Natural Birth
heatherbrownm
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For those who labored at home before going to the hospital
heatherbrownm
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I'm a FTM and this is probably a silly question, but I am planning on laboring at home as long as possible. How did you ladies know when you needed to go to the hospital? I don't want to go to soon, but I don't want to be crossing my legs, trying to hold my baby in as we pull up 
haha.
haha. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Re: For those who labored at home before going to the hospital
As maddening as this answer is, most women just know. Trust your body to tell you when you are getting close.
With my first I labored at home for 10 hours, knew I was not super close, but definitely in labor and when we arrived I was at 6cm. With DS I wanted to labor at home longer. I had only had 4 hours of contractions (an hour of intense contractions) before I knew it was time. Honestly I kept holding off ignoring what my body was telling me, my rational mind kept telling me, "It's too soon". Then all of a sudden something my Hypnobirthing teacher had told us rang clearly in my ears, "When you think it's time to go, it's time to go." I just thought, "We've got to go." I didn't even make it past triage before DS was in my arms. Next time I know I just need to trust my body, we still made it in time but cutting it too close for my comfort!
You really do just know. It's an annoying answer but when you are there you will realize it's really true. I went from "Maybe we should go to the hospital?" to "WE'RE GOING NOW!" in about ten minutes. I arrived at 8cm.
As a rule of thumb, I usually tell people the car ride should sound unbearable and nothing should be funny anymore.
When you don't want to wear pants and/or clothes anymore, then it's probably a good time to go.
This is a good post about the emotional signposts of labor: https://www.angelfire.com/nb/doulaamanda/Labor.html
DS2 - Oct 2010 (my VBAC baby!)
I knew when I had that first contraction where my body started to push.
In hindsight, I remember a specific point where I told my DH that when we got to the hospital and if I wasn't very far along, I would maybe think about getting an epidural. I was in transition at that point and didn't know it. I thought it was too soon and thought there was no way I could be that far along yet. But within a half an hour...my body began pushing. It was then that I said "we have to go NOW". Haha
I never had a fear that I would give birth in the car. But, I arrived fully dilated and DS was born after pushing through just 3 or 4 contractions.
To me, it was exactly as we had planned and I was happy to arrive at the hospital so far along. With that being said...this time I will look for that sign where I'm doubting myself. Then I will know it's time to go.
No. For a couple reasons. First, I've discover that women time their labor differently--some from when contractions first started, some from when they became regular. Second, on of the benefits of staying home is not being on the clock--the idea being that once you get to the hospital they do put youn a clock and while some labored just last long, they may not let you progress naturally. There wold be exactions to the, like if your water breaks (mine never did fully, midwife broke it, it only started leaking as we walked into the hospital). This is a good question to ask your dr or MW. Often they like you to deliver within 24 hours of water breaking, though many midwives in particular may let be super strict on that.
This was my experience too. I thought it was too soon since I wasn't at 511 and had only been in labor for an hour or so. But I also never got to 511 and my labor was only five hours from start to finish. I skipped from contractions every 7 to 10 minutes to every two minutes and delivered the baby in triage. I should have left when the contractions were strong enough that I knew it was time to go.....
Thank you for all the responses! I kind of thought it might be one of those situations where "you just know".
Also, did your water break while at home or at the hospital? How long after your water broke did you give birth? Again, this seems like a silly question, but I'm curious. Thanks again, ladies!
My water did not break until the midwife did it about 20 minutes before DD was born. DD would have been born in the caul had the bulging bag not been impeding my pushing.
My water broke part way at home about a half our or so after contractions started. When I got out of the car at the hospital the rest of it came out in a flooding gush. DS was born twoish hours later.
My good friend who is a doula was with me and she was the one who suggested I call my midwife. My midwife then wanted to have me on the line during a contraction...she wanted to hear how I reacted and if I could talk through it, etc. There was a time I had called and the midwife said to call her a little bit later to check in. She didn't think I was quite ready...she was right. I'm going with a different group of midwives this time but it's pretty much the same procedure.
ETA: It wasn't until I got to the birth center and I was checked for the first time (5cm) that my water broke. I had my baby just short of 17 hours after it had broke.
My water slightly broke at home, I leaked all through triage, my MW had to finish breaking the water bag when I was 9.5 cm. DD was born 3 -4 hrs after the first break, about 30-45 min after my MW completed the break.
Both times my MW broke my bag of water right before crowning. Some babies are actually born in their sac, so you can't rely on water breaking as a sign of how close you are.
