for my 38th week appointment. Now, since New Years I've been having bad BH on and off. Went to the hospital once for them and got sent home because I needed to drink more water. SO, I've been drinking water, eating good, but still having BH.
(I have posted and see a lot of posts about contractions and if they are or aren't BH.)
Back to the appointment...
I tell the nurse that I want to be checked to see if there are any changes, since over the weekend I was really uncomfortable. Well Dr. comes in and I start telling him how DH and I are always wondering if my uncomfortable pains are labor ect...he starts making DH and I laugh like crazy about our "first time" feelings. Then he checks me and of course, there hasn't been any changes.
Well, Dr. said: "When you got into labor...YOU WILL KNOW! The contractions will be SO painful. If you think you're in labor, then you're not! You will KNOW when you're in labor. Then, once you start having contractions you cannot breathe or stand through, you'll need to have them for 2 hours...2 hours! (saying this while holding up 2 fingers) Then go to the hospital. It's not worth it to go before because your chances of getting sent home are higher. If your water breaks, you WILL know! There will be a puddle between your legs. So just relax and when LO is ready to come out, she'll let you know...believe me! Everything else is just a bunch of mishagaus (craziness)"
LOL, I love my Dr.! He said all of this while making my DH and I laugh and just feel so much more relaxed. So now I'm not wondering with every uncomfortable pain anymore. When it happens, I'll know.
Re: So I went to the Dr yesterday...
LOL. My doctor pretty much said the same thing. Therefore I am waiting until I am near death to call or complain.... because I don't want to be sent home!
They say "we'll know".... so now we wait
I love your dr too
I wish more Dr's would be this honest with their patients.
There are so many, is this a contract, is this my mucus plug, am i leaking water posts. Everytime, I just want to write, you will know! Then I continue to mostly lurk
It sounds like your dr is pretty funny!
I have heard the "you'll know" thing a lot but I guess I am still confused, if that is possible!
I know that my baby is not about to plop out, but something is happening and I don't understand exactly what it is--early labor, false labor, practice contractions etc??--that is why "you'll know" never satisfies me. I know this isn't the big show in the next hour or so, but I don't know what it is!
DD #1: 2012; MMC: 2014; DD #2: 2015; It's a boy! 3/31/2018
Love it
with my first I had one Labor and Delivery fail- I went in late one night with contractions that were consistently about five minutes apart for a few hours- when I arrived they asked if I needed a wheelchair-- I said oh no, I can walk....they were uncomfortable, but I could still get thru them..***this should have been my cue that it was NOT the real deal*** I was sent home after a few hours of no progress.
a few days later I awoke to horrendous, painful contractions that I could barely breath thru...I writhed in the car the whole way to L&D...and upon arrival knew a wheel chair was absolutely necessary...needless to say, I have greater faith in my ability to differentiate between early labor and active labor with this baby due in a few weeks lol.
If a physician said this to me I would probably walk out of their office and not look back. FIRST of all, not every mom (FTM or not) has contractions that are so strong they cant stand or breathe through them, everyone has a different pain tolerance. For example, I didn't ask for an epidural until I was almost 7cm with DS1, while many of my friends said by 4cm (which is what I am now at 31w) they were begging for their epi. Secondly I'm sure you could find 100 moms on this board alone that could tell you that when their water initially broke they had NO idea because it started as a slow leak NOT a "puddle between your legs" Not every aspect of labor occurs as it does on tv. I can tell you as a nurse that the way your water exits is largely dependent on the station of your baby's head. The bag of water can break completely but if the head is positioned in such a way it can literally act like a "cork" and at that point you would experience a slow leak instead of an instant gush like some women experience. Also I don't know if your "hilarious" doctor has told you this or not but once the membrane breaks (whether completely or partially) your window for infection begins. SO if you go by his advice and end up with a slow leak and ignore it because you think you haven't experienced the "puddle" you could put yourself at risk for chorio which can not only be fatal for you but for your baby as well and increase your chances of an emergent c-section.
It's all fine and well that you trust your doctor so much that you feel comforted by what he tells you BUT at the same time I will tell you exactly what my perinatologist has been telling me for weeks " No doctor can accurately predict or tell you WHEN or HOW labor will begin. They can give you educated information based on their experience and training but labor is one of those things that NO doctor has control over or can tell you exactly how it will happen or exactly what the outcome will be"
Just some food for thought......
Water breaking before labour only happens in about 8% of births. Research shows that is the internal exams that increase the rate of infection - not the water breaking. Even if the examiner uses gloves they can push bacteria already present in the vagina up. The flow of amniotic fluid down helps prevent this issue if no one is messing around in there. So the previous poster might be freaking out a little prematurely. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 146(4)
I'm pretty sure I wasn't "freaking out"....I was just telling her that she shouldn't ignore or dis-count the possiblity that her water COULD break without the "puddle between her legs as she stated her doctor said" As a nurse I have had lots of patients say "well I didn't know this or that could happen because my doc never mentioned it" All I was stating is that it is much better to listen to YOUR instincts and better to be "safe than sorry" because you were EXPECTING things to happen a certain way.
See, with me, I kind of broke the rules.
I never had contractions that were super close together until I got to the hospital and had been there for awhile. They were still 12-20 minutes apart when the nurse hotline told me to go in.
My water broke in triage.
9 hours after walking into triage, my DD was born. With epidural. No pitocin. First kid.
ETA: Nurses were kind of rolling their eyes at me (I could tell.. they were nice to me but I could tell they were a little annoyed because they already had a full plate that day)...because I walked into L&D and was still having pleasant conversation, etc. But I just did what the nurse on the nurse hotline told me to do. When my water broke in triage, the nurses tried to say it was pee. I knew it wasn't.
I *knew* I was in labor because the contractions I was having were significantly different than any I had had before.
I also never had my water break (dr. broke it for me after I was 7cm).
I delivered DD with an epi 10 hours after my first contraction, 6 hours after arriving at the hospital.
I am hoping for another speedy delivery this time around.
I know everyone's water doesn't break...I was just saying. I also know that it could break and not end up being a puddle right away but a trickle. However, it would feel like it does when you're on your period. Not peeing.
On another note, why would you walk out of the Dr's office when all he's trying to do is help you relax? Dr's aren't aloud to have a good time now? Personally, it means a lot to my DH and I that we have a Dr who is serious when need be but does like having a good time with us. Especially when we're both nervous and anxious about everything happening.
Well I am glad you "know" all this, however I based my reply off what you said exactly in your post which was "there will be a puddle between your legs and everything else is craziness"