advice please!! back to back, waters broken, 1 cm dilated and sent home

[grace09]

My sister's waters broke this morning and contractions started around lunchtime. She first went to hospital when waters broke but was sent home until contractions started. She went back to hospital at tea time when contractions were very painful in her back, lasting about a minute and 3 minutes apart. She was told she was only 1 cm dilated and was told the a baby was back to back which was why her contractions were so painful and close together. Anyway she was given some morphine and sent home and told to come back in when she feels the urge to push. Would be really grateful to hear anyone's similar experiences. My gut feeling is they should have kept her in and isn't leaving it until she feels like pushing leaving it quite late especially if she needs/wants an epidural?

Leaving it until she has the urge to push isnot a good idea at all. i am all for labouring at home if you wish but not until that point. they usually ask you to go in when 5 mins apart and between 60 - 90 seconds in duration ( correct me if i am wrong someone ) which you sister is already doing.
back to back labours can be very painful but can also go quite quickly once the baby has turned. i would get your sister to have a bath, have something to eat, have a rest and goback to hosiptal when she feels the need. defo dont leave it until she needs to push.
get there sooner rather than later. good luck and hopefully someone else will be along soon to offer some more help.

It does seem a bit odd as I thought that back-to-back deliveries were a bit more complex (my ds2 was back-to-back). Is it her first? Often things are a bit slower first time round.

I would advise that if she is feeling anxious to go back in to hospital. Sometimes midwives do judge it wrong. I was told that I wasn't even in labour and gave birth 2 hours later. Luckily I'd decided to ignore them and went in.

Waiting until she wants to push sounds very strange as there is no way I could have got in a car then.

I would have thought that if waters had gone she should be under medical supervision. I could be wrong as mine had to be manually broken by MW at 8cm.

i am v surprised she was given diamorphine and discharged home!! and told to come back when ready to push

i would return to the hospital a lot sooner, unless she is wanting a home delivery

with a back to back baby, you do get a longer latent phase , which can be difficult to cope with

i would also suggest a bath, but if she has had morphine, then i would be wary of having a bath until it has worn off as she might be dizzy etc

also using a birth ball to sit on and have her husband apply strong pressure to teh small of the back

she should return when she feels unable to cope with the pain and /or in need of more pain relief and assistance

if her contractions remain regular, strong and close together that is good

once she is retreating into herself, unable to talk through her contractions and needing to close her eyes and concnetrate on being in labour, that is a good indication things are underway

where is she? in the uK?

also, once the waters have gone, NICE guidelines recommend inmduction after 24 hours

The other thing is, I had a back to back labour with dd1 (also a large baby) and I didn't have any urge to push at all - I did it when I was told to when I was 10cm but had to urge at all.

Does your sister live right next door to a hospital? If there is more than 5 minutes travelling time involved, staying at home till 10cm dilated seems really unwise. My first labour was over 12hours but only 10 minutes from the point when pushing started until the birth. If I want to push before I've even left home, I'm not getting in a car - I'll phone 999!

thanks for all your fast responses ladies, i'm going to phone her hubby right now and pass on all this info and encourage her to get to the hospital sooner rather than later.

In answer to your questions - it is her first, she lives in glasgow and is attending the southern general hospital. She is about a 15 minute drive from the hospital.