Describe your labour...

[dabihp]

For all of us who are still waiitng, can u describe the beginnings of your labour...

how you felt that day?
Where pain started?
If waters broke?
etc...

general signs we can look out for... that maybe arent as obvious as painful contractions!

I was very spoilt in that I had a fab pregnancy, no braxton hicks and didn't even know I was in labour until I was 6cm. Even then the pains were what I'd describe as "period" type cramps. I had no show until after my internal and my waters didn't break until they were broken by Obst. minutes before babe was born (contractions came fast and furious after that though ). One thing that did tip me off though was that hours before, I felt the need to sit on the loo and poo like I'd never pooed before (no discomfort though). I don't know how long my official "labour" was but all seemed to be over from start to stop in a few hours. I'm 6 months pregnant with #2 and hoping like hell that I have another delivery like that one. Good luck!!!

Got to add that I was convinced I was going to be late as had absolutely no signs of imminent labour (except the poo thing that is .

i was induced on my due date, i went into the induction suit at 6pm and baby was monitored and my stats taked bp/pulse/temp ect, i has the pessary at 9pm and dp was sent home, slept untill 11pm woke up wiht contractions at 1am was given paracetamol (wtf????) had a bath at 3am went to labour ward at 6am, i had gas and air at 9am. had my waters broken at 12pm screamed for an epidural at 12.30pm had one at 1pm. ds was born at 3.31pm lovley and healthy and i couldnt feel a thing it was great

No warning, six days late, just woke up at 1am with contractions every 4 minutes - gradually increased to every 2 minutes - labour lasted 27 hours.

I had a show about 8am and was advised to walk about, so I did about 1 1/2 up a hill near our house, there was no pain, but later at about 11pm my waters broke, we went to hospital. I spent a night there with little pain, dh came and went as nothing worth worrying about, although it was irritating enough for me to have a tens machine the next day. I hadn't a clue what to expect in terms of pain, for a whole day then there was quite painful contractions about 20 mins apart...I was sitting in the cafe eating an icecream feeling pretty rotten, but not in labour. Dh went home as not necessary for him to stay as nothing much happening, even though painful, not proper labour. At around 9pm I had a paracetemol as had cramps in my stomach....at around 10pm feel asleep till about 12pm...awoke in absolute agony, had to walk around the ward alone holding on to the wall and taking deep breaths. As didn't know what labour was didn't know this was it, spent an hour and a bit like this as thought would be much worse and wasn't sure in this state when you should call someone. I was dilating (without dh, pain relief and on own in my hospital bed and the nurse poked a littlke to find out how far gone I was) had I known I would have got dh in at midnight....painful yes, felt awful but when dh arrived at 4am and ds delivered at 5.46am it was worth all the pain and a few hours later forgot the pain iykwin...a bit long but wanted to explain!

miles (1- 1/2 I meant)

i had a week of having BHs that were regular as clockwork and went on for hours at a time. Every time, I thought 'yes! this is going to be it!'. Was v F'ed off to wake up each morning with ds still in my tum. Towards the end of the week it felt like the BHs were getting more concentrated round my cervix. Actual early-labour pains (which woke me up one morning) were in the same place but with a pinching kind of pain. Waters didn't break till hours later.

oh, and two days before i went into labour, i had a sudden urge to paint a bit of the kitchen wall that we'd missed and that i'd been putting off for months - that was my nesting instinct kicking in

Oooohhhhh... this all sounds very painful!

Oooh yes it's bloody agony, and then they chew your nipples off.

Cute though

carolinamoon i was the same! kept having BH's and thinking it was it... but no!
the night before I was due to go and discuss induction I started getting contractions, but assumed they were BH's and went to bed.
woke about an hour later and they were quite regular.
hung around the hosue doing last minute things for an hour or so before waking DP, rang hosp who said stay at home til pain is too much.
went into hosp about 2 hours later when i felt I needed some pain relief (although didn't get any for around 5 hours after I got there!!!)
Waters were broken just before I was given my pethidine.
was in hospital for 14 hours before DS arrived! It hurt like HELL ITSELF!!!! epidurals are fab though

um, also had the poo-ing thing for a few days before labour began and a show the day before.

Woke up 9am on day 10 of being overdue. Had accepted that I was going to be pg forever lol!

