals can treat you appropriately.

This happened to me too! I phoned them again in tears from pain and they told me to go in. Please talk to the hospital again and see what they say now. In my case they were v busy hence had put me off earlier... Good luck!

I had the same experience and after 17 hours, crying on the bedroom floor in agony - I went in to the hospital. They found I was only 2cm dilated but I actually didn't dilate properly throughout the entire labour! Listen to your own body and if you are finding it excruciating, I would get to the hospital and get some pain relief. Good luck!

Even when you get to hospital doesnt mean you will get pain relief, my tip is to walk, pace up and down and wobble your hips, the hospital toilet was perfect cos i could put one hand on each wall and use it to sway my hips, really did help with the pain I wasnt admitted to the labour ward until 8cm by which time i was so glad if any pain relief gas and air felt like heaven on earth....it was all i had, no epidural as i had wanted in my birth plan and couldt have pethidine anyway!

I'm sorry but I don't see how the midwives can tell you are lying on the phone. People cope with contractions in totally different ways. Someone could be having 5 in 10 minutes and be laughing and breathing through all of them (like my sil who only just made it to hospital in time before her ds more or less shot out) or be having them continuously from the very beginning without a break between them for 20 hours and still only be 3cm dilated (happened to me).

If anyone is having a serious amount of pain when they are in labour and struggling to cope I think it's always best to do whatever you can to get to hospital and make as much noise as you can to get pain relief. In my own experiences they often try and talk you out of it as long as possible whereas sometimes they really do need to try and listen to the woman who is going through it!

I have to agree with loony! I was in absolute agony during my early labour, I kept phoning the hospital and they kept putting me off, until I finally got a chance to stay in the pre-labour ward and then spent my entire time there begging for pain relief which they didn't give me. I wish I'd made so much more of a fuss than I did. All I got was codeine, but even that brief respite helped speed up my contractions a little.

I think the problem can be that if you are in agony then you are not going to be relaxed and you are probably slowing down your labour by being so tense and, essentially, fighting your own body - and that isn't going to do you any good at all. If you are finding the pain too difficult to deal with then go to the hospital and tell them that, in as vivid detail as you can manage...

Agree with Loony, if it you are struggling at any stage to the point you are distressed like the OP how on earth can this be assessed over the phone!

OP was truthful enough in describing where she was at, and got even more frustrated. Things can change rapidly, at the point a woman feels she needs extra support whether that be pain relief or reassurance she deserves to feel confident in the knowledge that she will be listened to and assisted.

Midwives spend our whole pregnancy telling us that every pregnancy is different, and yet we are all supposed to follow a set pattern for labour?

I have been told twice that 'nothing was happening' and encouraged to go home, if I had not have stood my ground I would have given birth in the car or hospital car park!

With DS2 Pain relief was not offered, and I was made to feel like I was being a wimp, until my waters broke and I was about to deliver my son, cue lots of panicking and trying to move me from a side assessment room into delivery while calling for assistance!

Had I have been listened to I would not have had the experience that I had, hence planned home birth for DC3, which was great. Same planned for DC4 due in 5 weeks.

I hope the OP got to hospital and was treated sympathetically and not fobbed off and is snuggling her baby as we speak!

And if she had to expand the truth to get someone to listen then surely all that matters is a positive birth experience and safe arrival without unnecessary stress on the OP's part.

The midwives dont seem to know what your going through, i was told to have a lie down and try to sleep!!! yes cos that would work, when and hour and wenty minutes later they were phoning my now ex to get there quick or he would miss the birth, sure i will just sleep through it shall i?? Nearly did though on the gas and air. Could quite easily have!

The advice given by my hospital is to stay at home as long as possible but if you are concerned/ feel you are not coping that you should ring in and come in to be seen.

Hopefully staying active will help to keep things moving and you will be able to go in soon and get some pain relief.

I agree with loony too!!!

Good luck op!

