Hospital birth: wait as long as possible vs. faster 2nd labor

[staceychev]

My midwife keeps telling me that labor is going to progress much more quickly with this, my second pregnancy. I'm curious, though, how to balance the desire to stay home from the hospital as long as possible (I was admitted at 6 cm last time) with the idea that I might go really quickly through the last parts?

Any BTDT advice?

[emnic77]

I was in that position with DS...didn't want to be hassled about refusing ABX for GBS so went as late as possible to the hospital. I checked my cervix, when I thought I was around 5 and felt a bulging bag of water after a few hours of active labor, I got in the shower, called the midwife, and met them at the hospital when I was at 8cm - that was about an hour later. DS was born 3 hours after that.
One of the midwives in that practice told me "when you are still thinking about what to put on to leave for the hospital, it's too early. When your husband has to convince you to put on clothes to get to the hospital, it's time to go."

[bubbamummy]

Originally Posted by emnic77

I was in that position with DS...didn't want to be hassled about refusing ABX for GBS so went as late as possible to the hospital. I checked my cervix, when I thought I was around 5 and felt a bulging bag of water after a few hours of active labor, I got in the shower, called the midwife, and met them at the hospital when I was at 8cm - that was about an hour later. DS was born 3 hours after that.
One of the midwives in that practice told me "when you are still thinking about what to put on to leave for the hospital, it's too early. When your husband has to convince you to put on clothes to get to the hospital, it's time to go."

so true

My husband said 'hey, sophie I think we should head in' as I told him to 'f-off' and puked into a trash can the next thing I see is the phone being handed to me, he'd called the hospital midwife to say I wouldnt get in the car she asked me how the contractions felt and all I could say was 'aaahhhrrrrrghhhhhaaaaa' she told me she thought it was time I was checked out. I was 9cm upon addmission to the del. unit

Im kinda worried about this second birth, worried that i might accidently UC.

[Engineering_Mama]

Just wanted to say that not making it to the hospital can be alright. A very mainstream friend of mine had her daughter in the car in the hospital parking lot in April. Everything was fine, her daughter was fine and she actually told me it was a better birth than her first hospital birth. If she has another I'm going to recommend she get a midwife and stay home.

[Mama Lo]

Rather than trying to put a time on the different stages of labor I would get real familiar with the emotional & behavorial signs of each stage. These are often very telling as to where you are at in labor.
www.birthingnaturally.net has some good info on the signs of each stage. The Bradley Method(R) also has a detailed chart about the different stages of labor and their signs.
I would head to the hospital during transition, the things I would look for to know that would be: doubt, feeling like I can't do anymore, nausea, puking, loss of modesty, etc.

[bubbamummy]

Originally Posted by Mama Lo

Rather than trying to put a time on the different stages of labor I would get real familiar with the emotional & behavorial signs of each stage. These are often very telling as to where you are at in labor.
www.birthingnaturally.net has some good info on the signs of each stage. The Bradley Method(R) also has a detailed chart about the different stages of labor and their signs.
I would head to the hospital during transition, the things I would look for to know that would be: doubt, feeling like I can't do anymore, nausea, puking, loss of modesty, etc.

WOW! that's a really great website, thanks for sharing.

[zinemama]

Faster second time...eh. Sure, technically 13 hours (#2) was "faster" than 17 hours (#1). But it sure didn't feel that way. I'd focus on staying home as long as possible.

[lunita1]

FWIW sometimes second labors are longer (mine was.) It's just really hard to predict. I heartily recommend studying the emotional signposts in labor (either from the Bradley book or that website) and using those as a guide. Also, depending on the hospital it may not be a terrible thing to err on the side of too early. If you aren't running the risk of being railroaded into lots of interventions by your midwife, you might feel safer just going to the hospital when you're sure it's labor. That way you can settled and comfortable in your environment there.

[poetesss]

yeah, when you start cussing out your dh is a good time to go in.

I knew it was time when I was like, "I'm not leaving this damn house next time!" as my husband was trying to escort me out to the car.

[CountryMommy]

With my 1st pregnancy, I was 6cm dilated when admitted to the hospital too. I laboured there for another 6 hours before I was ready to push. (Pushed almost 2 hours before he was born)

I've been wondering how long I should wait at home this time too. We do live pretty far from the hospital but I don't want to go in too early either....Gonna check out that website Mama Lo posted now

[Dov'sMom]

With both of mine, I only went to the hospital when I hit the point that I didn't know if I'd be able to get there if I waited.

The first, that was after 48+ hours of active back labor, when my water broke (incidentally, with meconium, but I would have gone then anyway) and the contractions didn't stop and I knew I couldn't walk much/at all longer. I got to the hospital 8+ cm dilated, but didn't give birth for another 4 hours, probably b/c of hte baby's position.

The second, that was after 24 or so hours of active labor. Got to the hospital also 8 cm, but gave birth within an hour of arrival (water broke during the 2 pushing contractions).

I'm pretty sure that both times what made me finally og in was transition. I'm a little afraid that this, my third, time, transition might go too fast. For that reason I'm kind of leaning toward going in earlier. Not when transactions are 10 minutes apart (what my doctor's official recommendation sheet says) because both times I had transactions less than 5 minutes apart for more than 24 hours, but maybe when/if I hit 3-4 minutes. Though that also gave me a nice 10 hour window last time... But if I bring a good book and hide out in the bathroom shower it might not be too bad...

[KLM99]

As someone who accidently had their baby in the car on the way to the hospital for my second birth, I can attest that although the entire labor may be the same length as your first, stages of your labor may go faster and/or may feel differently than your first. My entire second labor was the same 24+ hours as my first. However, the active labor and the transition were SIGNIFICANTLY shorter the second time. I also experienced significantly less discomfort the second time. So I kept waiting for it to be horrendously painful and thinking that the ways that I felt meant I still had hours like they did the first time, and it just wasn't as painful....until he started to come out in my bedroom. For example, the first time, I threw up right before transition, but then transition was a couple of hours. This time, I threw up right before transition, and transition was all of ten minutes.

I guess I don't have any advice except to treat this labor as entirely separate from the first and assess when you might need to go based only on how you are feeling and not how you remember your first going. That said though, having the baby in the car wasn't so bad I should have just had another homebirth though!

[MyBoysBlue]

Originally Posted by emnic77

One of the midwives in that practice told me "when you are still thinking about what to put on to leave for the hospital, it's too early. When your husband has to convince you to put on clothes to get to the hospital, it's time to go."

This was exactly what happened with my first. I was on all 4s in the bathroom moaning completely content to stay there. DH called the hospital told them we were coming dressed me got me into the car. 5 minute drive. I walked into the hospital, I walked into the delivery room (small hospital, short walk) with the nurses following and was checked right away and was 9 cm after less then 2 hours of labour. I was in the hospital for 40 minutes before DS was born.

I just had a UC for the second.