Anyway, I was due to have the midwife round at lunch time for my second membrane sweep.
I had woken with what I thought was tummy ache-like I had eaten something bad. So I carried on regardless, cleaning and doing general housework until lunchtime(1 pm ish) when the midwife came.
I told her I thought I had eaten something that had upset my tummy, so she checked me straight away and told me I was 3cm dilated. EEEkkk!
I then had really bad diarhoera, to the point that I think I was empty!!
At about 3pm the contractions got bad, and I had to leave to go to the hospital(needed drugs!!)
I gave birth at 1.30am, but I had an epidural which I think personally slowed things down as I had to have a ventouse too.
I wouldn't change it though. I'm 4 months pg now, so it can't be that bad if we're all doing it again!

Great story hamster!

I'd rather have the runs than my experience of doing it all on the birthing table...

You poo'd on the birthign table?

oh dear god, think i am going to faint....

Message withdrawn

Waters broke in the afternoon.
Went to hospital who sent me home.
2 hours later the most goddam awful pains began -couldn't believe it could be such agony. Bad period pains my arse.
Partner rang hosp every 5 mins who said don't come in.
Went to hosp at about 9pm begging for pain relief. Pethidine in thigh - no relief. Gas and air - no relief. Pacing round room screaming with pain, threatened to jump out of window unless given something.
Hours later given epidural, thank the good lord.

Every birth is different!!!!

id be quite happy having the same labour again for any other future children i may (and hope to) have. i didnt have braxon hicks.

i woke up at 6:30am, had the show, went back to sleep til 10am, where i had watery blood which i was worried bout as i knew a little blood in the show was okay but nothing more (it was actually my waters had broken but i didnt realise as i had a small bump and so was "all baby") rang up the hospital, they asked me to come in at 1pm. They did an internal and told me my waters had broken. we were all as i had another month til my due date.

i started having contractions but they werent a regular pattern so they sent me home. about an hour later i was back with my contractions coming every 2 minutes, got to the hospital, sent to the waiting room as my room wasnt ready, and i dont think the midwives actually took me too seriously as i was 18 at the time too. so after i was screaming my head off next to this poor guy trying to watch the telly, my sis ran off to get a midwife, they checked me out, turned out i was 10cm dilated, was taken straight to my room, and with an hour of pushing with no drugs no matter how many times i begged for them lol, my dd was born at 5:47pm weighing 4lbs 13.5oz

I woke up 3am on due date felt uncomfortable- went to loo told hubby went back to sleep. Woke up 7.30 husband went to work wasnt sure if i had started irratice pains 12mins apart then 4mins then 2mins then back to 7mins. rang husband he came home about 8.30am had a shower rang hospital
9ish went in by car - couldnt sit properly on hands and knees in the back- arrived 9.30 (at hospital) midwife started to run the birthing pool had gas and air only place comfortable kneeling over bed on floor dd. born 10 .20am - Painfull but wonderful !( yes i too spent 30mins on the loo with the runs!)

Went to bed about 11pm feeling periody type pains (very low down, like mild cramp in your bottom).Thought it might be due to having put in a thrush pessary, which I'd felt ping high up.... or the babies head dropping lower, 12 days before due date so not worried. I hadn't felt any BH at all during pregnancy so didn't know what to expect. Woke in the morning with same vague cramping. Dp went to work at 7.30am . By 10.30am cramps had definately become contractions and were about 5 mins apart, so put on TENS and called dp. We got to the hospital at about 1.30pm (after dp had stopped at the garage on the way to get Pringles and sandwiches, telling me the midwife had told him to take snacks and we weren't prepared as the baby was early....) and I was about 4 cms dilated. I didn't have a show, or bowel evacuation!
Contractions continued to get stronger and by 4.00pm MW suggested breaking my waters to speed things up. That certainly worked and things really kicked off. Don't remember much about the next hour or so, v painful and feeling v spacey and out of it as had a shot of pethidine (horrible stuff, wouldn't do it again). Told it was ok to push by 5.45 and ds was born just after 6.00pm.
I was incredibly surprised, and v grateful for how it went. Not easy or painfree, but I've heard far far worse. I'd definately do it again!

Got woken up at midnight with period type pains coming every 10mins, at 1.55am coming every 5 mins, 4 am every 2 mins so made way into hospital where carried on walking around, at 9 am still every 2 mins and was 5cms dilated and fully effaced, at 12pm was fully dilated and every min then 12:53pm Darcie was born in her waters, contractions didn't hurt had gas & air and pethidine about hr half before born as bad pressure and wanting to push but not fully dilated on 9cms! slept through most when not walking around!!!!!!1

Had absolutely no signs, no braxton hicks, really thought i was going to have to wait until day 15 past due date when they planned to induce me.

