When I discussed having a med free birth with my Doctor (thanks again for helping me come up with questions) I expressed that I would like to stay at home and labor as long as possible and he actually agreed that women who are successful at giving birth naturally are the ones that have labored at home longer. He didn't really tell me when I should come in, but I know he typically follows the 5-1-1 rule- but I'm guessing you are not that far along (maybe 3 or 4 cm) at that point.
So, any advice on at what point you should head to the hospital?
Re: When to go to the hospital?
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I tried to wait until 3-1-1, but my contrax went straight from 5 minutes apart to 2 minutes apart after my water broke. That's when I knew I better get my butt to the hospital. I got there and I was only 3cm dilated, though, so that was disappointing. I was there for about two more hours before it was time to push.
ETA: In my Bradley class, the teacher told us we should wait until getting in the car was the last thing we would want to do. And yeah, I did NOT enjoy that 20 minute car ride.
In this same idea....This is total anecdote, but I have had several MW tell me that if takes you less than 10 minutes to get to the car from when you decide to leave, you are going too soon
https://bellyupbaby.blogspot.com/2011/07/is-it-time-to-go-to-hospital.html
That blog post rang true for me - the emotional sign posts were bang on. I got to the hospital, then my water broke as I was changing into my gown, and I was 10 cm when assessed right after that. It was perfect.
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When we left for the hospital my contractions were 3-1-1. We had a few that were every 2 min and that freaked us out a little and that's when we decided to go. I got to the hospital and I was a 6. It was another 4 hours till DD was born.
This time I am going to try and go more by the emotional sign posts and stay home longer. Looking back, I was still having a pretty easy time working through them and we could have stayed home another hour or two at home.
I would pay more attention to the intensity of the contraction rather than the timing of them. With my first, my contractions jumped to 2 minutes apart quickly. So even though they weren't really bad, we went in anyway. I probably would have stayed home longer but dh was anxious It was too early for my liking. It took a couple of hours for things to get intense. But I did have a med-free birth like I wanted.
But the second time around, when my contractions went to 2 minutes pretty quickly again, I knew not to worry about and just pay attention to the intensity of the pain. When I started feeling pressure during a contraction I knew it was time to go. I think we were at the hospital 2-3 hours before DD2 was born, which was better than the 6 it was with DD1.
I know you have nothing to compare it to, the pain of a contraction, but I think the advice to go when you can't talk or walk through a contraction is probably a good starting point that it may be time soon.
Upon the advice of my Bradley class instructor, we ignored the pattern of my contractions (how frequent / far apart they were and how long they were lasting) and instead followed the Bradley class "signposts" of where I was in labor. I was so relaxed honestly I wasn't sure I was in real labor even when I arrived at the hospital - but it got to a point when I was at home that it no longer felt safe. Those were the key words that our Bradley teacher said that I remembered - it would hit a point where I felt like I wasn't safe at home and something was changing about my contractions. When I arrived I was 9.5 cm, started pushing 15 minutes after getting in the room and pushed for 10 minutes. So total time in hospital = no more than 30 minutes.
What felt "different" that made me think we should go to the hospital was felt a ton of pressure down there (like I needed to take a poop). I actually went from laboring on my hands at knees at home to laboring on the toilet b/c I was convinced I needed to have a BM (But I also didn't want to push, b/c I knew that pushing prematurely could cause swelling and make it harder to push baby out). I sat on the toilet for a few minutes, had my husband call the hospital to see what they would say - they said wait until my pain level reached higher (I was at like a 4 or 5 at this point). At that point it hit me - I was having a TON of pressure down there and I didn't feel safe. I had my husband hang up on the hospital and we headed right in. I believe my contractions were about 2 minutes apart (max) at that point lasting 1+ minutes. They were coming fast.
This next labor I'm planning on laboring at home as long as possible, once again until I feel the urge to push. We have a 15 min. drive to the hospital. I hope we make it, but I'd rather have a homebirth than get to the hospital early and have them mess with me.