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 know it sounds bizarre but..... the day that ds3 was born, I got in the shower in the morning and started singing 'Tonights the Night' by Rod Stewart, and sure enough, that afternoon, labour started, and he was born that night. (I would NEVER normally sing that in the shower).

When ds1 was born, I had a real NEED to bake cookeis and had just done the dough when my waters broke. I spent a lot of the labour asking my dh if he had remembered to put it in the fridge so it wouldn't go off.

Ollie, did you ring midwife? best of luck...

My waters broke at about 2.30 in the morning. I I had no other physical signs before that at all, although during the day before I had a very strong feeling that I wouldn't have to wait much longer. It was the first time I had felt like that, in the evening I had said to dh 'The baby is ready to come now'. My ds was almost 3 weeks early so no real reason to think it would start yet, I just knew it was going to happen.

The babies head was not engaged and there were some other complications (babies heart rate was dropping very low with contractions right at the beginning of the contractions) so I ended up having a cs.

Good luck Ollie!

DS1 --induced at 9pm. Waters broke in my sleep at 2am. Hurt like hell from about 4am. PUshed at 5am and out by 5:45 (had diamorphine)

DS2 - niggly pains at 6:00, worse pains at 6:45, contractions from 7:00 (in car on way to hospital), pushed at 7:15, ds2 born at 7:21...didnt make it to the delivery room (no pain relief - not even gas and air)

I was in hospital (due to pre-eclampsia) and had been told on the Thursday that I would be induced on the Saturday.

Friday morning at 6:30am I was asleep and felt a feeling inside me like snooker balls crashing into each other. Then there was a torrent of liquid rushing out of me and when the midwife came round for her morning checks she agreed my waters had broken.

I had a few period type pains during the day but nothing too bad until 6:45pm when I realised what contractions were. They got worse and by 8:45 I was in "established labour". DS was born at 2:50am.

DS was born at 38+3 by the way.

I enjoyed my labour... the worst bit of the whole thing was having the drip put in to be induced, that also took the longest because I made such a fuss that they had to get a doctor to come and do it while they pinned me down! after that it was 70 minutes, really strong double wammy contractions but I managed with the gas and air and the pushing out bit felt really nice! 3 pushes and there he was...

Hoping for a homebirth this time, so that those nasty midwifes can't cupfeed my baby on the sly!!

dd1 40+6 woke up at around 7.30am went to the loo and thought... hmm that didnt feel like a wee, hotter and gushier! went back to bed and started squelching! dh rang mw at around 10am who advised a trip to sainsburys and a long walk!
about 4pm i got in the bath an wallowed there feeling slightly sick, dh filled pool, 2 mw arrived about 6pm andi was 4 cm, they suggested a walk up the road( a hill) pain but able to breathe through it, had pethidine(which i regret) at around 10pm as i was getting tired, but threw up instead and wouldnt let dh leave my side, mw's rifling through freezer and cupboards with mum to find something to eat! around 3am i was 7cm and got into pool, slighlty harder to breathe thru it then, had gas and air, dd then decided to take it easy and everything slowed down! had to get out of pool. as this really helped the pain
got to 8cm and had urge to push resulting in anterior lip! great, think i got into every single position imaginable and then some, as suggested by mw's and eventually they were able to push lip out of way, 2 big pushes at 5.30am and she came out in one!
the cord snapped and then had to go to hospital for manual removal. yuk!

