Due November 2023 - chapter 6

[Spareincoming]

Definitely missed people but hopefully they find the post…
Please tag anyone else!

@spareincoming@Pinkplantcase@leeanneD11 @LilmissCa@FlyingHighFlyingLow@Psqueak87@spanglesj@BabyBabyBaby123@Houseonthehills@GreenAventurine@reememberly@Cegbee@DollyGx@38andtrying@JD90@travellingislife@mldn@sb86@TMI2000

@Psqueak87 have you practiced any breathing exercises? Or I found it really useful to imagine surfing up a wave as the contraction built and peaked and then coming down the other side as it subsided.

Remember that whilst it might feel like this is going on forever right now baby is getting closer and closer with every contractions and very soon they’ll be in your arms xx

@PinkPlantCase thank you, I wish I’d read my hypnobirthing books a bit better now. I really just glanced over them and thought “seems east enough” serves me right for being an idiot.

contractions are now a pretty steady 5 mins apart. Very painful. Lots more mucusy blood coming out.

I’ll hold out as long as I can.

How exciting to hear so many babies coming! I'm almost 37 weeks. Lots of people asking if I'm having any twinges yet but still nothing. Only thing I've noticed is I start to get a bit of pain in my hips if I do too much walking, but this was after I'd walked a couple of miles and had been on my feet over an hour!

Don't be too disheartened @Psqueak87 , my midwife told me lots of first time think they're not coping well - cervix needs to thin as well as dilate. In first timers apparently the thinning occurs first so a lot is happening even while cervix is closed. Second plus time around body remembers and the thinning and dilating happens together. Hopefully you'll have your beautiful baby in your arms soon x

@FlyingHighFlyingLow thanks that does make me feel better. I was thinking surely all this pain can’t have been for absolutely nothing so far? I just wish I could sleep, only got about 2 hours last night. I keep nodding off in the 5 min break and then jolted awake again by the next contraction. I’m trying to put off the bath for another 90 min as our hot water tank is tiny and so once I run it, it’s difficult to keep it hot by adding more water. It’ll be a treat for me if I can make it to mid day.

@Psqueak87 the hypnobirthing breathing really is just breathing in to the count of 4 and breathing out to count of 8 during a contraction! Getting your partner to count whilst you do it might help too.

Sounds like dilation is happening if stuffs coming out!

@Psqueak87 aw that sounds tough! Hope the bath will help otherwise I would go back in as it seems very painful. How would you know when to go in as they say you should go in when the contractions are that regular and strong!?

@Travellingislife yeah that’s my thought. I have no idea when the time to return is.

As I left she said come back when you have 4 minute apart contractions, lasting one minute. They should be so strong I can’t speak through them, or if I start bleeding. Well I was having all of those things anyway. But they have definitely gotten more painful, and are 5-5.5 mins apart. So I’m trying to hold off until they get to 4. I’m just running myself a bath now, we will see if that helps.

@Psqueak87 they usually say 3 in 10 minutes is what to aim for before going in. Although I’ve always just got on with labour until I felt I couldn’t do it anymore without pain relief so if you feel like that, go in. It doesn’t matter if you are only 1cm when you go or 10! Everyone feels the pain different and deals with it their own way. So if you feel you need help, just go xx

@Mrsrobinsonx thank you for that! I will try and do the same. I suppose the longer I stay home the more chance I’ll make it without an epidural too.

ive gotten in the bath and now contractions have gotten super irregular.

instead of 5 min intervals 1 min contractions. I have anything from 3.5 -7 min intervals, and 30 second - 1 minute contractions!

I feel like I should probably go for a walk, but it’s -3c outside at the moment, maybe I can hype myself up for one.

luckily today has put my partner in nesting mode and he has been vacuuming and mopping every corner of the house since the hospital sent us home!

Thinking of you @Psqueak87 - you've got this! I wouldn't leave it too long until you go back, it sounds pretty intense!

@Psqueak87 Thinking of you; you’re doing so well, you’ve totally got this!
Here the guidance seems to be go in when you have 3 contractions in 10 minutes.
And Hypno-birth- breathing! 4 in, crest the contraction, 8 out… Sorry for the forth coming TMI… never managed to use it in labour (my attempts ended in sections) but it’s handy for the post birth poo…

@Psqueak87 my contractions slowed after they broke my waters. I changed to standing up and they came on fast. A change in position might help if you want to avoid a walk.
Dont be scared to boss hubby around. I was literally dragging mine by his jumper to where I wanted him to stand 😂

Hope it's progressing well @Alloveragain3

@Travellingislife first babies are meant to be the slowest, good luck with this one if your first was fast! Mine was crazy on DC2 (less than 2 hours waters to baby).

