Latent labour hell

[kmreeve]

So, I'm in the latent labour zone - a zone of no fun!

Been niggling for over a week with on off contractions but yesterday, all through the night and this morning they are more intense ( not painful)

Iv walked, bounced on ball etc.. just want to get this ball going as I'm exhausted.

Anyone experiencing/experienced latent labour - how long was it etc?

Anything I can do to speed it up?

This is my 3rd pregnancy- I had a csection and then an induced vbac with my second so this is all new to me

I think I must be in latent labour too. Isn’t it tedious! Something I didn’t experience with my other two, but they are teenagers now so maybe it’s so different because of such a big age gap? I’m 40 weeks and 4 days, trying hard to be patient. I’m quite grumpy as so uncomfortable. I do plenty to help myself (walking, switching off mentally, bloody ball bouncing) but I can’t imagine any of that truly helps. Hopefully it’s reassuring to know you’re not alone??

@hevenly123 yes.. but sad you're going through it too :-(

Iv just taken the dog on THE slowest dog walk ever... now trying to source a reflexology session... she needs to come out now !!!

Acupuncture is my plan if this happens to me @op!

Spicy food? Sex? Do these old wives tales do anything?

@physicskate no way am I going want to "push" after having spicy food/curry - dear god why!! Lol

Hi, I just had a baby 6 weeks ago.
I ended up needing to be induced, as I was 2 weeks overdue.
Had prodromal labour for about a week prior to being induced (contractions that came and went, getting about 15 minutes apart over several hours), but I'd go to bed and by morning they were gone.
Frustrating thinking "Am I in early labor? Is this it?"
By the time of my induction day my cervix had softened and dilated to 2cm though, so those latent labor contractions did do something, and I wonder if I would have gone naturally in the next few days anyway?

Anyway, nothing I tried worked. I had sex, ate curry, walked everyday, did pelvic floor exercises, drank raspberry tea, it did nothing. Sex did trigger some cramping, but as I said, they'd go away overnight.

Good luck, hopefully you won't need induction.

Walking and Sex are the only things that have some kind of evidence behind them.
Walking helps the baby move down into the pelvis better because of gravity.
Sex has 2 benefits: if the man ejaculates inside you then semen contains prostoglandins, which is the substance needed to get the cervix to open up. This is what they insert into you when inducing labor (just at a much higher strength). And if you orgasm, then your uterus is contracting, which is what we want in labor, so orgasms can stimulate it to get things started.

👋🏼 Same boat here. 2nd pregnancy, 8 days overdue, niggling on/off cramps since Saturday. Not enough to feel like contractions, but definite cramping. It's really frustrating! Sounds like it's quite common and doesn't mean things are any more likely to happen soon... what a pain!

Three days for me both times. Contractions stayed at 7 mins apart and frequently eased off for hours at a time.
By day 2 I was thoroughly pissed off and spent the day on the ball, it kept things going but they still didn't ramp up. The next day I walked and walked around my local shopping centre and everything ramped up! I had her later that night (but the midwife still needed to pop my waters to get things really moving though I was 4cm dilated when she did!)

Iv just booked my reflexology for 2pm today - here's hoping

With DS I was in latent labour for 9 days.

With DD it was 4 days.

With DS a long walk, spicy food and sex directly preceded my waters breaking, but don't know if it was coincidence.

With DD I didn't do anything to get it moving (was a bit early so actually wanted her to cook a bit longer!).

I'm back from reflexology- bliss! Iv informed husband that sex is happening later...

Fingers crossed!

It sounds like baby isn’t engaged or could possibly be back to back (their back is towards your back, you’ll know this is the case if you get most of your pain in your back).

Simply bouncing on the ball won’t do anything you need to do a figure 8 motion or circles like hula hooping, to help the baby engage into your pelvis which will the first stage of labour.

There’s evidence that nipple stimulation works to start contractions but you need to do this for a least 3 times every day for about 15-20 mins, the baby also needs to be engaged in your pelvis for the first stage of labour to start.

Have a read of this about getting baby engaged, the baby’s head needs to be engaged in your pelvis in order to press against your pelvic floor muscles to dilate your cervix, if the head isn’t engaged this simply won’t happen and could take days for the baby to be engaged in your pelvis as the baby needs to get into the right position.

spinningbabies.com/start/in-labor/engaging-baby-in-labor/

I had a position scan yesterday- she's fully engaged and in the optimal position for both x

you can go in to labour without the baby being engaged, though it does help speed things up. DD was breech and no part of her was engaged until her foot broke through my cervix yet I progressed very quickly.

I had it for THREE WEEKS with my 3rd. In the end I was induced at nearly 42 weeks.

I tried everything apart from walking lots because I had pgp and sciatica. However every time I did the school run (10 mins each way) I got major tightenings and contractions ramped up. Several times I thought I was about to get going, then I got home and had to sit down from sciatica and pgp pain and it all stopped. I definitely suggest walking.

Sorry, yes contractions can start without the baby being engaged, the latent phase unfortunately can take some time.

Hopefully things won’t be too much longer OP.