My contractions were 7-10 minutes apart the entire way through labour and pushing. According to the homebirth midwife I wasn't in labour, according to the 3 in 10 rule I never was in labour- my dd arrived an hour later, after we had driven ourselves to the hospital! My advice would be listen to your own body, it was my first baby but I knew that it definitely wasn't early labour, and thank goodness otherwide dd would have been delivered by my husband. I take every opportunity to tell people this story, since nobody told me it could happen.

Good luck, hopefully you're cuddling a newborn by now.

Surely if you tell them your contractions have 'slowed down' when they haven't you're more likely to end up with interventions/monitoring etc? Just tell them the truth: you're not coping with the pain any more and are coming in. End of.

My hospital (Calderdale) said it had to be every 2 - 3 minutes. I am in the middle of a complaint with them as it was all horrendous and was kept waiting and not examined til 7cm dilated, despite arriving (and being fobbed off) about 5 hours earlier. My advice is same as loonybun LIE - say they are closer together than they are. Once they have then examined you and set ball rolling, hopefully you should get more help than i did even if they put you on a monitor or something. If i had another baby (which i wont after horrendous exp) that is what i would do. I told truth and got left to suffer.

hostelgirl, I definitely agree. I spent 24 hours with contractions that were very painful, very long (2-3 mins every time) but never settling down to a 2-3 min routine. I wasn't dilating at all, it took 36 hours to go from 2 to 4 cm, and it would have meant that I would have been utterly shattered by the time it came to pushing if I didn't have an emcs in the end. As it was, by the time I finally hit 4cm I opted immediately for an epidural because I just needed some sleep. Because I didn't make a fuss I wasn't examined at all, and it turned out my waters had been leaking a tiny trickle for a long time, they were infected, and my daughter ended up in SCBU for five days on IV antibiotics. Now obviously I would have been leaking and infected anyway, but now all I can think about is how much more poorly my daughter might have been if I hadn't opted for that epidural, which meant I was finally monitored and she was discovered to be in distress.

If things aren't settling down to that nice, steady routine that the hospital want or you are in a lot of pain then you need to make a fuss.

There appears to be a ridiculous guideline as well that examinations are only to be done every 4 hours?!? (I had been examined on admission an hour earlier)

This was said to me after I had signalled to DH that the midwife needed to check 'down there' as I felt my waters go and my sons head crowning!

DH said well I don't think he will wait 4 hours, I can see his head!

So I stand by my 'he who shouts the loudest' and unfortunately as other posters have agreed the truth cuts little mustard with over run maternity units and over worked midwives!

It seems you have to have a baby hanging out of your fanjo to be taken seriously!

At what point are we allowed to know what we can tolerate and have the confidence in the knowledge that when the time comes we will be offered the pain relief required?

As opposed to a complete stranger taking one look, or conversation on the phone and deciding that actually we are not suffering enough to warrant assistance?

Our experiences impact the rest of our lives, as Hostel has said she feels that having had such a traumatic time she will not have anymore children, that is very sad.

There is a clear difference in a false alarm, and someone genuinely reaching a point of distress, why would you allow that to continue,just because it doesn't meet the 'rule'?

Couldn't have put it better myself, merrier. I think I spoke to the same mw on the phone four or five times during her shift, each time saying that I was in real pain and struggling to cope and she just kept telling me to take paracetemol and have some rest. She obviously remembered who I was when she spoke to me. I felt that by the third or fourth call she might have accepted that I was struggling and needed some more support. It is definitely sticking to very rigid guidelines that mean women like hostel can end up feeling that they are too traumatised to have another child.

hostel - I'm really sorry if this sounds like I am prying, but have you thought about an elcs? I ended up having an emcs and I didn't find the surgery or recovery bad at all. I hated labour and, as I mentioned above, because my baby was ill and I 'failed to progress', I will be fighting for an elcs next time.

I had an awful experience too and at 34 weeks with dc2 I'm seriously frightened because of what happened! I didn't follow the 3 in 10 rule either and apparantly wasn't in labour and so not allowed in (1 hour before my ds was born ) so I would definitely advise anyone in op's position to lie! Some mws really don't take notice of what women are saying if they're not following exactly what the books say.