If you go into labour prior to elective section date?

[ttcchapter2]

What happens? Or does it vary from trust to trust, I was early with my first, 14 days before her due date, went into labour and then emergency section, this time im going for an elective so curious what happens. Do they send you home if you start contractions or ask you to wait until they are a certain time apart?

Hi, as far as I'm aware as soon as you have any inkling of labour starting you are to call the midwives, who will then most likely call you in and assess from there. I think your caesaerian is then classed as 'an emergency' and you will have some level of priority. They won't make you wait or attempt to give birth vaginally unless you were in extremely quick labour which is not likely. It's worth asking your midwife/consultant though!

I've recently had this happen - waters broke 6 days before my planned section and contractions started. I was admitted to the hospital, confirmed waters broke, asked did I want to continue with section, and when I confirmed yes they begun getting the team together etc. From arriving at hospital to baby being born, technically by emcs it was approx 3 hours - I was contracting fairly regularly in that time but they were continuing to check on me to make sure I wasn't progressing too fast as it was my second and kept me topped up with pain meds in the interim!

This happened to me when they came a month early. I was terrified that i wasnt going to be able to get the section as no one was confirming anything to me and i kept sending my partner to check, they just kept saying they didnt know for hours which was incredibly stressful. My waters had broken at 9am that morning and contractions were very strong and every few minutes by the time they got me on the table. They did keep me in, i guess cos my waters had gone and the contractions were already very strong and about 5 minutes apart by the time i got to hospital about 10am. Good luck!

This happened to me 5 weeks ago. I had a section booked as DD2 was breech for 39+5. DD1 had arrived at 38w so i always felt like i might not make it to the planned date, which was pretty late anyway due to slot availability around the easter weekend. I was told to ring triage as soon as i felt any signs of labour and tell them i was coming in (not to ask if i could come in!) so i could be assessed and monitored.

2 days before my section date, i went into labour. I rang triage 30mins after contractions started and immediately after water breaking, got to the hospital 30mins after that and was immediately assessed. In the end, i had a vaginal delivery as DD had unexpectedly turned herself, but they basically had got everything ready to prep me for the section when i arrived.

This happened to me. First birth was emergency section and had planned a scheduled section for my second. At 37 weeks I was experiencing really odd tightenings and popped into the hospital for monitoring. To my surprise my cervix had begun to dilate and the midwives felt I was in early labour and organised an emergency section. I had to wait several hours before transferring into the labour ward and getting prepped for surgery though because I'd eaten on my way into the hospital. Oops.

So helpful thank you everyone will confirm with my midwife too but stressing about it so good to have some idea of what will happen! Currently 21 weeks and time seems to be flying

If you’re not progressing really fast they should class it as a category 3 EMCS which is when you need to be prioritised but not an immediate emergency. In this situation I waited about 7 hours for the section as other emergencies went ahead although this was a Sunday afternoon! I was contracting during this time and they examined me just before starting the section (with the spinal in) to make sure I hadn’t got to 10cm!

I went into labour before my elcs. They gave me the pre meds, put and canula in and got me on a monitor very swiftly. I had changed my mind about the elcs and wanted to VBAC. The mid wife with me asked me, the midwife in charge asked me, they then got a doctor in to ask me and finally they asked my dp if this was what I really wanted. He was able to explain that I’d actually changed my mind the previous Sunday and definitely wanted the VBAC.

This happened to me. My waters broke at 35weeks and I went straight in to hospital where I was prepped for a cs. However at the last minute an emergency came in so I ended up giving birth vaginally.

I went into labour while in the hospital waiting for my planned c section! She didn’t want to wait even one more hour. My contractions came on suddenly and were coming fast right away so after being monitored to check I was definitely in labour they decided I couldn’t wait my turn and I was rushed straight into theatre and she was born less than 2 hours after my very first contraction. I’m just glad I was in the hospital already.

I was told at my consultant meeting that if I went into labour before the c section I could just come in right away at the first signs and if I was definitely in labour then I would be classed as an emergency and go to theatre as soon as available. Just don’t leave it too long before getting checked as could then be too late depending on the situation