possible stoppy starty labour... very slow progress.. any suggestions

[mrswee]

Hi sorry long one

41weeks today but more like 41+3 by my calculations and early scan and very recent scan result.

So on sunday night I started to get period style cramps that became fairly regular - every 20 mins through out the night but stopped monday morning.

Saw midwife monday, she said sounded promising buy also tried to give me a sweep, was unable to reach and said my cervix was still very long. Booked me in for induction this Saturday.

But since I had a nap at about 5pm yesterday I been having regular then irregular then again regular and now again irregular (and on and on) contractions. They are pretty strong when they do happen and have been as close as 4 mins at 30-40 seconds each at 1am this morning. Were regular all last night in fact.
Did manage to get a bit of sleep. This morning they haven't stayed regular for any length of time and keep starting and stopping again.
Every time I snooze they get regular again and then can tend to tail off a bit or get shorter if I get up..

Excited but it's driving me a bit mad too that it keeps tailing off!

Any suggestions? I'm hoping this will establish and not just go on like this for days and days!! hmm

on a plus point I feel very relaxed about everything pending, so I don't think I'm causing myself to stop and start through fear!!

Have you got a birthing ball? You could have a good bounce on that.... it made my contractions stronger when I was trying to get things going properly.

Best of luck by the way

thanks!

yes I have got a ball.
I keep forgetting all the things I've been told already!

I'll have go on that in a while. Just doing some house work to keep active, though that has seemed to slow things a bit again.

I thought keeping active would help?

There are lots of ideas on this site that might be of use to you
www.lifepassages.net/NaturalInduction.html

It's tricky cos in a way you want to rest and save your energy but at the same time want to try and get things going!
I think just eat reguarly and relax as this could still happen for a quite a while yet.
Good luck!

Im in the same situation as you except youre a week further than me and must be very frustrated. Been getting irregular contractions for a week but labour not establishing.
I keep drinking raspberry leave tea and then today I had a big bloody show so you could try this! also going up and down the stairs, eating pineapple are supposed to help. Will keep watching your thread and take some tips for myself! Good luck.

thanks for all your replies!

Been drinking a lot of raspberry leaf tea recently. I think it all helps. Booked in for some reflexology tomorrow so if nothing happens tonight, that should move things on tomorrow.

I'm resting again now. I'm all achey from having contractions earlier.

I forgot to mention that I had a only a very tiny amount of show when I got up this morning.

My first labour was like this - I'd have contractions for a few hours, then they'd go away again. From my first contractions to actually having dd was 4 days. Looking back I wished I had taken some paracetamol and tried harder to rest, because I ended up having almost no sleep for that time and by the time I was in proper labour I was exhausted.

Clary sage oil got my labour going with ds in no time though, so you could also try that.

Keeping my fingers crossed that something happens really soon for you..... They're all good signs, sounds like your body is well and truly gearing up for the action.

Dont forget to post when the LO arrives

It sounds like you are experiencing Pro-dromal labour. Some links here and here. I have been having pro-dromal labour/contractions/backache every day since Monday 21st Sept . On last Sunday the contractions were coming every 3 minutes and I got GPs to pick up DCs and called my doula. It all fizzled out and I felt like such a prat .
Pro-dromal labour just a stage in labour some women feel but most don't. It is helping your cervix efface (but not dialate) and getting you ready for labour itself.
Are you also experiencing oedema too?