Dilation/ Contractions

nina21000

 

So we know that walking, sex, squats... are believed to help with dilation, but is there anything that can really cause contractions? As dilation doesn't really mean labor, it's the contractions that do!

[Deleted User]

The reason those things are supposed to help with dilation is they are supposed to make you contract. You don't dilate without contractions, even if you don't feel the contractions.

[Deleted User]

LauraT25:

MrsNorry:

The reason those things are supposed to help with dilation is they are supposed to make you contract. You don't dilate without contractions, even if you don't feel the contractions.

Yep.  And contractions may be considered 'labor' but you won't progress without dilation.  Trust me, I spent 12 hours going through crappy contractions every 3-5 minutes and got nothing out of it.

Yup...BTDT twice now in the past two weeks! 

hmontty

The truth is that nothing is going to cause contractions unless your body is ready. I was 40 weeks, being threatened with a C-section, and did everything under the sun, from spicy foods to sex to acupuncture....everything...to try to get labor started, but when I went in for the surgery, the baby hadn't even dropped yet and my cervix was still closed up like Ft. Knox.

Perhaps these things might speed things up a little if your body is ready and is already preparing to start labor soon, but absent that, it's just a waiting game.

 

moonrose2715

Those things can cause contractions too.  Fact is though that none of it means anything.  I contracted like a madwoman my first pregnancy.  By the time I went in for my induction (GD and borderline BP) I was contracting every 3-5 minutes but my cervix was "barely softened and maybe a fingertip"... Yeah... Sucked.

Then there are plenty of women who walk around dilated for weeks with nothing.

For labor, you need both.  And the right kind.  And your body needs to be ready.  And so does your baby.

dmclark498

Lots of things can cause contractions, but unless your body is ready, once you stop whatever you were doing, the contractions stop too. If you really must try, nipple stimulation, sex/orgasm, accupressure, etc *can* start contractions, but its not a guarantee. 

holly321

moonrose2715:

Those things can cause contractions too.  Fact is though that none of it means anything.  I contracted like a madwoman my first pregnancy.  By the time I went in for my induction (GD and borderline BP) I was contracting every 3-5 minutes but my cervix was "barely softened and maybe a fingertip"... Yeah... Sucked.

Then there are plenty of women who walk around dilated for weeks with nothing.

For labor, you need both.  And the right kind.  And your body needs to be ready.  And so does your baby.

 

I was one of those women with DD.  Each week, I would go back and be more dilated.  Except between weeks 37 and 38.  I stayed 3 cms.  And that was the week I tried everything in the world to start labor. And nothing happened.