Stop start first labour - what's going on?!

[westlondongirl]

So I am 41 weeks today and have had two sweeps in the last week resulting in losing the plug and lots of 'show'. Last night at 7pm contractions started properly and continued all night until they were 5 minutes apart. I rang the hospital who said to wait till 3 minutes to come in whereupon they promptly slowed down to 10 minutes for 3 hours. So, having not been able to sleep all night I managed a nap and now everything has stopped. I'm knackered!! Has this happened to you? When did it start again? I so thought this was it. Confused Any advice welcome.

Sounds very normal. Labour can go on over several days. Do your absolute utmost to get as much rest as you can.

This sounds just like my first, apart from my waters having partially gone the previous day, without any apparent contractions.

I think I had contractions for most of the next day, they got really regular, between 5 and 3 minutes. During the night I got really tired so started lying down between them, then managed to fall asleep, at which point they stopped altogether.
They ramped up again the next day, and were at 3minutes for an hour or so, so we went into the hospital - as soon as we did that contractions stalled again and got really irregular. This was as a result of getting up and going to hospital - I really wish I'd gone for homebirth the first time as it probably would've been much shorter if I hadn't had that interruption!
They ramped up again in hospital, then at some point started getting less fierce - I think they would've died off a bit to give me a rest if I'd been left alone - but instead the midwives thought it would be a good idea to push them along with synto - and I didn't know enough then to know it wasn't the best idea. hey ho.

I think labour can take as long as it needs to - and is quite an intelligent process in that, in the early stages, if your body senses you are getting a bit tired and could do with a rest, it will let it die down so that you can.

Should say, these contractions are all doing something, they are all getting you nearer, keep relaxing through them and letting them do whatever they want to do. Be patient!

Thanks for the advice smilehomebirth. I have just been for a long walk and think I will have a nap now while there is nothing doing.

Yes, I had this for ages. What I know now is that the best thing you can do while they are not as long or as strong as the hospital wants them to be before you go in, is to sleep and eat!

I think thats really normal for a first birth. It will be soon...ish! I had rounds of BH in the run up to DS (2nd birth) although only every 7 mins but for hours on end.

It also happened to my friend who actually managed to get admitted to the labour ward and spent 3 hours in the birth centre at the hospital before falling asleep so they sent her home! She went into labour properly 3 days later!

These contractions are all getting your cervix ready...just try to get as much rest as possible and keep active when you are fully rested.

Mine were uneven like this as well, lasted from a Thursday night and on Saturday afternoon I was told to go into the labour ward anyway, despite being anywhere from 5 to 10 mins apart -- I was 41 weeks and had developed pre-eclampsia so I went in for a 'light induction' (e.g was in labour and dilating but they hurried things along a bit)

All this to say it wouldn't hurt to call the labour ward to ask for advice, as there are some exceptions to the '3 minute' rule!

I had my show and contractions started on the Saturday, got really painful and 5 mins apart by Sunday night, at which point we went into hospital. I was only 3cm dilated so came home and then had stop/start early labour until the Wednesday morning when things got really intense and we went back into hospital - DD was born Wednesday evening.

You should get as much rest as you can, keep drinking lots of fluids, and try to go with the flow!

It's exhausting when labour is slow like this, but I found that I coped with the pain of established labour very well because I'd already had 3 days of contractions with no available pain relief, and had perfected my breathing technique. When in hospital I couldn't even take gas and air because I was so into my breathing rhythm!