Beginning of labour - when do i call the midwife

[moomin35]

Hi, how often do my contractions need to be before i call the midwife? She comes out to check me before telling me to go to hospital here :-)

Have your waters broke? When my waters broke (contractions started about the same time) and I rang the hospital who wanted me to go in and get checked.

Nope not yet, I'm only 35 weeks today but just want to be prepared....and i cant remember what i was told!!

Now

And good luck.. are you sure you're in labour?

Are you in labour? At 35 weeks? If so, now.

Oh and if you're not in labour and just want to know, I would say whenever it is you realise you ARE in labour. So when your waters break or when you realise that the weird regular pains you're feeling actually are contractions, etc.

Then they will say 'Oh call back when contractions are every 5 minutes lasting at least a minute' or whatever they say.

Then you will have the baby in the car.

Only personal experience tho.

If you're having contractions at 35 weeks go to the labour ward now

What crispy said. Baby might need extra monitoring during labour and once born at 35 weeks.

Sorry guys nope I'm not having contractions now I'm talking about when I DO get them- how often do i need to be having them before calling the midwife? I'm just preparing myself but I'm not at labour stages yet :-)

When you can't sit down and are restless when getting pains then you know you're in labour. Ring when you're sure.

Probably best as soon as you know your in labour.

I waited when I got my first pains, I was booked in at the doctors to see midwife for a sweep so figured I'd just mention it at the appointment 2 hours later.

I was 8cm at the appointment and the midwife was incredibly impressed I'd sat in the waiting room as the appointments where over running a good 30 mins over and I was contracting every 2-3 minutes.

I gave birth 30 minutes after my appointment - lovely and quick but I really should have phoned the hospital and not waited for the appointment.

Good luck when the big arrival happens :)

I think both times for me I called when I was having about 3 contractions in 10 minutes and felt like I needed something for the pain.

I called when they were every 5 mins and regular but stayed at home from 6pm-2am then went in when the pain was getting too much and they were 3 mins apart