Birth 1, 2 and 3 were endless, how can I improve?

[Cigna]

Just a simple what can I do as my consultant doesn´t have any advice. So far with all three children I have had at least a full day (or night) of regular contractions (every three/four minutes). We only went to the hospital, when my husband couldn´t bear it any more and for me it got more difficult. All three times, upon arrival I had 5 centimetres and was told birth would be for the next two hours. However, nothing progressed, I was stuck on the bed with a monitor and each time was put on a hormone drip to increase the contractions. Then, I would get these horrible all over contractions that would come non-stop and are incredible hard to bear. Last time, I asked (and got) an epidural even at 8cm because the MW could see I couldn´t take no more. This should be my last delivery and I would like to at last have a ´nice´ one. Should I stay home longer? (we live 30 min away from hospital) any other tips? Why are my contractions so ineffective once we´re at the hospital? (they do hurt, it just doesn´t move anything). Is the drip standard? Thanks for your thoughts!

Oh, and just to complete an already long story, all three times it took at least 10 additional hours in hospital before baby was born (with me exhausted by then).

Sounds like my labour. Horrendously painful but completely ineffective contractions.

There's very little you can do to speed things up. Some women (like me) just have shit births.

I'm sure people will come along to tell you to walk, stand up, never sit down, dance, bounce etc but I don't think there really is any evidence for any of those things.

Contractions cause a dip in the oxygen supply to the baby each time, so they need to be effective and in a good pattern to be healthy, progressive ones. So I can see why they would suggest the drip of your pattern of contractions wasn't doing anything to progress labour. Foetuses can well tolerate a certain amount of oxygen restriction in labour for exactly this reason but it isn't great to let it go on for prolonged periods

It probably is just some little quirk of your body and as it happened three times, I think you are probably right to anticipate it might happen again. To be honest, if I were you, I'd get admitted as soon as labor began and ask for an epidural, but I appreciate that isn't everybody's preference. Being exhausted and in pain for a day or more of ineffective contractions sounds really tough so you have my sympathies. An early epidural can allow you to relax.

You'll also probably get people on here talking about doctors putting you on the clock and wanting you to deliver in a certain time. But the evidence does show better outcomes for babies if things progress at a certain pace, and worse outcomes if they drop too far behind the expected rate of progress. Obviously not every slower labour will have a poor outcome, but it is more likely.

You could also consider a section or induction for greater control?

Hypnobirthing practice will help to prevent anxiety / adrenaline release slowing it down.