[name_f]My[/name_f] midwife is fantastic but I never want to bother her if it is not necessary!
I just want to know at what point you called your midwife ( or went to the hospital for those who gave birth in a hospital)
I have been having contactions about 10 mins apart for 3 hours now. When I had a bath they stopped but are now back again. I am “due” august 03.
They are not too bad… i can still walk/somewhat function but they dont really feel like braxton-hicks but I can’t imagine REAL labour is this calm! lol!
[name_f]My[/name_f] (3) midwives work on rotation and one is always either at the hospital or available to come, so I’m not sure how it works when you have a single midwife. [name_f]My[/name_f] guess is that you can just show up at the hospital and they will only call her if you are ready to have the baby? Otherwise they will send you home without bothering her. That is how it normally works with an obgyn too.
I’ve never had a baby so I wouldn’t really know, but can you call your midwife and tell her about your contractions, etc. and let her make the call? Or call an over-the-phone health consultation service if one is available?
If you’re concerned then I would give her a call. Worse case she tells you that you just need to sit tight. With my son I called once because the contractions were similar to yours and was told that I wasn’t in enough pain yet. A little bit later I was and we went to the hospital at that point. Of course every person is different and different midwives have different points that they want you at the hospital. Good luck!
[name_f]My[/name_f] doctor’s office told me to call the office (or hospital if after hours) once contractions were less than 5 minutes apart. I never had any [name_m]Braxton[/name_m] Hicks. I read about women who started labor and cleaned their house and stuff. I was like “Are you kidding?” Mine were so painful I was on my knees at one point. And they were less than 5 minutes, out of nowhere. It was after hours so I called the hospital and they paged the doctor who asked me standard questions before telling me I should head to the hospital.
[name_m]Don[/name_m]'t worry about bothering your midwife.That’s what they’re there for, especially about whether it’s time or not.
Thanks everyone! I did end up calling her and she said that if I was not in a lot of pain and they were not getting any closer together then I should just wait. She said some women can experience this and its normal. I had a nap earlier and am going to head to bed in a bit. I guess we’ll see if they get any worse!
@lerenard…She does work in a pair and I have met all the midwives at the office but I mostly deal with just the one. If she is not “on” when I am in labour her partner will be the one with us!
I am birthing at home so I wont be going to the hospital at all. She will be coming to my house! We have the Birthing pool already ( not set up of course)!
well still semi regluar contractions so I will go see my midwife tomorrow again. She may send me for another ultrasound just to see whats going on and some sort of stress test… not sure whats thats all about! Anyone ever had one?
So fingers crossed all will be well with our baby and hoping he/she will come soon!!!
You might be going for a non stress test (not sure if are or not though!) I have 2 of those a week, and they’re really non invasive, simple tests. They put a monitor on your stomach to get a reading of the baby’s heart, and give you a little “clicker” that you hold and click every time the baby moves. They then look to see if the baby has the proper amount of heart accelerations and decelerations with each movement., it can take as little as 20 minutes, or an hour. They want to see 2( I think!) In 20 minutes. [name_f]My[/name_f] baby never cooperates, and I get stuck there for ages! I always bring a book to read-it can get kind of boring. There are other tests your midwife might be talking about, so I don’t know if this will help you or not!
I think we’re due around the same day, too! I’m due [name_u]August[/name_u] 2nd, but hoping she wants to arrive sooner☺
Wanted to add-I have really regular and quite painful contractions every afternoon and evening for hours, but nothing has come of them yet. Hopefully my body is just doing a lot of the prep work now!
it was in fact a non-stress test! lol! baby is fine thank goodness!
Ultrasound looks good too! [name_u]Baby[/name_u] looks big!!! They think he/she will probably be 9lbs by the time he/she is here! ( I really really hope they are wrong!)
I’m still have contractions but I am able to sleep which is nice ( well as good as anyone can sleep with a huge belly!)
Now just to wait… fingers are crossed for this week!!! @rachelkm if you don’t mind me asking why so many non-stress tests?
[name_f]Glad[/name_f] everything was okay! I get them twice a week because of a heart condition that I have. I have to take a pretty strong dose of medication to keep it under control, and my doctor decided we’d be better safe than sorry with monitoring this baby. I also had pre eclampsia with my last baby, so we’re extra cautious. It’s annoying to do them every week, but I feel better knowing the medicine isn’t doing any harm to her.
Also-big babies are great! Mine ranged from 9 to 12 lbs, and they were the cutest newborns ”
It is very tempting to call now. But I have learned it is best to wait until the pain smarts. Labor hurts so had that no matter how many people are around, you will scream and cry. You cannot hold it in. So, if you can calm the pain through a bath, this could be early labor, or pre-labor, which can happen for weeks prior to the birth. Once the pain gets to be enough that you cannot speak and you feel very irritated, then it might be time to call.