How did your labor start?

vtkgirl77 · May 2009

I can't believe I am 1 month from my due date! I am curious as to how people's labor started. My plan is to go to work until I have the baby but I'm hoping to avoid any embarrasing situations. I heard that most people's water doesn't break until their labor has started (but this was not true for my best friend so it's still something that's on my mind).

I would be curious to hear how labor started for you, where you were, what you did, how long you had before needing to go to the hospital and any other details you want to share about the experience.

spiffyone · May 2009

my water didn't break, i honestly felt like i had to go to the bathroom and couldn't. i never had the collapsing in pain they show on tv.

tmp-354536812503300 · May 2009

I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom then actually heard and felt a pop and then the gush. I tried to go back to bed but the water just kept coming. My water brok at 6:17am and by 7:00am we were off to the hospital. I never had contractions on my own so I never felt the doubling pain either.

claraj · May 2009

All day Saturday, I just felt a lot of pressure "down there." I ran tons of errands and got lots of things done. Maybe subconsciously I just knew...

I woke up around 2 a.m. on Sunday morning with mild menstrual-like cramps (which were actually contractions). They got progressively stronger and more frequent throughout the day. I think we weren't really convinced that I was in labor, so we kept a pre-planned brunch date with a friend and even washed our car. By 10 p.m. Sunday night, the contractions were finally 5 minutes apart and hurt like a mofo, so we went the hospital.

I labored all night, started pushing at 9 a.m. on Monday morning and Lily was born at 11: 28 a.m.

My water never broke--the midwife did it in the hospital.

Good luck!

KristinandChris · May 2009

I taught the day I went into labor, the only thing I noticed at school was DD moving around a ton while I sat in a meeting. After school we went to get our car seat checked and I felt a little off on the way home. DH and I were watching Oprah when I first felt like I had really bad menstral cramps. I didn't start timing them until around 5pm, they got really bad around 7pm, took a shower (which felt amazing) at 9pm and we headed to the hospital at 10pm. I was 4 cm dialated when the nurse checked me, 8cm when the doctor checked about 20 minutes later and broke my water, and 10cm 20 minutes after that. I tried pushing without an epidural but couldn't do it. Once I got the epidural things slowed down and I pushed for 3 hours.

jenndreier · May 2009

It was a Sunday afternoon and I was sitting on the floor in my bedroom. My water broke and gushed GALLONS. Contractions started about 10/20 minutes later. I continued to gush what seemed like gallons my entire labor. I know that I am the rare case, though. Good luck, Jenn

stormi glam · May 2009

i had mild contractions throughout the day and very slowly got stronger they were sharp not warm like pms cramps and kept getting stronger but i could handle them and then my water broke but didnt really think much of it just thought i had peed my pants and my contractions were about 3-5 min apart lasting anywhere from 20secs to- a min and 15 secs so we didnt leave for the hospital becasue i didnt think they were making a pattern. around 3 am i decided i should go to the hospital just to see where i was we live about 30 min away and some time along this drive they got worse just like that and i thought i was going to die. i wasnt even at the hospital 5 min when i gave birth. dont get me wrong it hurt all day, but everyone said that the pain was unbareable so i just thought they were going to get worse

victoria1212 · May 2009

I had been having contractions for weeks (was in hospital for pre-term labor and then was put on bedrest) but I never felt any of them. The day before my water broke- I was super tired, moving really slow and just did not feel right. I went to bed at 8pm that night and then woke up at 6am. As I was walking to the bathroom, my water broke. We were at the hospital by 7am and I ended up having a c-section at 6pm.

cmh06 · May 2009

jenndreier:
It was a Sunday afternoon and I was sitting on the floor in my bedroom. My water broke and gushed GALLONS. Contractions started about 10/20 minutes later. I continued to gush what seemed like gallons my entire labor. I know that I am the rare case, though. Good luck, Jenn

I was sleeping in the recliner like I had been doing for the last month and a half. I woke up to my a pop and my water breaking at 5:30am. DH even heard the pop and jumped out of bed. I waddled to the bathroom as fast as I could and it just kept coming. I changed underwear and pants like 3 times before we left, but finally just gave up and went to the hospital all wet. Just like Jenndreier, I continued to leak throughout most of my labor. I started feeling contractions about 30 min. after my water broke. We got to the hospital around 7am. When we got to the triage section of L&D the nurse looked at me and said, "I guess we don't need to check to see if your water broke or not."

KristinandChris · May 2009

jenndreier:
It was a Sunday afternoon and I was sitting on the floor in my bedroom. My water broke and gushed GALLONS. Contractions started about 10/20 minutes later. I continued to gush what seemed like gallons my entire labor. I know that I am the rare case, though. Good luck, Jenn

After my water broke I think I leaked a lot too - I thought it was normal but now that you mention it I remember my doctor "commenting" on the amount of fluid. He actually said at one point "hmmm yeah there's a lot of stuff down here" or something equally random. Obviously I didn't care at that point, haha.

garden123 · May 2009

I had been on bed rest for several weeks with pre-term contractions (but not labor, once true labor starts there's no stopping it, if that makes sense). While watching one of the debates, I was bored with it and decided to take a shower. As I started to get undressed I had a stonger contraction, so I sat down. Had another stronger one, so I layed down on the bed on my side like I was supposed to (which helps to slow them down). Then I heard and felt a pop, which was my water breaking (some came out then, the rest in the car and the wheel chair in the hospital. The bulky pad I put on did nothing, I wish I had depends

Because of the fact that I was preterm (just under 35 weeks), I was told to go to the hospital right away. My labor progressed very quickly and was about 6 hours long total. I'll spare you the details of how painful it was, but I did get an epi so if you are getting one, get it early

Sofka · May 2009

I think you are the next DC Bumpie due so get ready for us to start stalking you:)

I woke up at 1:45am with what felt like really really bad cramps, called Dr at 4am, got to hospital at 6:15am. I was 8cm but didn't progress much after that. My water never broke. I got an epidural and never had those really really awful labor pains you hear about. I ended up w/ c-section.

good luck!

oh, I forgot to add: I was due on a Wed, went to work on Wed, went to work on Thur, and Friday. Monday was a Federal Holiday. I had the baby on Sunday. If you can, work till the very end. I can't imagine taking ML early and sitting around the house - I'd have been bored out of my mind! Working also kept me active and I took the stairs till the bitter end:)

SoonToBeMrsDTS · May 2009

When I had my first, I woke up thinking I had peed in my sleep! My water broke around 7am and we headed to the hospital within the hour. I had been having contractions on and off for weeks but they were never regular.

Baby4OT · May 2009

My first was induced, so it started when my OB broke my water and hooked me up to the pitocin drip.

Labor with my second child started at home, late at night, with moderate cramps that progressed to contractions. I had an abnormally fast labor (2.5 hours from when I thought "Hmm, something might be going on here" until I had her). Especially with a first chld I wouldn't worry about needing to dash off to the hospital as soon as contractions start.

vtkgirl77 · May 2009

Thank you everyone - it's interesting to hear how everyone's story is so unique. I'll be interested to see how it happens for me. In the meantime, I have a beach towel in my drawer at work just in case.

Sam78 · May 2009

my water broke in the middle of the night (at home, obviously) - we went to the hospital about 3 hours later after contrax never started on their own (only a healthy dose of pitocin got them going). I never even had BH during the entire pregnancy that I felt. I worked a full week, water broke early Sunday morning so I pretty much worked right up until the time Alyssa was born. Oh, and after my water broke, I went back to bed and slept for another couple of hours Smile

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