My water broke as soon as I arrived at the hospital. I was 6 cm when it broke in triage and I remember it going everywhere. I was holding LO in less than 2 hours later. Things went very quickly once my water broke.
Agreed!!! Thank you!
A related follow-up question:
I live an hour from our hospital. Did most of you live closer? Would that have changed anyone's "wait until you know" scenario?
I decided to go when I thought I'd be no less uncomfortable at the hospital than at home.
With DS1 I went to the hospital at 8am and he was born at 12:30pm (so I was there just over 4 hours).
With DS2 I went at 2:00am and he was born at 2:30am (about half an hour).
I guess I'm a little different because I didn't "know". Heck, with DS1, we went to the Dr office for a labor check b/c I wasn't sure if I was in labor. Turns out, I was 7 cm dilated and DS was born 90 min later at the hospital. With DS2, I was in a ton of pain (which was not my experience with DS1) and I was 10 cm dilated when we got to the hospital (after 2 hrs of labor). Before we left, I kept telling DH that we didn't need to leave yet. If DS hadn't been face up (making his delivery much more difficult), he definitely would have been born in the car on the way to the hospital.
One rule of thumb my doula shared was that if you're not smiling between contractions anymore, it's time to go to the hospital.
We live about the same distance away and will be doing the same drive for this LO. Our midwife took this into account as we were in touch with her throughout the labor, though ultimately I was the one who told both her and hubby it was time to go, whatever they thought! There seems to be a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest that for most women a car ride will slow or stall labor if it is not really well established. Heck, just going to the hospital can. That said, DH have already talked about going a bit sooner this time since second labor often go faster, but we'll see. I have no regrets about when we left last time.
Well with my first I wish I had waited longer to go in. We were going by the time between contractions and not how I was feeling emotionally. I got to the hospital and was only 6 cm. I was there another 4 hours before DD1 was born.
With DD2, I waited too long and arrived at 10 cm. It was very crazy and caotic when I arrived at the hospital. But I did have a good reason for waiting. DH was out of town for work when my water broke. He arrived at the hospital 4 min before DD2 was born. My labor was just under 4 hours, which was unexpected as well.
Both of my labors started with my water breaking.
Us too, so this is really helpful. Thanks ladies!
And that's the problem with waiting too long. The triage nurse kept asking me all these question, I just remember thinking "Shut up!" Finally, when she asked me, "First date of your last menstrual?" And I responded with a dirty look and an 'I don't remember." I think she knew to leave me alone after that, "Look at the freaking chart!" Then they had me signing consent forms as my MW was putting on gloves so I could push. DH could see DS's head and I was signing consent forms! DH said I would make the first letter on the line and then it ran down the pages after that.
Good question. Personally, I wanted to go to the hospital WAY TOO EARLY. Luckily, my OB told me not to and to visit his office instead when it would open 3 hours later. The whole thing worked out but I didn't "know" like all the pp.
In fact, I got to the hospital like one pp at 6cm but didnt have LO until 5+ hours later. I had an extremely long labor and my water didn't break so I didn't know what to do. 24 hours of hard labor, another 12 of painful but manageable, and then another day of light light cramping which is when I knew it was labor starting.
Couple things I heard beforehand which were true..."if it takes you less than 10 minutes to get to the car, it's too early." Also if you can talk AT ALL, it is too soon.
Waiting until contractions are every 2/3 minutes would have actually been more than enought time for me for others it wouldn't have been enough time.
Trying to answer all the follow-up questions as well.
My water broke around 10:30 that morning, but I didn't have any contractions. We went into the hospital (30-45 min away) to do an initial check with the MWs. I didn't have an internal exam, just monitoring for contractions, as I wasn't feeling any. I was given the option of returning home or checking in for labor to kick in. We decided to go home in hopes of avoiding additional interventions.
It wasn't until DH went to get me some soup that my contractions started. They went from being annoying to me throwing up and having to writhe on the bed in pain in a few hours. It got to the point where I was telling DH we NEEDED to go to the hospital, but as I hadn't had a 4-1-1 pattern (contractions were only 45 seconds long) he kept pushing me to stay home. I finally told him we had to go because my pain was bad enough that I couldn't imagine being in the car with it if it got worse (again knowing we had a 30-45 min drive).
When we got to the hospital I only had the anterior lip of my cervix undialated, and DS came within an hour. I wish we had left for the hospital when I first started saying it needed to happen, but we were safe and lesson learned!