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Natural Birth
greengirl0909
member
Laboring at Home
greengirl0909
member
Planning for my 3rd pregnancy. Hope for natural deliveries both times, but not had success for a variety of reasons. The only place to deliver in my area is a hospital and they aren't always super accommodating.
This time, I'm hoping to labor at home in the tub as long as I can before heading to the hospital. Anyone have advice to share? How hard will it be to travel to the hospital (about 5 minutes away) once my labor is stronger? I will be plan to be safe and talk with my doc about that too. TIA
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Re: Laboring at Home
The car ride was rough, but you do what you've got to do. I arrived 10 cm dilated and had no issues at all with my hospital because there was really nothing to talk about.
Personally, I'll stay home again. Maybe not quite to 10 cm, but if it goes that way I won't be disappointed.
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I labored at home in the tub for a few hours as well but found I wasn't progressing so then walked laps around our tennis courts for a few hours. I've heard from a few doulas that for many women, getting in the tub before you're 6-7 cm can slow labor down. For me, if I start labor in the middle of the night again, I'll get in the tub so I can sleep between contractions but then get out in the morning and stay out til I'm further along.
Other than slowing labor down, I found that I got really dehydrated in the tub - so make sure your support person keeps a full water bottle near you & encourages you to take a few sips between each contraction and labor with the window open so you aren't just breathing in steam.
A 5 minute drive doesn't sound too bad - I'd labor at home for a long time if I was so close. When we finally transitioned to the hospital, I had several peaceful contractions in the car that I mostly slept through - it was the first time in 24 hours that I was able to labor without several people observing me and it was surprisingly relaxing.
The car ride is probably the worst part for me, I'm not going to lie, but you get through it. The first time I arrived at 6cm and it was still another 7 hours before I was holding DD. I was lucky that my hospital is very pro-natural childbirth, so it wasn't bad being in the hospital that long. The second time around I knew I wanted to be a little further along, but kept stalling and stalling and cut it too close this time. I didn't even make it past triage and DS was in my arms. Hopefully next time I will arrive somewhere in the middle of my other two births.
As far as advice, I agree with pp listen to your body. With DS my body kept telling me it was 'go time', but my mind kept saying it was too early. Had I waited 30 min more he probably would have been born in the car. Also just make sure you are feeling the baby move between contractions and if at any point you get a bad feeling then leave no matter how early it is.
How fast were your other labors? I knew my sister's labors were fast, so figured mine might be too, and it was!
I was not in pain at all when we went to the hospital, but my contractions had reached the magical number of 5 minutes apart. I actually had to convince DH that it was time to go, he thought they would send us home because he didn't think I was far enough along in labor yet! If we would have waited until labor was stronger, LO would have been born on the side of the road. We checked in the hospital about 4pm and I was 6 cm at that point. It didn't start hurting until about 6:30-7pm, LO was born right before 8pm.
Do you live a long drive from the hospital? You had a fast labour, but hardly a "born in the car" fast labour. I'm only 10 minutes from the hospital and there is no way I was going to show up 2 hours in advance just for funsies.
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I didn't really realize I was as far into my labor as I was, but I had about a 20 minute drive to the hospital while contracting every 3 or so minutes. Contractions in the car were pretty miserable, but to be honest, contractions at home and at the hospital were miserable too. In the car, I was more overwhelmed by the weight of knowing we were going to the hospital to have a baby than by the contractions themselves, so it was kind of easy to distract myself.
Just try to keep whatever relaxation techniques or coping strategies you were doing at home and do them as best you can during the ride as well. For me, I would close my eyes, bend over and bury my face in my bed while whistling (???). In the car I'd close my eyes, bend as best as I could and whistle. I really don't know why I was whistling, but it worked for whatever reason!
We were about 25-30 minutes from the hospital depending on traffic, so not quite "born on the side of the road", but close! If I would have waited until I was actually *in pain* enough that DH would have thought I was ready to go, that's about when I started pushing. (And per what I learned in Bradly classes, I held off pushing until I absolutely couldn't not push. I was concentrating on NOT pushing until I absolutely wasn't able to not do it.) It probably would have taken me 10 minutes to get into the car at that point.
We got there a little under 4 hours early, and it was pretty much all doing something: check in and sign all the final paperwork and forms, get shown to the delivery room and change clothes, get a little bit settled and introduced to the nurses, start pushing, baby is born.
I didn't feel like we were sitting around twiddling our thumbs at all. For me personally, 2 hours would not have been enough time; I would have felt very rushed and would have made me stressed and keyed-up.
I stayed at home until I was deep in transition. The drive to the birth center/hospital is around 30-35 minutes without traffic and while excruciating, it wasn't unbearable. I walked myself in, up the elevator and into the birthing room without issue or assistance. Was found to be 7 cm but ended up quickly dilating to 10 and holding a baby within 10 minutes. I never felt rushed at all but that's generally my personality. Go with the flow, it is what it is kinda thing. I think I would have felt like a "watched pot" at the birth center while at home I labored 95% alone and preferred it that way.