After my bath the contractions slowed to about every 20 minutes so I went to lay down and napped between each one. I’m going to get up and stand around now because I’ve been having them for over 12 hours and I just want them to get to the 3 per 10 minute stage so I can go back in.

lol I just bossed hubby to get up and make me some cheesy beans on toast cause I’m starving!

thanks for the advice everyone

@Psqueak87 glad you managed to get some sleep! It would be quite normal if things stayed a bit slower until this evening. Labour loves the dark! (I have no idea what time of day it is in your part of Canada 😂).

Enjoy your food, you’ve got this!

Sounds like my first labour @Psqueak87 Hopefully not long for you to go!

I have a PSA for all ladies when packing their labour bags: bring headphones!!

I'm on labour ward and SO bored as I can't watch netflix without headphones. Didn't even think to pa them and the ward is full so can't watch anything now without disturbing them.

I was meant to have balloon induction at mid day today but no staff so its been postponed to tomorrow.
I wanted to go home, but they've said it's better I stay. I've had no more bleeding and the contractions have basically stopped. Thankfully baby seems happy.

@Psqueak87 just catching up!
It's similar to my last labour, I had contractions that turned irregular then a bath kind of reset everything. I managed a few hours sleep before they ramped up & evened out again.
Hopefully you can rest or things progress quicker for you but if you've not had a lot of sleep I'd vote for the rest option
Good luck ❤️

Thanks all! I’m trying different positions cause I really just want them to ramp up so that I can go in. I’m so paranoid of something happening to the baby; like the contractions stressing her out because they’ve been going 12 hours already.

Still pretty irregular! Hopefully I’ll have good news in the morning. We’re 8 hours behind UK right now!

I have a friend who was in latent labour like that for 5 days, contractions every night that eased off in the day. She had to day nap a lot for rest. When she went into active labour though it was very very quick.

If you're worried about baby getting tired/distressed go in and get checked. Keep an eye on movements, its still really important to go in for reduced movements during labour. If you're unhappy at all push to stay there and be monitored!

@FlyingHighFlyingLow thank you! I will do that.

I’ve barely felt the baby the whole pregnancy, and would often go a day without feeling her. I hadn’t felt her for a few hours but she just gave me two good kicks!

Anyone else had/have this?
Thursday night - contractions through the night. Woke up next morning nothing all day
Friday night the same
Saturday night - nothing
Sunday morning - had sweep, contractions all day and when I went to bed, stopped around 12am and had nothing again since.

@2023novbaby I think it's normal for contractions to come and go at early stages, which is why they don't pay attention until they are really frequent!

Mine started to slow after I had diamorphine and my waters broken. They went from 7 mins apart to 12 mins. My body was relaxing with the drugs and lying down. I'd had a sweep two days before. (standing up got them going again, gravity letting baby push down)

Are you going to have another sweep or induction this week? Is this your first baby?

Thanks you. I have another midwife appointment on Thursday (I'll be 40 +6 by then) and I believe she will do another sweep then if nothings happened. When I had my sweep yesterday she did say that my cervix was very thin and stretchy and she would be surprised if I made it to Thursday but couldn't guarantee anything. I also think if nothings happened by Thursday she may book me in for an induction but could be wrong about this.

Yes this is my first baby

@Psqueak87 been thinking of you since last night - hope you are doing ok and things started to progress 🤞🏼

@DollyGx thank you!! Spent the entire night with really painful contractions, varying time between them of 4-15 minutes.

At one point I has 4 in a row with no breaks, lasting around 8 minutes. That’s when I decided to go in and see if they’d give me some sort of pain relief! I got in and they checked my cervix, they said very thin and 2-3cm. Better than nothing, but I was hoping that after all those contractions that it would be more!

The dr gave me some morphine and is going to check me again in about an hour to see if I’ve progressed.

The contractions have really slowed down now, not sure if it’s a coincidence or the morphine does that. I’m down to probably 1 every 10 mins!!

@Psqueak87 bless you that sounds tough going 😓 but definitely sounds like you’re on the right track! Glad to hear you’re getting some pain relief at least, hope it’s not too much longer for you now ❤️‍🩹