Silly quick labour anxiety

[Lunafortheloveogod]

Welcome to my irrational mind!

I’m 32weeks gone with number 2. Ds is 10months old, he was born via induction at 38weeks so I don’t know what “labour” feels like until it’s well on its way. I dilated from 1cm to 8cm very quickly (like the time it took to clear up the first flood) after they broke my waters.

This time instead of just “phone mum it’ll be ages/phone an ambulance if you think there’s a head” and knowing that first babies usually take their sweet time to sneak out MIL has kindly reminded me that DP (her second) took 25 minutes from the first contraction to exit...

So now I’m like what the feck do I do! DM works between 25-40 minutes away (no traffic vs rush hour traffic) as does DP (they lift share so no ones quicker). And obviously I’ll have DS, the dogs and the cat here myself.. dcat will be fine he’s outdoors mostly, dogs will need out and in their pen/crated space (ones blind with a hernia so can’t be left roaming) and ds could be anything from starving to shitting .

Should I start by keeping a spare car seat in the hall? Incase it’s an ambulance.. should I pack him things in my bag until someone can come get him?

What’s my best plan? Reassure me I won’t have a dog as a midwife and scar my first born by pushing their sibling out on the rug

If only they all came on their due dates!

Haha you will be fine. If it was me I'd pack a bag for ds. Any friends/relations you could have on stand by?

Can I ask why you were induced? My first was a 6 hrs labour and second 3 hrs but induced. Ignore mil, i asked and was told it can be hereditary so ask your mum if you can. Unless a medical reason I wouldn't be panicking, first labour as it was induced isn't really indicative of what your body will do.
Get organized, pack a bag for overnight for ds, if you have a spare seat then get it ready, what are your neighbours like? Could you get them to sit with your lo whilst family/friend on way if you need to go in ambulance? I remember stressing about this too. Also alot of natural labour starts at night/early morning so dh would hopefully be there. X

We’re the outsiders, I could possibly get one of dp’s friends to come watch ds if he doesn’t have his own two solo. My lot are all in the town my dm/dp work in.. why I agreed to living further out I’ll never know lol.

It was pre eclampsia so I’m being monitored and having growth scans as DS was a dinky guy. So it might go the same way again. I’m my mums only child and was induced labour too (born on the way to theatre for a c sec cause I wouldn’t move out lol)

Family near by is both of our 80 odd year old grannies.. they’d take longer than dm lol! I’ve never thought of neighbours but the only ones I’ve spoke to are single older (50’s) blokes.. not so sure how they’d do if I knocked with ds lol!

I’ll definitely pack him his own little bag lol. The current plan is DM comes to get me and DS while dp goes to the hospital to wait (saves time picking him up on the way out of town) and once I’m admitted dm will leave with ds.

Yeah it’s probably one of those it’ll never happen things really lol!

I could have written this!

I am really struggling with the anxiety of going into labour on my own. We currently only have one car due to the other one blowing up and we can't afford to replace it at the moment.
DH works 30 mins away in good traffic and the hospital is about 40 mins away. DM also works about 45 mins away so I really am buggered if it happens during the day while they are at work unless I call an ambulance.

I am just keeping my fingers crossed that it either happens at night or on a weekend.

We just had this same scenario- dc3 born last week. All three labours sub-2 hours from first twinge to baby. Elderly neighboura and nearest family 30-40mins drive away. A few friends we could call on in the day but noone for the middle of the night (we are quite new to the area). The thought of a home birth with dogs, kids etc filled me with horror although it was recommended because of my history. Our plan A was to have my mum drive over (30mins) to sit with older kids and dogs- but baby came early and she was a 4hr drive away at the time! This is what we did with Dc2. Plan B was to all bundle in the car, me dp and kids, DP to drop me off and then get someone to come and get the kids from the hospital when they could (friend family etc). Plan C was for me to get a taxi and dp to follow once someone could take over at home (I would have been happy to labour alone). As it happened my brother was working not far from us when my waters broke so came and sat with the older kids. My waters broke at 7ish, contractions began at 8 just as we arrived at hospital (30 mins drive away) and dc3 was born at 9. My labours have all been the same so I knew what to expect and not to hang around- its pretty unusual from what the midwives were saying and you would likely have more time but it doesnt hurt to have a few options planned just in case. Good luck and dont let this stress the end of your pregnancy!

Bumble hopefully we’ll both go on a weekend spare any drama haha!

I’m on the high risk pathway so I don’t think a homebirth with hairy midwifes is the back up plan. I’ll see if dp can think of other recruits lol! He’s lived this far out for years so he’s got more friends.. worst comes to it I’ll ask some of the mums from the play group we go to. Even just to cover my back to my mum gets me dropped off and picks him back up. Oddly enough I’ll be fine once I’m in the hospital.. i guess it’s just fear of the unknown

I sort of had this scenario happen with DC2. 27 minutes from first contraction to labour. No chance of getting to hospital so was labouring in living room with paramedic on speakerphone and exH trying to listen to their instructions above my noise. Poor DC1 who was 3 at the time, was quite bewildered but fortunately my mum arrived to whisk him upstairs for stories before he saw anything too gruesome. I was told afterwards by health visitors that he may need some type of counselling but he was fine! If I'd gone into labour just an hour earlier then exH would've still been on the train home and I would've been on my own with a toddler. Paramedics didn't get there until another 20 minutes after DC2 was born on the rug! Weeks away from giving birth to DC3 now and genuinely don't know how best to prepare for another rapid labour.

I had my third on my own
I went from 5cms to baby in my arms in Under five minutes.
If it happens it’s surreal but you will be ok

@chuffoff.. Jesus Christ! My dp would need scraped off the floor. He’s told me to go into the kitchen if I need to give birth.. stone tiles will be fine, laminate won’t cope with the water.. all the while i sat like yeah I’ll be holding a child who might not even be 1, I think the floors low on my list lol.

We’ve kind of decided that he goes from work to the hospital, so dm can go with no stops to me instead of potentially adding 15minutes on. Ds has a play pen in the living room so he’ll be safe. DM kindly pointed out that if it was a half hour labour like you the ambulance would never make it, unless they’d magically been at the small local hospice having a cuppa.

I’d be putting a bloody tent up at the maternity unit lol!

DS1 was born at 36 weeks after a 5 hour induced labour, so when I was pg with DS2 my mum came to stay two weeks before his due date ( DS1 was 16 months but not walking). He was born 10 days early after three hours labour. Can your DM come to stay? ( Sorry if you’ve said this already; am reading with no contact lenses in!)

Aw you'll be fine! My first took 18 hours, my second less than 3. We had a bag packed for DS1, and dropped him with friends on way to hospital.