Worried about my daughter in early labour

[worriedmum22]

I am a Nan but joined this to ask for help and advice about my daughter. She is 38 weeks pregnant and started going into regular contractions which became about every 3/4 mins lasting up to 1min + so rang the hospital on Saturday and they send out a midwive - she could not do a proper exam as my daughter has a tilted womb and presumably cervix. Up to hosp - not in true labour. Sunday same contractions all day - up again still not in labour go home (this was about 2pm)and they did tail off after that - at 6pm she had a a real pain in bottom of her belly and said it felt wrong so onto hosp again bring her back - so her birth partner (cousin) took her up - we have a bug so only one person in permitted although we wanted it to be me and her which normally would be allowed. She is still in hospital and they say she possibly is in early labour - contractions are 1/2 mins and lasting up to 1.5 mins now and are painful - they have only monitored the baby twice and last time baby had a couple of heart dipping low (this was 6 hours ago now) and only done vics blood pressure once - we are a little concerned and my daughter is getting stressed - they don't seem to care in reality and if she is not being examined in the last 6 hours how do they know how its going. Not being about to be with her is not helping either. Help would be appreciated.

I have no sensible advice to offer but my post will bump your message back up the recent conversations list so hopefully someone useful will see it!

Welcome to MN
I hope you have a new grandchild soon!

Hiya, I'm a m/w. Dunno if I can say anything that will reassure you to be honest as I know its a worrying time - but try not to worry!

It sounds like she's in the latent phase of labour. Established labour is counted as being from either 3cm or 4cm dilated depending on which hospital you're at. So yes she probably isn't getting a lot of attention now as they will be more focused on women in established labour. Which is tough when I do think for some women the latent phase of labour can be as painful as established labour.

They won't want to be examining her too often as the more examinations she has the sorer she will get, plus every examination runs the risk of introducing infection so they will really try to keep internals to a minimum. Even in established labour we try not to dothem more than every 4 hours. They may be waiting for the contractions to get stronger before doing another internal. She can ask them when they're planning to do another. Could they reach her cervic last time? If they couldn't then she is very unlikely to be 3cm dilated 6 hours later so not really a lot of point examining her.

As for doing her BP, if she doesn't have any problems with her BP and isn't in established labour then just doing it once is fine.

Have they explained if they were happy about the baby's heartbeat dipping. Did the staff say the heartrate had dipped or was it something your daughter had seen? It is normal for a heartrate to be all over the place, anywhere between 110-160. Lots of variability in that range is good. If there has been proper decelerations then the staff must have been happy that these had resolved if they've taken her off the monitor.

Hope she gives birth soon!

listen to spottyknickers

for a lot of women, getting to 3 -4 cm is really really hard going and can take days of contractions

if the baby is back to back, it can make the latent phase quite long but that is not abnormal

if she has been monitored and examined and is in early labour, not much more can be done... if she is not in established labour , vaginal exmas are contraindicated

if iwas in her shoes and not in established labour, i think that being at home, getting some rest, having a bath and relaxing in her own environment is the best thing

i can assure you this is normal for what is not necessarily established lbaour and the midwives do care

Ok thanks for advice so difficult not being able to be with her - was there with both my other daughters children. I am so worried about her.

Try and get some sleep. You're unlikely to hear anything tonight.

WorriedMum - Oh I do feel for you. I have been through this 3 times now and can honestly say I would rather have had the babies myself than endure the sitting at home waiting for news. If there was something, anything, you could usefully do it would help but other than endlessly cleaning ready for DD + 1 to come home, you just have to wait and stay positive and cheerful for your DD's sake - and never ever tell her how badly you suffered, how you walked the floor all night, etc. She will NOT appreciate that.

Keep posting if it helps and try not to worry.

nothing to be worried abiout from what you have posted do let us know x

Sounds like my labour v long latent phase with painful contractions 3 min apart. If the mw's aren't checking her its not because they can't be bothered - its because she's absolutely fine. As someone else said baby may possibly be back to back but don't worry i delivered my little one in this position and were both fine

When my DS1 (28 yrs old) and his wonderful partner had their first child (my first granbaby) almost 2 years ago I remember thinking all the things you are thinking now....its so difficult...you just want to wade in there and have the baby for them

My DS1 pulled up in the car outside my house - ran in, ran upstairs and was sick over and over again - whilst his partner was sat in the car on a black bin liner soaking from head to foot from her broken waters LOL - it was like something out of a 'Carry on' film....she was laughing and he was being sick upstairs!!!

My precious little grandson was born a few hours later!

Hope things start moving soon and let us know how she gets on - sending hugs and understanding xx

I'm so sorry for your anxiety. My first labour was just like this a couple of years ago, and as awful as it was for me at the time, one of the things I found hardest to deal with afterwards was the stress I put my mother and husband through! I hope things have moved on by now. If not, I hope it's some consolation to say that I was in a very long latent phase like this for several days and eventually gave birth to a very strong healthy boy. I've always been assured that the baby was never in any danger, it's just rough on everyone else. Having said that, I don't think it's a bad thing to ask the midwives to check the baby every few hours if you're concerned, even if it's just to help your daughter to relax more.

Any news yet? Hope all going well.