Talk to me about your positive stories of a VERY long 1st stage of labour

[Jenny123G]

So I'm 37+2 today and expecting ds3
Ds1 was 40+11 induced
Ds2 was 40+2 spontaneos
I started with very strong contractions at 1.30 am on sunday morning which lasted till 4.30am same day then slowed right down. I had the whole bowel clear out and really thought this is it! Also suffered with period pains and dull aches.
That was then this is now....
Down to two mild contractions today still have my dull back ache, period pains, pressure pains down below and bowel exits but that's it. My husbands just called me to say he's working with a girl who went through this for a week!
I'm starting to think its a rather long false labour.
Any similar stories to share?

I had a similarly long week, every day it got worse and every day I thought "this is it!"...... and then it wouldn't be. It lasted about ten days.

When my waters finally went, it was 12 hours and 29 minutes exactly until I had the baby in my arms :) And I only pushed for half an hour :)

Hope it's as straightforward for you as it was for me when you get there!

Yup, had similar for weeks (sorry!). Got checked at 37 weeks, MW said "Not long now!" and I then proceeded to have contractions on and off until 40+5. It was seriously annoying, although the good news is that once I finally did go into labour it was all swift and straightforward - DS born in 9 hours with no interventions and just gas and air.

It helped for me to get into the mindset that it just wasn't happening. I went about my business and ignored the contractions which helped (somewhat!) to keep me sane. I'm now approaching 37 weeks again, but I have no signs so far.

We must be due around the same time :)

Sounds like the latent stage of labour, I had it too for 5 days, following D&V kicked it all off. Then one morning (day 6) contractions got closer together finally admitted at 4cm dilated, given pethidine so I could rest (amazing), had my waters broken, got in the pool and pushed! 12 hours from admission to baby. This was my first birth though.

Keep active if you can, change positions, rest as much as possible (hard I know). I watched tons of DVDs. Kept, needing to rewind as missed bits during contractions!

Sounds fairly common then all this, I'm still going! Contractions aren't all the time and when they're about they're mild so I ignore them, it's the lack of sleep and the feeling of babes head in between my legs when I can move getting me down. Thank god I'm seeing mw tomorrow x

Around the 38/39 week stages was 2-3cm dilated with mild cramping and loose bowels. Baby's head was engaged 4/5 and even 5/5 at times but that didnt make a difference (other than causing me to walk with an awkward waddle)!!!!
I remember leaning over the counter at KFC laughing with my hubby that i was in still in unproductive labour but determined to be out and about to the bitter end
After 40 weeks I had two unsuccessful sweeps to try and get things moving but baby wasn't born until induced/forceps delivery at 10 days overdue.
Being in mild labour for 2-3 weeks wasn't a drama, more annoying that Mrs Impatience hasn't got the baby delivered yet!

Well I'm now in the same boat as you Jenny. Contractions started today, were every 5 minutes or so from about 5am until about 1pm. They've calmed down a lot now. Seeing as I had exactly the same with DS for nearly 4 weeks so I'm not even kidding myself that anything is going to happen any time soon. It's a serious pain in the arse (literally!).