Transition

[MoosMa]

What is it? I've seen it mentioned loads but seem to have missed something...

it is the part of labour, that is the most intense, as you approach full dilation, but before you start to push...it is the part where most women declare they have changed their minds and want to go home ! the contractions are really intense at that point and you can often feel shaky and flushed....but the good news is that you are almost at the end ! once you are through that , it is time for the second stage and meeting your baby !

I go to sleep during mine!

Oh, I think that's the bit where I was snoozing too. They woke me up and told me I could push. Thanks Lulumama

I slept through mine! Slumped over the side of the birthing pool sucking intermitently on gas and air

God, remember this with ds (first birth) - I dilated really quickly so no-one (least of all me!) was expecting it ... m/w tried to leave to do paperwork ... cue me screaming, "come back, come back NOW I'm going to push, I am, I AM, I AMMMMM, and I will DIE if you don't come back!!!!"
Didn't notice it with second birth...!

God, so wish I'd been aslepp

or even asleep

I went all weepy and started apologising through mine.
It's weird I found my contractions suddenly stopped ( the ones that were dilating the cervix I guess) everything went kind of peaceful, next thing I know I'm trying to sh*t a watermelon and grunting like a camel.
Not wanting to put you off or anything

I remember it with my first, dh and mw saying you're doing really well, me screaming no I'm not, I can't do it, stop saying that I'm not doing well then saying I want to push

I did cheat as I'd had an epidural by then so happily dozed between 5cm dilated and being told to push

God I wish I'd been asleep during it - I went from 2cm to 10cm in 1.5 hrs and screamed every text book cliche known to man just before the pushing.."get it out"..."I can't do this anymore"..."get me an epidural...NOW"

I get shakey and throw up. I've done it with all three. Did you know that if you overdo the G&A and then chuck, it's bright yellow? (why do we do it to ourselves?)

Mine was fairly grim, physically intensely painful but in a different way to contractions, lots of pressure building up, scary because my legs turned to jelly and I felt out of control of my own body and emotionally almost removed from the reality of the situation.

Transition - that was where I thought (since the midwives were of the opinion that I was in early labour), ummm, not sure that I can do this with just G&A if its going to get worse. Then they did an exam and said 'oh! You WALKED through here? How?'

i remember shouting at DH to get rid of the effing tens machine, to stop touching me (or dont come anywhere near me) and that i would never have another child. ever.

then came the pushing. during which time i was convinced the baby was stuck and would never come out.

and i was v. sick due to too much gas and air

With ds I didn't notice as too drugged up, with dd1 I 'imagined' that I told the mw to 'get my fing trousers off' ( I did actually tell her though - my dh laughingly told me later) and with dd2 I yelled 'you bstard - get out of my body' at the baby as she was coming down - my dh laughed again - I would have punched him but I couldn't reach!

It's that bit where you demand industrial drugs... everyone is the room is there to annoy you..... you a)wanna go home now b)wanna do this tomorrow c)feel like you wanna die.

Haven't noticed any of my ladies sleeping through it yet... but will keep my eye out.

Message withdrawn

With DD - I was going to the pool now, NO I didn't need a sheet round me to cover my bare bum... if people stared they were just RUDE! Oh, and once in the pool - Don't look at me I feel like a goldfish

DS - Take me to the hospital and cut him out, I don't care about the f*ckin home birth

I didn't have a transition phase....just a very long slow progression to full dilation. I didn't know this was possible, they never mentioned it at ante-natal classes.

The transition phase of my first labour is completely missing from my memory, whereas I remember the rest quite clearly. With both subsequent labours I flung the G&A away from me in irritation because it suddenly stopped working for me, and got quite grumpy and unco-operative. With labour no2 this scared me but I recognised it with no3 and in a weird way welcomed it. With no3 I felt very aware and connected to what was hap[ening inside my body, and there was a strsange moment of peace before the nature of the contractions changed and second stage began. With no2 I went straight from transition to second stage, without a break in the contractions.

I was shaking uncontrollably during both of mine - knowingly informed the midwife that I was in transition when it happened the second time around, me being such an expert at childbirth by then of course

I was sick on G&A too which was right yellow but I pressumed that was because I had drunk about 8 bottles of lucozade

I apologised to everyone as it must be so boring!