dd2 40+7 didnt know i was in labour, had the most excutiatingly painful urge to poo, after an uncomfortable evening, went to bed, woke up at 12.30 am having told dh... wont be happening tonite, as had no show, no reduction in baby movement,no engagement or dropping down and no frantic urge to scrub the inside of the oven! ended up on hands and knees on bathroom floor which was the only way to relieve the pain, all the time not thinking that this was it! felt a bit sick at around 2 am and then thought... hmmm is this labour, went into dh and said could he time them... 1 minute long 3 minutes apart....err that would be labour then, rang mw's but no one on community so had to go to birthing centre, arrived 4am and was told 2cm which was unexpected given strength and frequency of contraction, still breathing thru, transferred to hospital at 6.10 after concerns that feotal heart rate was dipping in time with contractions, told it wont be long now! then after a second exam only 4 cms... frantic urge to push... huge amounts of gas and air.... sudden panic... need for epidural.... aaaaaagh! emergency section... dd was short corded which was why she hadnt moved down and caused me to dilate and the cord was round her arm and neck.
2 very very different births but with a great outcome!

Started off last Monday afternoon (37+5) with irregular pains in left side only, carried on rest of thy and night. Went to hospital in the early hours of Tuesday, no contractions found and pains diagnosed as IBS. Pains carried on all day, in evening started feeling definite contractions, very irregular but often frequent. Off to hosp in early hours of Weds, was admitted, 1.5-2cm dilated. Contractions on and off all Weds morning, stopped around lunchtime, came back with a vengeance early afternoon, epidural a couple of hours later, after which I went from 2.5 to 9cm in space of an hour and a bit! Then fully dilated but contractions tailing off, put on a syntocin (sp?) drip, had waters broken, contractions back but baby wasn't budging, ECG started dipping so was allowed to push, 1/2 an hour of pushing later ds was delivered at 7.20 pm Weds by ventouse and episiotomy.

dabihp don't worry about pooing on the delivery table - it may happen given all the pushing you'll be doing but by hat time you literally won't give a shit!

1st time - had a gripy tum and sat on the loo for 20mins having a good " clear out" - contractions then started. No signs prior to this.

2nd time - woke up early in the morning with period -type pains, went down to the kitchen to get a drink and had a show. Waters broke an hour later and contractions started about 2 hours after that.

I saw my midwife in the morning, she said I still had a while to go as ds's head wasn't engaged. Had a show when I got home but no pains or contractions until 7pm. I just went straight from nothing at all to strong contractions every 5 mins. My waters didn't break until I got to hospital, was already 5 cm dilated by then.

due for a home birth went for check up in the morning sill 2 weeks to go all was well felt a little heavy! 1045pm waters broke unexpectedly phoned hospital they told me to go in ,told them due a home birth,they said it was the rules so got in the car dripping ,got to the hospital they said"what are you doing here your down as a home birth"his first my 4th so sent me home to sit and wait.contractions started at 1145pm no real agony just dull really kicked in about 130am rang midwife again she said she was on her way no sign of her at230am .finally she arrived at 250am daughter born at 302am at home

labour with my dd was 9hours,i didnt have any bh's,just a show in morning and tightening of bump,went to hospital 4hours after show cos i was getting contractions bout 5mins apart,went from 2cm to fully dilated in space of an hour,dd born with hole in her lung through stressful delivery,had a ventouse and episiotomy,my waters didnt break till bout 20mins before my dd was born.with my ds,went to be induced 5days overdue at my request cos i was sh*ing myself,they broke my waters at 6.30pm,asked for epidural straight away but had to wait till 3am,epidural just gave me pins and needles in my legs for 10mins and then i was screaming again,had me pushing for 3hours till they realised ds arm was stuck up by his head,had ventouse and episiotomy,labour was 12hours long.dd was 6lb4oz,ds was 8lb 6oz.

On my due date, my waters started leaking very slightly so I rang the delivery suite and they told me to come in, after waiting 2 hours I had an checked over (without an internal examination) by one of the midwifes and was told that it wasnt my midwife it was just discharge. A few days went by and after going through 48 maternity pads I rang them again and spoke to the midwife who checked me over and she said not to bother going in again, * days after my due date (when I went in) I had my postmature day...and was checked internally, after that I was told that all my waters had gone and I had to be induced in the next few hours because me and my baby had been open to infection for 8 days. I was put on a ward, and a couple of hours moved down to delivery suite and put on a drip to start off my contractions and also a drip of antibiotic. After 4 or 5 hours I was getting 3 contractions a minute so they had to slow the drip down. I had gas and air with my contractions as they got stronger. After nearly falling asleep I gave up on the gas and air, and started pushing without any pain relief at all. 2 hours later i gave birth to my gorgeous baby boy. luckily. he was healthy with no infections.

