Laboring at home before hospital?

LisaMarisa · January 2011

I dont know why this never occured to me before, especially since this is baby #2 for me (#1 was induced so I didnt deal with it but of course it was a possibility). I have no plan on how to labor at home before it is time to go to the hospital. It just occured to me that I may be in a significant amount of pain while laboring at home and I might need some help to get through it.

Any ideas/suggestions? I do have a birthing ball which I've heard helps.

Really, why havent I thought of this before?

PS I just ate a sleeve of girl scout cookies while writing this... mmm

schoolsoutbride · January 2011

It felt good for me to lean over something counter high and sway my hips from side to side. Figure 8s on the ball helped too. We also had a bunch of relaxation techniques we did.

mrsolsenk12 · January 2011

Jealous of the GS cookies. We are at ordering time here (I just ordered some yesterday) but they won't be in until March. Boo!!!!

I labored some at home. I went to a dr. appointment at 2pm on a Friday. I was told I was 2cm and 90% effaced. I had been having contractions for a week but they got more intense. For me, I found that deep breathing did help while they were still pretty mild. At 11pm that night my water broke and on the way to the hospital, they were INTENSE. Since I was in the car (30 min. drive to the hospital) I just kept doing deep breaths and trying to breath through the pain. It helped some but it still hurt. I also tried to relax in between contractions. I was a 5cm when I got to the hospital so I guess I did early labor at home.

emmyloustu · January 2011

I labored at home for an entire day before heading to the birthing center. The yoga ball was my friend. I also found hot showers to help and the hot rice sock on my lower back was awesome!

oct11bride03 · January 2011

I had no plan, especially since I went into labor 3 weeks early. After my water broke I showered, more because I hadn't showered yet that day then for pain relief, and then I sat on a birthing ball, which didn't really do much for me. I was in a good amount of pain, but I didn't really have a plan for how to manage it. By the time we got to the hospital I was begging for pain meds.

itsmevkb · January 2011

I had no plan either as I had an induction scheduled for my second but then she decided to come early. Honestly, she came so fast that I hardly labored at home at all. I barely made it to the hospital in time to have her. Hopefully your labor will go quickly as well, although not too quickly.

LSUBride3 · January 2011

schoolsoutbride:
It felt good for me to lean over something counter high and sway my hips from side to side. Figure 8s on the ball helped too. We also had a bunch of relaxation techniques we did.

Wish i would have thought of that. I did lean over the ottoman some which helped.

DH and I took lamaze, so i pretty much focused on breathing. With #2 i had DH and a friend rub my back HARD during contrations. That and the breathing helped alot. I bought a yoga ball, don't know why i didn't use it.

muppet.fan · January 2011

I labored at home and it wasn't horrible. I had to breathe through the contractions, but it wasn't super painful. I even sent DH to work that morning. Then my water broke and I wasn't prepared for that kind of pain. The 10 minute car ride nearly did me in. But by the time I got to my dr., I was 8 cm!

Mouseygail · January 2011

I had back labor and there is no way I would have done well at home by myself. DH was with me and would rub my back as I stood, half bent over the couch arm. I think I would be more concerned about having someone ready to come and distract DS (or take him out of the house) if you think that seeing you in pain is going to bother him.

mmm..girl scout cookies!! yum! what kind!?!

xtencornfield · January 2011

I will first say that I probably labored at home longer than I should have (I say that because DH's sanity was hanging on by a thread by the time we got to the hospital for good). I had regular contractions from 3 pm on a Thursday and we went to the hospital at 9:30 pm at 5 mins apart and 60 seconds in duration. They sent us home at 10:30 because my contractions "weren't strong enough" even though they were close together and pretty long. When we asked when we should come back, they just said, "oh you'll know." Well, I never really got to the "oh you'll know" point. I had terrible back labor all night and finally around 6:30 am, DH basically forced me into the car. When we got to the hospital they said, "Oh, we thought for sure you'd be back by 2 am." Uhhhhhhhh, then why didn't you say so when we asked you repeatedly when you thought we should come back! Grrrrr. However, I'm glad I labored at home eventhough it was pretty tough.

I found that I had to move around A LOT during contractions--like pacing in circles and up and down the hall. Leaning over and swaying did help some. DH rubbing my back and such didn't really help as I was definitely in don't-touch-me mode. The most rest I got that night was sitting up in a really cushy chair we have in our living room...but I would periodically have to jump up because my back contractions were so strong. I think next time I would definitely take a shower/bath which we completely forgot about.

dusk42 · January 2011

I was mostly on my hands and knees doing pelvic rocks or the ball for about 6 hours at home. I was 5 cm when we got to the hospital, and I was at 7 for a few hours, but after cleaning the house and running around (bad idea), I was exhausted and wanted an epidural to try to sleep (I was trying for a med-free birth). But then they put in the epidural, my water broke right after that, and DD was born within an hour.

I think that my water breaking late had a lot to do with being able to labor at home that long without a ton of pain.

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