I went 14 days over my due date. So at day 12 i had a sweep, day 13 i went on the longest walk i could possibly manage, and on day 14 i woke up at 4 or 5am with contractions 5 mins apart.

Wandered around at home for a while, got everything together and left for hospital at 7.30am. Went to sit in the passenger seat and jumped straight out again and suffered a contraction on my driveway. Laid on the back seat and told dp to drive. Felt like the world had come out to watch me labour as buses of school kids sat next to our car in traffic with me thrashing around on the backseat.
Sent to labour room where i was asked to give a urine sample, but contractions were coming so fast i only managed a drop which made the midwife laugh so much she had to show all her colleagues. She did internal to discover i was 4cm dilated. Dp read newspaper whilst i wandered round room like a madwoman, until midwife introduced me to the wonderful gas and air. At which point i laid on bed and went flying in the trees i could see out the window (honest i really believed it!).
At 1.30 i called midwife as had urge to push. Sadly i hadn't emptied my bowels beforehand like everyone else here, so yep it came out on the birthing table, but i was so high on gas and air i just pretended i didn't know .
Finally after an hour of pushing dd came out still in her sac which midwife burst just towards the end.
And then life was fantastic cos i had a beautiful baby girl.

It all started when I was walking round the supermarket with what felt like a rugby ball between my legs. That day I started getting pains like cramps. I rung the hospital and they said not to come unless I had to. I left it till the next morning after a sleepless night. At around 7am I went into the hospital. They examined me at 8am and I was 4cm! By 12noon was only 5cm and needed my waters broken! after that I went onto gas and air. At around 1.30pm pain was getting bad so went into birthing pool. At around 2ish felt like pushing. After a while of pushing and groaning, Little Madison was born weighing 8lb 14.5oz all on just gas and air. Also to my astonishment I didn't tear!!!

Hi Sorry to jump in on this thread, but I need some advice as I think Im going in to labour, and by reading this thread Im starting to panic! I am 35+4 wks and I had an internal done on Tuesday (in which hurt like hell) as I have been having painful BHs since last Thursday. I think i had a show yesterday morning (brownish jelly stuff). I woke up last night at about 2.30 with bad period like cramps and a really sore back and hips this went on all night lots of BHs but not regular I took paracetamol and tried to sleep. I have had two baths and serious bowel movements earlier on in the day which eased off the pain for a while but it came back at about 7pm and I feel as if I need to throw up aswell. I am getting a stabbing pain in the top left of my bump aswell. I am scared to ring the hospital incase they think I am wastng their time should I wait until my waters break/ will they break??? As you can see I havent got a clue what to do

With DD, at 7 days overdue my waters finally broke at 10pm, contractions started shortly after and were pretty mild. By lunchtime the next day they were getting a bit more painful. Went into hospital to be told I hadn't dilated at all so I came home and took some paracetemol to ease the pain. Contractions got more painful and started throwing up with each one (there's a lot of comotion going on in there you know ). Had a bath for 3 hours which helped but ran out of hot water so finally went back into hospital around 10pm. Got lots of lovely drugs and finally an epidural which was just the ticket. DD was born by emergency c/s at 6.15am as I had only dilated 5cm and she was showing signs of distress. Did I do it all again??? You betcha and was pregnant again 7.5 months later.

DS one day overdue I went for antenatal appointment to be told I was already 2cm dilated. Went home and to bed that night feeling very heavy and knew something was about to happen. Woke at 2am with contractions. Went to feast downstairs as I knew I'd get nowt in hospital. By 3am contractions were every 12-15 mins. 4am SIL arrived to babysit and DH took me to hospital. Was much more calm and chilled. Pain seemed nowhere nearly as bad as before. Still had lots of lovely drugs and dilated pretty quickly. DS was born naturally at 1.09pm and I got double rounds of toast and tea

Oh and I also pooed on the table. Don't worry about it, the midwives have seen it all and you don't give a toss who sees you in all your glory! In fact you will want to kiss everyone in a uniform by the end of it.

Ollie2005 if you are still there!

Don't feel silly about ringing the midwife, if you are not already in labour it certainly sounds like you soon will be! Are you feeling movements from baby still?

I would ring the midwife to describe the sharp pain too, she'll tell you all is well and then you can concentrate on relaxing and conserving your energy!
GOOD LUCK