DS1-6 days late, over h.marshes watching football with period pains (after having show in morning), got home about 2pm, waters broke as i sat down (big gush), contraction every 10-15mins, phoned hospital, told to come when C more regular, went to hospital at 6pm (contractions every 2-3 minutes by now), examined and was 5 cms, kept in, had gas and air (lots of it), examined again at 10pm and was 6cms, was told if i dont have baby that night then i would be put onto drip to speed things up, 2am examined again and was still 6cms,put on drip, my contractions were coming every 5-6 minutes now, asked for something to help me get some sleep for i was really tired but the contrations would keep waking me each time! Given some pethidene, got couple hours sleep, woke up with the urge to go to the toilet (have a really big poo! sorry if tmi), but midwife was shouting dont your dear start pushing yet???, then it was change over for the midwifes, new midwife examined me and i was fully dialated and i was ready to start pushing, so i pushed for my life and DS1 was born after 5 pushes! Had a small tear and needed 2 stitches and they bloody hurt (more than pushing the head out), but it was all worth it in the end. I had a healthy baby boy, weighing 8lb 6oz.

PAINFUL

Waters broke at 7.30am, 24 hours before I was due for induction. Labour started at about 8.30 and I coped OK with TENS and birthing ball at home til about 2.30pm. Arrived at hospital 4cm dilated and the consultant insisted I stay on labour ward not go to birth centre - by this stage I was past caring and was fine in the bath with gas and air til about 9pm.

Was still only 6cm at 9.30pm and had to have synotocin drip and catheter in case bladder was in the way. Also strapped to monitor and stuck lying down. Medical history meant no epidural so still only on gas and air and TENS. Finally got to 10cm at 3am after 17 hours of contractions 3mins apart. At 4am midwife called doctors in realising that I was pushing to little avail as her head was emerging sideways with her hand on her forhead. There was lots of panic as heartrate on monitor dipped.

I was put in stirrups and it was then another 50mins of pushing along with ventouse and episiotomy before doctor managed to twist Ruby the right way round and deliver her at 4.50am.

Unbelievably there is not a mark on her bar a small bruise on her hand and she had an immediate APGAR score of 10. So all in all perfect baby but NIGHTMARE labour...well, you did ask!!!

Yikes !

very painful, very long, never to be repeated experience again.

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

Nervous - I was being induced for a VBAC.
3hrs after the first pessary.
Yes - 3 days before I was induced.

Description of labour in short, hell, hell and more hell (had all the pain relief going - but all but the first shot of pethidine failed.)

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

Had contractions after my 2nd sweep on the friday, all fri night(didnt sleep), saturday at noon they broke my waters, contractions were thick and fast after that, didnt dilate, stuck at 4cms till late sat evening, was talk of an em c/s, was put on drip-that they turned up too high to the point i felt i was going to die/pass out...epidural-that was bliss for about 1hr then wore off, they tried to top up, but not successful, high as a kite on gas and air(thats what kept me going) anyways after 2hrs 45mins of pushing they did a cut, then ds was out in 2 pushes weighing a hefty(for my build!) 8lb 13 1/2oz!

its amazing how you forget though, now expecting again in nov........must be mad!!

oops, forgot to say ds wasnt born till 2.43am on the sunday, so was in labour about3 days, hope it goes smoothly for you x

The worst part for me was the burning as the babies head was about to be delivered and I remember the midwife saying just push through the ring of fire. Gas and air is great and I was as high as a kite.