Tuesday, 02 October 2012
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When Labor Drags
When I was about 38 weeks pregnant with my son Jaime, I started getting contractions. They would come on at night, stronger and more painful than Braxton Hicks contractions, and sometimes grow closer together. Every night, my mother (who I was staying with) would watch me with concern and suggest I call Labor and Delivery. We had quite a drive to get to the hospital, and she'd had quick labors. She was scared I'd deliver the baby in the car on the way. So 3 times we went to the hospital, where the contractions would show up on the monitor only to slow down and disappear. My cervix stayed closed.This went on for almost 2 weeks before my water broke. It was exhausting! Physically it was tiring to spend so much time dealing with the pain of contractions that ultimately led no where. Psychologically it was discouraging to keep feeling "this might be it!" only to have the contractions fizzle out. I'd learned all about the stages of labor and the progress your body is "supposed" to make. I felt like my body just didn't work right or didn't know how to get labor started. I felt broken and discouraged.
I wish I had known then about Prodromal Labor. Prodromal Labor is when the early stage of labor drags on. It's not "false labor" and it's not just Braxton Hicks. Contractions are painful and real, but do not increase in intensity or are not constant. They may start at night and stop in the morning. It can last anywhere from 3 days to several weeks. And it is exhausting! It can keep a woman from getting good rest and tire your body out for active labor. And it can make you feel like a failure - all that work feels like it's for nothing.
Now I'm 38 weeks pregnant with my second child. I'd hoped to avoid Prodromal Labor this time around, but it seems that's just how my body likes to do things! This time when painful contractions started (and they are more intense with a second baby!) I promised myself I'd ignore them. No timing them, no focusing on them, no trying to get labor started. I'd take a warm bath, and while that wouldn't stop the contractions, it helps to calm you before bed. It didn't work. I tried examining any psychological barriers I might have to letting labor get started. Nope, I'm ready for her to come! I tried to see if her position was keeping her from progressing, but my midwife said she's in perfect position and engaged for labor. People around me keep saying "wow, maybe tonight!" My husband suggests we call the midwife several times a day. But it just drags on.
So now I wait. And it's not a fun wait. It's an exhausting wait, with sometimes 30+ painful, low contractions a day, some of them lasting a minute long and sometimes going all night so I can barely sleep. It's been 3 days and I'm tired, grumpy, achy, and ready for active labor to start. But I know it could take another week or more. This time around I know what to expect, and that makes it a little better. But it doesn't make it much EASIER!
Have you ever experienced Prodromal Labor? How long did it last? Was there anything you found helpful to cope?
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- From: vlinder_farfalla@xanga
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Comments (14)
Yep. I had 4 straight weeks of prodromal labor - the contractions rarely let up for longer than an hour. I had uncomfortable contractions every 5-10 minutes until I delivered. IT SUCKED. Not much worked. Walking made it worse, baths were uncomfortable, couldn't sleep, cleaning made it worse, laying around like a lump made me feel stupid and miserable. Mostly I ate a lot of ice cream and complained to my husband. And had a lot of awkward encounters when, say, grocery shopping, after I had realized that this was NOT the real thing, but occasionally a contraction would still be intense enough that I would wince or pant a little bit, and everyone freaks out like a baby's going to just fall out of you any second.
Next time (if there is one...)...um, frankly I was hoping to just block it out or somehow skip it, lol. Pregnancy was so freaking horrible, and prodromal labor made it so much worse. Seriously makes me hesitant to do it again, because I was so uncomfortable and unhappy the whole time.
BUT, I did have a fast, fairly easy labor, even with pitocin, so maybe that's the trade-off.
I forgot where you live, but if you're not somewhere that it's too cold to do it, could you spend a lot of time in a swimming pool? Or do exercise/labor balls help relieve anything?
