33 weeks, 1st child, got questions on labour and aftercare

[saranga]

Hey all.
I have a few questions I hope someone can answer for me!

When do you feel the urge to push? Is it when you're at 10cm dilated or is it earlier? Does everyone get to 10cm?

What do I do if I have stop/start contractions for a while? Would I need to ring the hospital to inform them it had started or would I only ring them when I thought I was ready to go in?

Is there are rough guidance as to how long the second stage lasts for? I think my ante-natal class said the second stage is from 4 cm to 10 cm. Is that right?

Are maternity pads different to regular heavy flow sanitary towels? Which ones should I bring to the hospital with me?

Thanks for the help guys!

I never felt the urge to push

Ring when your contractions become regular - every X minutes. They may ask you to go in and be seen, or sometimes chatting to you over the ohone they can tell how urgent they are.

Second stage lasted 12 hours for me but I think thats well past the average

Yes to bringing maternity pads. They contain different materials, are much much more absorbant, no scents or chemicals and are a lot cheaper than sanpro. I took two packs of ten in last time and didnt use them all.

First stage is active labour, second stage is pushing, third stage is the placenta. All of them are 'how long is a piece of string' I'm afraid.

You want proper maternity pads for hospital. Regular sanitary towels will not cope. Also, they are almost always scented, which you don't want on delicate bits. I'd recommend taking the big thick padded maternity ones to hospital. They are nice and soft to sit on if you've stitches, or even if you're just a bit sore.

The urge to push can come too early, at 10cm or not at all. Be guided by your MW's and your body on the day.

If you have stop/start contractions it is best to wait as long as possible. You don't really need to call until you think you want to go in. However, if you get to the point you feel you want support, give them a call.

What do you mean by 'does everyone get to 10cm'? Before the urge to push, or at all? The baby basically doesn't fit out until roughly 10cm!

You will have an appointment with the MW at around 36 weeks and she will be able to give you some literature on this but here is my experience/what I know.
Urge to push- sometimes the urge to push happens before 10cm but your MW will know if you are ready and will likely tell you that you need to breathe and relax and find ways of dealing with this as pushing before you are fully dilated can result in higher chance of damage down there. Mine started at 10cm and felt like I needed to poo.

When to call the hospital-
Call the hospital if you water has broken (they will need to know as if you are not progressing after 24 hours with waters broken this can risk infection and you will need to go in)
Or call the hospital when you are having regular and strong contractions and lasting 50 seconds plus, or call when you feel you can no longer cope at home and need to come in.

How long does second stage last?
Second stage (aka active labour) is considered from 4cm-10cm dilated.
This stage can last minutes but more likely hours. This is very individual but once you are 4cm and you should be having regular strong contractions you will be able to be admitted to wherever you are having your baby and can continue to be monitored. The MW/OB/doctor will know if everything is progressing at a normal rate.
Most first time births are a longer longer than second and subsequent births and average around 12 hours but have known many to go for 24/36 including transient phase.

Do not bring super absorbent normal pads. Maternity pads are specifically designed to help monitor the amount of blood loss. Normal pads contain an absorbency chemical which makes it harder to monitor blood loss.

Once you are assured your blood loss is normal you can use whatever pads you like (I ran out at one stage and used a newborn nappy )

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

Penguins: That's what I wanted to know! 10cm sounds awfully big. But then newborns look awfully big.

Second stage isn't active labour. That's the first stage. Second stage is pushing: nct linky here.

Confusingly, the hard work of 0cm to active labour doesn't get a 'stage', it's just the latent stage.

Thanks guys.

Stupid latent stage. Should be called 5 stages then. latent, active, transitional, pushing and then placenta.

first stage is cervix dilating, and there can be a long latent stage where cervix is softening and starting to open. Most MW consider you in active labour from 4 cm, and then they expect very roughly 1cm per hour, but it can be quicker or slower than that, and not always linear progression. You have to get to 10 cm or the baby will have to come out the sunroof! Then there's a phase called transition where you change from 'opening' contractions to 'pushing' contractions and women commonly struggle and think they can't do it at that point. Once you are pushing that is second stage until the baby is born, then 3rd stage is delivery of the placenta. There is often some sort of time limit on second stage based on whether the baby is ok, you would expect it to be shorter than first stage.
For example, in my first labour I had 6 hours of active labour followed by 1 hour of pushing, then managed 3rd stage so delivered placenta a few minutes later. Second labour was less than 2 hours start to finish! I think 10-12 hours is average for delivery of a first baby ( active labour to end of second stage)
You are normally advised to stay home as long as you are coping well with contractions, but you can always phone for advice at the time. When contractions are strong and regular or you need more pain relief options then you go in. If they assess you as not being in active labour you might be sent home again, but they won't mind you going in to be checked.

I found the Natal Hypnotherapy CDs really helpful in learning to trust that my body knows how to do this.

Just on pushing, I expected that there would be some magic point at which the contractiony feeling turned to a pushy feeling. I thought the urge to push would be like (sorry TMI) when you feel you have a poo coming and you think "ah, let's push it out".

What really happened was that the pushing feeling was much more automatic and involuntary, closest thing I could compare it to is the vomiting reflex, except in your whole body. My whole body just convulsed in a big expulsive urge, I had no control over it whatever.

The transition stage, the cramping started to feel a bit like cramping pains and at the same time slight sensations like throwing up, sort of all together. Gradually I noticed the cramping getting less and the throwing up convulsing feelings getting bigger. I now realise that was transition!

Good luck.

Labour has no time limits.

Early labour/ latent phase is when your cervix is changing and preparing for labour. Shortening, softening, head descending, dilating up to 4-5cm. This can be hours, days, weeks. On average I would say a few days. This is spent at home unless there were concerns over maternal and fetal well being.

Active/established labour is from 4-5cm up to fully dilated or pushing. This on average for a 1st baby is 10-18hours. The guidance is dilating 0.5cm per hour. You may start to feel urges to push and a sense of being out of control which is transition towards the end.

2nd stage is from 10cm to baby out. Anywhere from minutes to 4hours.

3rd stage is birthing the placenta and membranes. Anywhere from minutes to a couple of hours

Everyone is totally different.

My latent stage goes on for weeks. Lots of start stop contractions getting cervix and body ready and up to 4cm .

Active labour 4cm-10cm lasts me about 10minutes.

Second stage - never felt the urge to push more like a poo is coming by its self very strange sensation. And upset my midwives as I didn't want to push either time. Again happened in about 15 minutes.

Third stage over in about 5 minutes .

So a long latent phase doesn't mean labour will be slow.