longest latent phase of labour ever going slightly insane ? 3rd baby experiences??

[mum2boys1504]

Hi , thanks for reading. I feel like I'm an in the Loooooonnnnngessst early labour of all time. This is my 3rd baby. I am 38 weeks today and I've never had this before. I have been having regular, painful , timable contractions, period pains , back pains, pressure etc midwife confirmed I am in latent phase of labour ..but this has now been nearly 48 hours and nothing is budging!!! They are 10 minutes apart for around 14 hours, then 6 minutes but then sit stopped for the night, now they are back again and it's not braxton hicks.. I've heard 3rd babies can often do this and the actual birthing and very quick? Any tips ? Also how long can this possible go on for when did your little monkeys make an apapramce if you had a loooong latent phase!?? Thank you so much

Bump

A friend of mine seriously it was at least a week. Then the actually birth was very easy and quick.

Have you considered home birth so at the very least you have the "pack" of stuff you need at home in case it is rapid?

I was induced for all of mine which took several hours but the actual labour for 3 and 4 were minutes 🫣 the last was waters gone, 8cm, crowned, delivered in 3 contractions and a 1 minute labour recorded.

I had this for a week with my third. Then he shot out in 15 mins no midwifes there so my advice would be to be prepared for it to potentially go very quickly. I prepped a homebirth but didn't even have time to get in my filled up birthing pool he just arrived 🙈

It might be because the baby isn't in the ideal position and the contractions can help with rotation. It maybe isn't progressing because the head isn't pushing down enough iyswim. See it as a good chance to make sure rotation happens prior to active labour? When you have contractions get on hands and knees and wiggle. See spinning babies website for better descriptions.
I had similar to you but once she turned it got going fast.

Obviously you may just be a slow burner this time, but getting on your hands and knees won't hurt anyway. Worth a go!

Yep this was my 3rd as well! Contractions started in the evening, on and off through the night, through the next day, I sent the other DC to my mum's and DH to work. Went to bed on night 2, waters went in the middle of the night and he arrived an hour later. It was a planned homebirth and the midwives only arrived 15 minutes before he did, when DH had rung the hospital the second time to find out where they were they wouldn't let him put the phone down as it was looking like we'd be doing a DIY job😂

Yep, contractions started on Tuesday lunchtime around 10 minutes apart then stopped and started over the next three days. They weren’t really painful though and some felt like Brixton Hicks.

On Friday, we DTD at lunchtime in an effort to get him out. Two hours later my waters broke and an hour and half after that he was born. Good luck - I found it really difficult to deal with the false starts and it felt like I’d been waiting for him for ages even though it was only three days x

I would love to home birth but I am high risk due to low papp a and strep b. This is what worries, that once ACTIVE labour starts I'm scared he will FLY out. So appreciate replies and experiences. This is very different. With my last 2 waters broke then went to contractions etc
Thankyou

Omg this is what I'm scared of!!! Sorry its half term and can reply better to everyone later ... so what your contractions were 5 mins then 4 mind then push? Like when do I go hopsital ? Oh dear x I've been told this a few times now lol

Omg I really don't know what to do as I'm meant to have iv for strep b .. most midwifes are so patronising or lost too textbook for me .. I feel like they don't listen or trust mums sometimes

This happened with my third and his neck was just at an awkward angle so midwife gave some jiggling exercises and then the labour progressed

Oh no, I would definitely be going up for physical checks, you may have to be insistent.

Ooh any ideas where I could find these jiggles lol

The shorter the time between waters breaking and birth, the lower the risk from strep B, so from that point of view a very quick active labour is not necessarily a bad thing even if they decide there won't be time for ABs. They will keep you in for twelve hours for monitoring the baby instead.

Yes exactly same with third. But they ended up inducing me to speed things up and it took less than two hours once that kicked in

I had this for over a week! Was even 4cm dilated at my checkup and was still over another full week before the birth. Like others said the birth was then very quick so overall preferable to my others.

Oh thankyou that's really informative. I really appreciate everyone's responses. I you'd think 3rd time round I'd be an expert. Guess babies are just so unpredictable. I also am terrified of my Partner having 2 help me give birth! When do you guys think I should go in??

That is an option, to ask to be induced if you are already dilated so you get the IV antibiotics. You definitely need to be having a discussion with the midwives.

This is me right now. In hospital 40 weeks contracting since Saturday constantly . Intense contractions that have disappeared to nothing then return hours later. Can't speak with the pain during them and been stuck at 3cm since this morning. It's soul destroying really. U are correct midwifes telling me this can be common. Isn't half awful going through it though OP. It's emotionally draining.

This was me on and off for 2 weeks before baby eventually made her arrival. I knew it was different the morning of her birth because I felt mild period cramps at the same time rather than just intense pressure and contractions alone. And the contractions didn't disappear this time. By 4pm I'd arrived at triage and assessed as 0cm dilated and they suggested going home!!. There was no way i was doing that because the pains were far too intense and i KNEW this was it. I walked the corridors for the next 4 hrs and by 8pm I was 10cm dilated!! She was born by 9:25pm in the pool just as i'd planned 🤗

I have my obstetrics a.d midwife to day so wll update. All stalled again yesterday but still LOTS of pressure x

Hi OP, would you mind giving an update?

I’m assuming baby has now arrived and hope it all went well. When did you go in? I am also 38w and have low Papp-a but have had two previous quick births.

My consultant has had lots to say about when we might induce due to growth etc but no advice regarding a potentially quick third delivery

Had baby last week
In the end induction failed. He kept trying and I kept going Into labour just for it to start and stop over again and again. I won't go into too much detail but for various reasons I decided to go for a elective c section over induction as the induction process was putting too much strain and pain and literally no cervix changes. So decided instead of carrying on the induction process I went for c section as out of 8 women in the induction ward 4 ended in emergency c section anyways. Baby healthy n happy 9lb7

Congratulations! So glad baby is finally here. I had a similar experience recently with my third. Think they're the "wild card" baby 😂 enjoy your baby bubble