VBAC - when were you advised to go into hospital after your contractions started

[perfectmummy]

Hi all VBACers.

I am currently 37+5 and have been told by the hospital and widwife that as soon as I have regular contractions I must ring the hospital and go in immediatly to be periodically monitored. If only in early stages will then be admitted to the ward until established labour starts. I am not happy about this as I was keen to stay at home and use my TENS, have a bath, go for a walk etc. before going to hospital.

I can understand the reasons for continual monitoring during labour and have accepted this but although I thought I might need to go in slightly earlier than normal I didn't think I would have no time at home at all. Early stage labour can go on for hours or even maybe days and I certainly won't ge any rest on a hospital ward.

Obviously I can just not ring till later on but I wanted to know what all you VBACers have done and if your midwife/hospital had the same very early admission policy.
thanks for your advice.x

I had to go in as soon as my show went with my vbac1 and with vbac2 I went when I couldn't wait any longer.

I am currently planning a VBAC and my MW has been hinting that I should probably stay at home as long as I can manage it (she knows I am not keen on the idea of constant monitoring, lots of intervention etc!). Am seeing consultant again in 2 weeks though and he may well say something different.

I agree with you I couldn't stand the thought of having to go in straight away! Though at least it might be a change from last time, when I kept getting told to stay at home rather long past the time I was comfortable there...

Hi
I'm 36 weeks, planning a vbac, and have been advised to stay at home for as long as possible. In fact my community midwife has offered assessement/monitoring at home from the homebirth team to make sure I don't head in too soon.
I had days and days of early labour last time.

The doctors asked me to come in when my contractions became regular (i.e. when it became obvious it was labour although I tend to know from the off). The midwives told me to come in "when I felt like it" and I decided to go in only when I thought I was 7+cm dilated and to labour at home with an independent midwife with a doppler so I could be monitored every 15 mins or so.

In the event the last bit of labour went very fast (after a 36 hour first attempt at birth). It was only a bit more than an hour from me calling my MW to come over to us leaving for the hospital and I was pushing in the car! Had my labour dragged on I would have gone earlier though - my consultant was clear that she did not want me/my uterus getting very tired.

The reason I stayed home so long was precisely to avoid continuous monitoring which I really did not want and I thought there was little benefit to being monitored in this way. But if you think you would be happy to be continuously monitored (and if you accept that there is a need for it) then I guess there is less reason to stay at home.