Labour stories

[BEO]

So I am 36+3 and would like to hear some stories of your first labours 😄 specifically when you went into Labour, how you knew, if you did anything to ‘bring it on’ etc.

I went into spontaneous labour at 39 +5 , the first sign was waking up at 4am to period type pains and then losing some mucus plug . The pains just continued throughout the day and got stronger by the evening and felt like proper contractions .
We went to hospital at 3am but got sent home as I was 4cm so we went back at about 7am and I was then 5cm and admitted ☺️
The only pain relief I had was a tens machine and paracetamol .
By 3pm I was only 7cm so they broke my waters which encouraged the contractions to be quicker and stronger .
I got in the pool at 6pm and was 10cm at 7pm so started pushing , baby still hadn't arrived by 11pm and as I was too tired and baby was getting tired I ended up with a forceps delivery .

I really enjoyed labour and it's nothing to be scared of but I did find the actual birth very traumatic leading to me having an elected section with my second baby
Oh also the day before my labour started I cleaned the house top to bottom , did a massive food shop and even cleaned behind the toilet all impulsively which I take as a sign too !

I was a few days overdue so to help try get things started I did a big walk, went to the cinema and had a lovely chill evening with my husband and relaxed. Had sex twice that evening too. Woke up at 3am the next day with mild period type cramping which lasted all day. Was leaking a bit during the day too. Waters broke after dinner, kind of like you see in TV, but not as much as I thought it would be.
Went to hospital, was induced with the drip, ended up having episiotomy and forceps 😬
Birth wasn’t particularly pleasant and I really hope I don’t have the same experience if we have another baby. But I do know now that the period cramping was the start of contractions and they’re really fine. I had imagined that labour would just suddenly happen with painful contractions, but your body sort of builds up to it.

I was running around the park with the dogs, got back in the car and had some tightenings on and off. Laughed it off thinking no way as I was only 37+5 with my first. Low and behold my waters burst in the car lol. Tho labour never progressed naturally so was induced the next day, baby born evening after that and then home the day after that!

I was induced with the pessary at 5pm, at 2am I woke up with what felt like strong period pains. By around 11am the period pains were beginning to come on and off in stronger waves. I remember I kept walking around as it was easier to manage when I was on my feet. They kept checking me throughout the day but I wasn't dilated enough to go to labour ward until around 9pm. I remember being on gas and air and I kept asking the midwife when do I push, when will I know to push? I was so worried that I wouldn't know when to start but they kept assuring me that I would just naturally get the urge. Then I remember starting to feel sick and I said I think I need to start pushing now and they just encouraged me to push (this was 10pm), I pushed for 2 hours. DS came at 11:59pm 😌
From induction - pains beginning 9h
Pains - pushing beginning 20h
Pushing beginning - birth 2h
Total 31h
Feels like it takes forever at the time. Feels like it all happened so quick the second he was born
Good luck op ❤️

I was 41+5 - tried lots of pineapple, walks, spicy food to no avail. Was due to be induced the day after I had my son.

I lost my plug about 2 days before contractions started, I had started to dilate slowly at the start of that week (1-2 days before losing the plug). Contractions started few and far between in early hours of the Friday morning, was in hospital by about 11pm Friday evening. Managed the pain with remifentanil but baby and I got into distress and I didn’t dilate past 6cm so ended up having an emergency c section at midday on the sat which was very relaxed and we were both fine afterwards.

good luck xxx

I was 40 exact. Went for a walk through the woods with my neighbour and our dogs. I was jumping over logs. I felt tired when I got home and woke up at 5pm to find the plug had come out. A few painless tightenings. I went to the hospital to be checked as my ex was in a total panic. Went into labour at 9pm and baby born at 11pm.

I was 6 days overdue. Waters broke and I went into spontaneous labour. Baby was born about 7 hours later.

First one, I had a sweep at 40 weeks, was 2-3cm dilated, waters bulging, could feel the head and could stretch to 4cm. At 40+4 I noticed that every time I went for a wee there were specks of blood in the toilet, no other signs other than the tightenings that I'd been getting for weeks, painless. That night I had what felt like a bit of period paid, mild, fell asleep and got up in the night to go for a wee.

Got back into bed and felt a small gush, checked and it was tinged pink, realised it must be my waters. Pottered around for an hour and every time I moved more water would come out, contractions then started and were immediately 2-3 mins apart. Baby was born 6 hours after that first sign of waters going

waters broke naturally at 39+6. Within 12 hours I had very intense contractions only a couple minutes apart, but was still only 1cm dilated! They couldn’t give me the pessary to induce me as my contractions were so close together and there was no space on labour ward to do drip induction so I just waited it out. Just had tens machine and paracetamol until 40 hrs past, then they had space on labour ward so I was induced with the drip. Then I had all the pain relief going! 63 hours after my waters broke I still was only 3cm dilated, I had developed a fever (suspected sepsis) and baby’s heart rate was beginning to fluctuate, so I had an emergency section.
Whilst it all sounds hard work and dramatic (and I mean it was at the time), I still really enjoyed the whole experience and baby and I both recovered fine and quickly.

38 weeks. Period pains on and off all day, 11.30pm my waters broke. Got to hospital about 12.15am, I was already 8cm!

Got in the birthing pool by 1.15. Just over 3 hours of labour and he was born at 4.41am. No gas and air or anything!

29 weeks with my 2nd hoping for a similar story!

37+4, woke up at 2am to go to the loo and noticed my waters were leaking. Called the hospital and been asked to go in to get checked as there was some blood in the waters. Within the hour that it took us to get out of the house, contractions started and were every 3 min by the time we arrived at the hospital. I was 5cm dilated on arrival. Had an epidural as contractions were too strong without much break in between and gas&air made me vomit. Full dilation at 7am. Baby born 11am. Almost had forceps, everything was ready for it but managed without in the end.