How do I know when to head to hospital?

[Murph12334]

Ok, so I so do not know when i'm supposed to head to the hospital. The thought occured to me today that I have no clue. With Josie her water broke, I knew to head there. Just my contractions though (up until transition) are completely manageable, I can talk, walk, etc thoguh them. They get stronger when transition hits.
I had contractions similar to what I had with dd last night. They were in my back and front. Then I fell asleep. But yet if I would have went in last night, then it would have ended up being nothing. How do you know?? Well, how do I know?

[BethSLP]

my doula said to call her when the ctx. are around 5 mins from beginning to beginning, last around 45 seconds, and "give me pause" (not being able to talk through them). In your case, perhaps just intervals would be an indication?

She said to call her around 5 mins. apart so that she could get to me before they are 3 mins apart.

She typically takes her clients to the hospital when ctx. are 3 mins apart or so and they are 5-6 cm. dilated. but that's obviously a rough estimate as every labor is different.

She also said some people might have ctx. every 10 mins. but they last for 1.5 mins. and knock you to your knees, so that might be my own personal parameters. But the first part is a general guideline.

XOXO
B

[webjefita]

My Bradley instructor with my first pregnancy gave us some great advice (we had a hospital birth): She said, when you head out the door for the hospital, have DH take a picture of you. If you're still smiling, it's not time to go yet (hmmm... I'm pretty sure she meant take the picture in between contractions, too)

We headed to the hospital when I was in active labor, I was definitely not smiling, and yes I do have those pictures! I was 8cm when we got there, and went straight into transition. Our hospital is only a 10min drive away and the drive was not that bad that I remember. Good luck!

[veggiemom2004]

My DS came 2 hrs after my water broke.....I have to wait 1 hr for my parents to get here and have a 25 min drive to hospital......then go to triage, etc.....45 min for them to fill the waterbirthing tub....ugh. If my water breaks or leaks I might just drive myself there just to get there as I will be on borrowed time. OH and before I get in the tub, I have to be on the monitor for 20 min then will be monitored intermittantly during labor. I will be calling first for them to fill the tub, that is for sure!

My MW said regular ctx every 10 min (for 2nd time + moms, every 5 for 1st timers) that last 1-1.5 min.

There is a hospital 2 min from our house, and another 7 min but go figure, no MW's work from there!!

[heatherweh]

My Bradley instructor says to use 4-1-1 as an easy to remember rule of thumb for when to go in. Four minutes apart, one minute long, for one hour.

[Murph12334]

Originally Posted by webjefita

My Bradley instructor with my first pregnancy gave us some great advice (we had a hospital birth): She said, when you head out the door for the hospital, have DH take a picture of you. If you're still smiling, it's not time to go yet (hmmm... I'm pretty sure she meant take the picture in between contractions, too)

We headed to the hospital when I was in active labor, I was definitely not smiling, and yes I do have those pictures! I was 8cm when we got there, and went straight into transition. Our hospital is only a 10min drive away and the drive was not that bad that I remember. Good luck!

HA - it I wait until then, that would mean i'd be in transition and would have the baby in the car on the 30 minutes drive there.

[teachma]

Originally Posted by heatherweh

My Bradley instructor says to use 4-1-1 as an easy to remember rule of thumb for when to go in. Four minutes apart, one minute long, for one hour.

Oh my. If I were to have followed that, I'd have been to the hospital several times in the last week (including last night)! No baby yet...

[Lindsay1234]

Oooh great question! : My mw said to call her the second I go into labor, she gets here, then we decide. But I honestly dont know what that means!

[peilover010202]

My dr said 3-5 min apart lasting at least 1 min.

With that said, I had a similar labor that you did with ds1. My cx were mild until transition hit. Heck, I was even on pit. I still walked and talked through them. But, when transition hit, it was all over in 30 minutes.

Well, I fully expected labor to be similar with ds2. But, it was night and day different. The cx were stronger and took my breath away early (WAY before transition.) Now, with this pregnancy, I've already had cx that have been stronger than I had with ds1 (pre-transition, that is.) So, I understand what you mean.

I think part of it is considering how far dilated you start out, if you know you are already at a 4 and you've had regular cx that have lasted for a few hours, then you need to evaluate. If you take a bath or shower, do they slow at all or remain the same? Are they getting any stronger? How are YOU acting? My Bradley book says that when you become more serious (not necessarily not talking), but not joking around and really are looking into yourself, it's probably time to head to the hospital.

GL!

[ShineliketheSon]

All great advice...thankfully doula is available 24 hours aday for phone convers and I'm relying on her input as to when to call the MW and go to the hospital. With DD I knew I needed to go right away, and was on the phone with MW during a ctx and she said, get to the hospital now. Good luck

[Bexo]

Originally Posted by webjefita

My Bradley instructor with my first pregnancy gave us some great advice (we had a hospital birth): She said, when you head out the door for the hospital, have DH take a picture of you. If you're still smiling, it's not time to go yet (hmmm... I'm pretty sure she meant take the picture in between contractions, too)

We headed to the hospital when I was in active labor, I was definitely not smiling, and yes I do have those pictures! I was 8cm when we got there, and went straight into transition. Our hospital is only a 10min drive away and the drive was not that bad that I remember. Good luck!

: Can you tell I'm a Bradley teacher?

[SallyN]

I think it depends... do you want to arrive at the hospital just in time to push baby out? or do you want to be there a while to get settled before transition?

My CNM said that she felt the ideal time to get to the hospital was at ~5cm dilation. 'Course, if water breaks, you don't want to be checking.

My doula doesn't tell people when to go... but she might start asking you what you're thinkin' (that's her 'code' for... um, think it might be time?)

As for me... I played it by ear. I'm not sure I decided until that morning that I did want to get to the hospital (4 minute drive) in time to get settled and maybe spend some time in the tub. My water broke at 6am and contractions got going pretty quickly. I think we got to the hospital at about 10am. At 10:30 I was b/w 4-5 cm and 100% effaced. Kiera was born after only brief pushing at 1:30pm. I couldn't even tell you how far apart, or how long, the contractions were when we headed to the hospital.

[Murph12334]

oh I forgot to add - I do hypnobabies. So I don;t talk much at all, I am concentrating on my body and being relaced and allowing it to open and do it's job. I do this from the moment a contraction begins.

I went in for a stress test thingy, baby of course passed quickly trying to get the monitors off by kicking them! Ah well, better to find out he's ok, then to have something wrong.

Talked to a nurse about when to call/go in for birth. Uhm I definitly should have called and gone in last night! She pretty much said as soon as anything starts getting a pattern to call for me. She didn't say a specific time frame or intensity, since my labor was so quick and not really any pain with dd.

True that this one might be different though