Slow early labour

[Beccarans89]

Hi all! I know there's no real way of knowing but just looking for other people's experiences...

I started losing my mucus plug on Friday and have had 4 days of it coming away in quite big bits. I also started to get period type cramps on Friday morning and these have been on and off all weekend. Last night they were getting more intense and were 5 mins apart and lasting about 50-60 seconds. I phoned mat triage as I am 36+5 and they wanted to examine me. The doctor said I was fully effaced but cervix was still closed but baby's head was very low down and she could feel it and said it seems I am in early labour.
I came home and managed to sleep last night and then been getting stronger pains again today on and off. Have others experienced this and how long did it go on for? I feel like it could progress quickly or I could be like this for days/weeks! 😄 I'm a FTM so no experience of this before. Thank you!

Everyone’s different but I have been having a similar experience since 36+6 and I’m now 40+3, however I haven’t lost my mucus plug as far as I’m aware and haven’t been checked until tomorrow so you might be luckier than me x

When I went into labour ( waters broke ) I was fully effaced and not dilated . I was 37+1. It took me 30 hours of painful contractions to reach 4cms. That’s my experience of early labour . I can’t complain though as I know of others who went through it for days .

With my first, I was in early labour for five days give or take. I had contractions that got as close together as every five minutes, then they would tail off again and there would be nothing for an hour. It was exhausting. I think I slept no more than an hour at a time over those few days. I went to the hospital several times and got sent home as only 1cm, 2 cm etc. Eventually I went to the hospital and begged for help, I was exhausted and in constant agony, not just during contractions, and even though it was my first baby it just felt like something wasn't right. It turned out that my bladder had become blocked and that in turn was blocking my labour from progressing. The baby's head was effectively bouncing off my bladder, rather than making contact with my cervix, so I wasn't progressing. Eventually I was given pethadine, slept for 2 hours, had my waters broken and a catheter fitted (which was an immense relief) and given an oxytocin drip to move things along, as there was meconium in my waters. DS was born 12 hours after they broke my waters.

I'm telling you this because it's not something midwives see a lot, and no one warned me it could happen. Make sure you are drinking plenty and going to the loo frequently. If you find you can't wee, call the hospital straight away and tell them.

On the plus note, my labour with my second child was less than 12 hours from start to finish! So don't be put off, if you want another one in the future.

I started experiencing period type pains on the Friday afternoon, was up all night with pains, all day Saturday I was having contraction type pains every 10 or so mins. Sunday morning I called labour ward in tears after not sleeping for 2 nights and feeling so uncomfortable. They asked me to come in despite contractions only being every 10 or so mins and was told I was 3cm. Luckily I did because there was also meconium in my waters, so they popped the rest of my waters and within an hour I was 6cm. DS wasn't born until early hours of the following morning.