early labour, how long was yours and how can i speed it up?

[diddle]

I have been experiencing period pains and strong contractions, since last night, they are very irregular, but painful. Have been advised that it is early labour.

I was just wondering what could speed it up or slow it down?

and also any idea how long this could last for before baby arrives?

bath to slow it down

bounce on a birthing ball, walk sideways up the stairs to speed it up

no idea how long though.

am very jealus as i'm due tommorrow and no sign yet!

jealous!

Remember to eat, drink and wee regularly

thanks you. will get bouncing.

I was in labour for 6 days ! (Sorry). first contraction was at midnight on a Wednesday. Ds was born at 3.38am the following Tuesday ! The big thing that sped things up = speed bumops !! Go over them in a car - bloody hurts - but definitely speeded everything up my end ! Good luck x

my sister is due in 5 weeks and her MW has told them all to 'scrub the oven on all fours' to speed up contractions, she says itll make them pass fast and you accomplish something useful!
when I was in early labour I ran up and down stairs (it did help but Jesus, its not like I normally exercise or anything...just felt like it at the time)

I was for 14 hours, not too bad compared to some.

Good questions, Diddle. I'm in the same boat at the moment. I've been having contractions on and off since Friday and am keen on some tips. Thanks to the other posters for your suggestions.

Primi you'll have to change your name to multip if you go on to have another

Don't forget ladies... nipple stimulation is great (for helping the contractions along..... minds...gutter..... ladies) lol

sex & nipple stim

rest

eat

sleep

raspberry leaf tea with honey

don;t try to stay up all night waiting, once thigns get going, you won;t sleep through it

bath might relax and slow things

Keep walking - helps the head push against cervix - don't get too knackered though - I was advised to so this and walked all 26 miles of hospital corridor (I kid you not) It took me about 5 weeks to get over the birth as I was just so exhausted after 2 nights of no sleep plus a marathon!

primigravida - how far along are you?
glad the thread is helping you too. mine are now rather painful, breathtaking, and coming irreguarly around the 7 min mark. I was woken up Saturday night with pains and one night last week too, so i hope baby has been secretly getting a move on.

Tried the nipple stimulation and while i was doing it, it worked great, but now ive stopped the contractions are slowing too.
I've also taken the dog for a briskish walk, and that worked, they started coming every 5 mins while was out there.

I'm 38 weeks pregnant on Friday so I shouldn't really try to bring the baby on but I'm sick and tired off having contractions on and off. Mine got down to three minutes apart on Saturday night but then they slowed down and for the last couple of days have been most erratic. I got some raspberry leaf tea today and went for a walk which brought some on but whenever I lie down or take a bath they seem to go away.

Hopefully, we'll both have our babies soon.

starlight - well thats made my day! hope its true.

prima - i'm shattered, pains are stronger but still irregular. apparently baths do slow it down. i've been having showers instead, nice pain relief on my back too.

iseem to get more regular conractions hen im sitting doing nothng, once i start moving around they go eratic again

seeing my midwife tomorrow afternoo, so i'm ging to ask her for a sweep and to see if she can tell me whas going on.

Starlight - that has genuingely made me lol ! I'm not sure it's true tho ! After 4 and a half days of contractions, I was admitted, and MW broke my waters. That was at 9am. Baby was born 19 hours later after 3 epidurals, forceps, an episiotomy, and ventouse ! Sorry x
Although - it's still all worth it !

diddle - i had 2 days of early labour and i walked/ bounced this baby out. i kept moving beause once i sat/ lay down - all action stopped. i was getting VERY **ed off with it all but things quickly changed when i started to push at home. dd was delivered 7 minutes and 2 pushes after arriving in hospital.

i was a devoted raspberry leaf te fan form 37 weeks - by the end i was drinking nothing else!

Diddle, you have my sympathies. I know how you feel. It's so hard to sleep at night when the contraction keep on waking you up and they're just bloody tiring not to mention painful. Mine were worst today when I was trying to do a supermarket shop. I've had four cups of raspberry leaf tea today but am too tired to go for any long walks.

Thanks to the other posters and Diddle for making me feel less of a freak, everyone I know in RL has had normal labours and I was feeling a bit useless.

Take care, Diddle and good luck.

primi - you're not a freak

i've managed to get to 4cm dilation since yesterday. Saw the MW yesterday morning, and i wasn't dilated and she couldn't reach my cervix to even do a sweep.
Had much stronger but not many contractions last nigt, and this morning was examined again, and i'm now officially in labour. Although the contractions have slowed right down, just waiting for them to pick up, then we'll be off to the hospital.

good luck to you Primi x

Hi Diddle, my contractions got really bad last night as did the vomiting and diarrhoea. I still wasn't ver dilated though so they've figured out that it's actually a stomach bug that's giving me the nasty intermittent contractions so I'm on bed-rest and co-codomol now in an attempt to shake off the bug before real labour comes along. No more walking around for me, apparently that was exacerbating things.

Congratulations on being in official labour and best of luck!

best of luck diddle, absolutely wonderful... look forward to baby news xxx

syncotin