So it's common for contractions to just stop, then?

[Pinkjenny]

I have been having intermittent contractions since yesterday. They are coming and going, sometimes eight minutes apart, sometimes twenty minutes.

Was I being unreasonable in thinking this was the start of something? I'm also one cm dilated. Second baby, first birth, as dd was a section.

What are your experiences?

it can be quite normal, yes. your body might just be gearing up for the real thing, it might be a long latent stage if baby is OP for example
it's not true labour if it has stopped, you are probably warming up
i had lots of stop start contractions with DD, and then once it got going, it developed a rhythm and a pattern and did not die off

soooooooooooo excited !!

What does OP mean

I got used to the idea and now I'm feeling a little disappointed.

Occipito Posterior.

Back to back.

Don't be disappointed PJ. It's normal for a first labour, which is what this is. Your body has a lot of preparing to do. I bet you're effacing nicely.

Oh, they never said whether he is back to back or not.

I had true labour that stalled for several hours over night. With baby #3 I'd been in early labour all day, getting into active labour at night, with strong contractions 3-4 minutes apart for a few hours and then it just stopped for about four hours so I got some sleep.

I'm not convinced there's a normal course of labour, op. Everyone's rhythm seems different. But contractions are doing something, getting your body ready, helping your baby into position, toning up your uterus. It's all good

I'm writing them down now, so at least I can see for myself what's happening. I do love a project.

Did you have any contractions with the first baby?

This is very normal. Some people call it prelabour but I hate that term.

Basically, you are in labour, but not enough for anybody (Except you) to get excited about. The more labour you can do like this, the shorter and easier the hard work bit, but only if you have the energy, so make sure you eat and get as much rest as you can.

Good things to do at this stage are a)practise your coping techniques with each contraction so that it becomes second nature when you really need it. b)get those 'feel good' hormones going however you can. i.e. laughing, watching a comedy (RomCom good), eating cake, cuddling, sex, snuggling up into clean sheets - whatever does it for you. b)distract yourself d)rest rest rest, e)give yourself a pep talk about not going into hospital too early because this won't make your baby come any faster, and worse, stats show it can make your baby come later.

hth

Forget writing them down. You wanna play with this!

Forgot to say, - OP or not, adopt good posture and good birthing positions NOW to help ensure that baby is in a good position.

Sit on your birth ball and wiggle your hips, or on a kitchen chair backwards with you leaning forwards, or the toilet. Or kneel on the floor leaning on the sofa or cushion. Don't slouch or lie back. If lying do so on your left.

If you have spare energy you can walk upstairs sideways or crawl around on hands and knees.

hth

Didn't get any contractions at all with dd, no braxton hicks, no show, no nothing. So this has been a whole new world!!

Have you got any strategies that you think will work for you?

I had this with DC2, waters broke then very on/off contractions for 24 hours. At hospital check was only 1-2 cm, but midwife did fairly heavy-duty (painful) sweep and DD was born 4 hours later. Maybe you could request sweep to get things moving? Good luck.

Yeah, they said I ould request a sweep next week. I'm not sure what strategies I intend to employ, I was all prepared for another CS!

Okay, well here's a quick lesson in the easiest:

When a contraction start, breath out and then start breathing in VERY slowly, filling your lungs whilst counting as fast as you can in your head (aim for 25 - doesn't matter if you don't make it) and then breath out VERY slowly.

Once you have got that sorted (practise on the less painful ones now) you can add things like imagining you are somewhere really lovely and warm (if you like warm) whilst you are counting.

Once you have got used to that, imagine something that makes you go 'Mmmmmmmm', like a massage, or a cake, or sex. I liked to imagine a someone lightly moving their fingers down my back and making it go all tingly.

It's the very basics of hypnobirthing and it is very effective. Try it.

Personally I wouldn't request a sweep. It could risk your waters breaking which will mean more intense contractions and it makes it more difficult for your baby to move into the right position.

brill advice from ninky

don't even thikn about a sweep until you are 41 weeks, your best chance of a VBAC is a spontaneous start to labour and it sounds like your body is getting ready

a bath can be a great help for early labour and to ease strong BH too

I'll have a bath when dh comes in. At the moment they're around every ten minutes. Again.