How far apart were your contractions when calling hospital?

[June1999]

How far apart were your contractions when you called hospital? It’s my third but am still not sure as first was induced and second I had an appointment the day I went into labour!

7 mins apart and baby was born less than an hour later before the midwives arrived (Homebirth) after being told they ideally wanted contractions to be a more consistent 3 in 10 etc - the contraction timer didn’t tell me I was in “active labour” until I was pushing and could actually feel the head 😂

Are you using a contraction timer?

I’d say if in doubt definitely call especially as you have done this before!

I was having them every 3 to 5 mins by the time I went in as I couldn't bare the thought of being sent home again!

They started off quite irregular this evening but now they are about every 8 minutes. I have been trying to get some sleep but it’s not going very well as they’re getting more painful!

There's no harm in calling and asking. They will be able to advise and put your mind at rest. I had an induction with babies 1 & 3, baby 2 was ok labour wise but I wasn't sure what to expect. Baby 4's labour started with my water breaking. Every labour is different.
Hope you're doing ok 👍🏻

I don't know what the advice is for number 3 as I've only had 2. Best to call and ask I think.

FWIW, with my first I was told to wait until I was having 4 contractions in 10 minutes or whatever it was, but second they just said to go in as soon as I felt things were kicking off because second births happen so much quicker.

One minute apart lasting over a minute for several hours in both labours

Ooh those is exciting, hope you're where you need to be.

With subsequent babies I think pain is more important than frequency tbh, once you can't talk during then you need assessing as they can come much more quickly

We only called because I thought my waters might have broken and I was not yet in active labour according to the contraction timer, but I had to start pushing about five mins after we got to hospital - so I think the obsessive focus on timings does help some people avoid being sent home but nearly resulted in me giving birth in an Uber - doesn't work for everyone! And that was my first. If it's not your first and you're not sure, I would ring now

My contractions started at every 3 minutes so i pretty much went to the hospital every 4 hours for some decent pain relief after the first 10 hours at home. It took me 28 hours of every 3 minutes to get to 4 cm!!

Thank you all so much for your replies. Still timing them at home at the moment. Managed to get abit of rest but not enough haha!

Once they had fallen into a regular pattern (every 12 mins).

My first DD was born very quickly (an hour and a half start to finish) and the midwives had suggested a home birth for my second - not happening.

By the time I got to the hospital 20 mins later they were every minute, my waters broke and DD2 arrived within 5 minutes.

My friend’s DD2 was born in the hospital car park as she left it a bit late………

I went straight it as from the first contraction mine were every 2-3 minutes, so all went quite fast, did your second come fairly quick? If yes, I'd probably go in

5 mins but I wasn't coping so we called and went in. If in doubt just call

Thank you all for your responses. He came pretty quickly once my contractions sped up so was glad I called!