Ok so I have been having contractions for 3 weeks almost 4 now but they would only be regular for a few hours then disappear. Well today my contractions got stronger and they were about 11 min apart for a long while then they moved to 7 min apart and now they are about 5-7 min and they last for about 1 min. I am not ready to go to the hospital yet though because I feel like I can probably sleep through them. My mom wants me to head to the hospital as soon as they are consistently 5 min apart, I want to wait til they are more like 3-5 min apart because 1) I feel like this is just another step in this drawn out labor process I have been experiencing 2) I don't want an epidural and my hospital is not very willing to work with a woman who wishes to deliver naturally 3) I want to be sure that this time when I go to the hospital I am not leaving until I have a baby in my arms. My hospital is about 30 min away though and my mom is worried that with all the "prep" my son has put me through that it wont take too long to go from 5 min apart contractions to having a baby.
So my question is do you think this is it? Should I go in when they are 5 min apart or wait it out just a bit longer?
Re: So confused
I would wait. You can't always rely on it going fast because you are on your second one....
I had # 3 and my doctor sent me down to L&D and my water broke while I was there. I sat in a bed for 24 hours without much progress and then the last 2-3 hours went fast.
With my other two kids, I was 12 hours from the time my water broke to the time baby came. You would think, #3 would come quicker... I guess once things really got going, he did but I would have given anything to stay home another 12 hours. My water broke at about 9pm, I could have went in at 9am after a good night sleep.
I'm going to have this issue with DH as well, he's already jumped the gun a couple of times. I'm hoping that when it really is time, DH will be at work and I'll be able to wait a little bit before we head out (since we're pretty close to the hospital). If not, it will be a struggle - he always wants me to call the doctor and head to the hospital.
I would maybe call your doctor and see what he/she says. Since they are painful enough for you to not be able to talk through them... you might not want to risk waiting too long. Just my opinion.
Good luck and keep us posted!
If you have to stop and lean on something or squat when you have a contraction, that's the time to go. by the time you get there you'll probably need a wheel chair, which is a good sign- that means you're really close to delivery.