I have 4 kids and only experienced this with my 4th. It was awful. I think it lasted two or three weeks for me until I was finally at 4 cm with a bulging bag of water and no consistent contractions. I had them induce me because I couldn't take it any more! The labor only lasted 4 or 5 hours after they broke my water. Hang in there - you'll soon have a beautiful baby!
i have had it with both my previous prenancies... w/ my son at 37w i had labor for over 3 hrs and so we called midwife and by the time we got there (an hour later) they had started to fizzle out... this went on every few days for 4 weeks before he finally arrived at 41w. w/ my daughter at 38w, i had it and we all (midwife included) thought it was for real b/c they were timable, increasing in intensity and i was progressing..... i got to 8cm and then just stalled... and started going backwards... i never knew that could happen. i had my daughter 10 days later in less then 4 hrs!!!!! (actually i was nervous to call the midwife and she only arrived 15 min before my daughter came out b/c i waited so long to call her). so while it is frustrating, i have still chosen to have an all natural birth w/o any medical interventions bc i feel that babies come when they come, and everything (even the prodromal labor contractions) prepare your body for the moment they come out. good luck!
Hi. Yep, one week with my first baby. My husband came from work twice (thanks mom to help my stress grow even more....) None with the second one
!!!!! Good luck girl
No offense, but a man blogging after a post was written about very real and tedious labor contractions? Are you kidding? As far as the labor, I'm so sorry you've had to "endure." Cuz that's pretty much what moms do, right? Maybe I'm wrong, the idea about the pool was really good, I liked it, but if you aren't near one, two or three luke warm baths a day? Take some of the pressure off? Able to turn over some of the responsibilities to hubby when he gets home so you can hit the tub again? The last stretch is really hard. Bless you, and hang in there, for you know you'll be rewarded in spades in the very end.
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - There aren't pools near us, but I have been taking nightly baths which feels nice. SO wish I had a labor ball!
@christygraves@xanga - ohh, that sounds rough! Thanks for the encouragement- at this point I keep forgetting there's a baby coming at the end of all of this- easy to lose sight of sometimes.
@DanielleinParadise@xanga - I totally agree in a healthy pregnancy, wait for the baby, they'll come when they're ready :) I'm not doing cervical checks with my midwife because I don't want to get discouraged OR have false hopes of how fast things will move. With my son I had a natural birth, but every time they checked me and I wasn't making much progress I got SO discouraged. When they stopped checking I went from 4cm to 10cm in just a few hours. Just hoping all this work my body's doing helps the labor along when it finally starts being active.
@Pollypinks@xanga - "No offense, but a man blogging after a post was written about very real and tedious labor contractions? Are you kidding?" - Wait, what?? I'm confused about what you're talking about?
The end is like a marathon- endurance for sure, but I"m lucky when my husband is here he's been pretty helpful around the house. I'm trying to stay busy to keep my mind off of pain and not let myself get impatient :)
I'm totally confused. Does someone here think I'm a man? Come on over for lunch and take a look. Take a look at the bladder that was surgically suspended twice because of labor. Peek way up inside and see the uterus that's gone. Look at the boob that had the tumor removed. And yes, I'm offended.
@Pollypinks@xanga - Polly, no one here thinks you are a man. I promise you. One of your comments was a little confusing, that is why the OP quoted you in her reply to you.
In your earlier comment, you wrote, "No offense, but a man blogging after a post was written about very real and tedious labor contractions? Are you kidding?" That was very confusing, but everything after that was a really great comment. No one thought you were a man, and the OP's response to you was only to question what the first part of that comment meant.
I hope this clears the air.
@Pollypinks@xanga - Oh, I didn't think you were a man, and I totally appreciated (and responded to) the second part of your comment. I was just quoting the first part because I was super confused by what it meant and looking for clarification. Sorry if that didn't come across.
I tend to cause a bit of confusion in my children's lives on occasion as well. I apologize for doing so. I've not gone back to the post. Normally I get around 50 emails a day, from people who have the same health issues I have, and I think that day was a whopper and I wrote confusing posts to more than just wonderful moms on this site. No excuses. Not trying to get out of it. Just hoping an apology will help a little, and that in the future, I'll pay better attention. I joined this site because so many mothering things have changed, and my son and his wife have entrusted me to care for their little boy 3-4 days a week. I made a commitment that I would do things the way they asked me to, because its'a new generation, new information has been garnered, and I'd do things a little different if I could. I haven't agreed with everything they've asked of me, and if it takes him more than 5-10 minutes to get himself to sleep, I intervene, and on many days, I intervene before that. But that's about the only thing, other than they think I spoil him because I read to him, don't let him watch t.v., show him the alphabet and some numbers, and spend a lot of one on one. I've gone through colic with this child, acid reflux, lactose intolerance, constipation, and, 8 teeth, and I don't think giving attention for all that he's been through is spoiling him. But that's just me.