regular contractions but no dilation

[MammaAuer]

Is it common to have regular strong contractions (5 minutes or less apart) for several hours in early labor before dilating?  I seem to have some kind of super hard cervix and even though the contractions can be as little as 2 minutes apart, I don't dilate nothings moving down there.

[cairomama]

Contractions can reposition the baby, move the cervix, soften the cervix and then open the cervix. So, your cervix might have been doing other work in preparation to dilate or baby could have been malpositioned and trying to get into a better one.

Spinning Babies has info about fetal positioning and things to do in both pregnancy and labor to help.

http://www.spinningbabies.com

[buckeyedoc]

I had a lot of early or prodromal labor with DS#3. For 4 days, I had contractions about 10-15 minutes apart, but sometimes closer, and up to maybe a 6/10 on the pain scale. On the 3rd day, my water broke. All of these contractions minimally progressed my cervix (from maybe a 1 to a 2). I think it can be normal.

[tonttu]

Is it possible , that you have scar tissue somewhere on or in your cervix ?

I read about this a few times and friends of mine have also had that problem , it seems to be worth checking into , since it seems to make it super-hard for the cervix to dilate properly

[MammaAuer]

Thanks!  These were all helpful, Although since I'm VBAC I don't think I'll be able to get away with not going into the hospital when they're so close together.  I wish, in a way I could just wait it out, but there are so many unknowns, you never know for sure what's safe.  Anyway thanks again.

[Monkey Keeper]

Originally Posted by MammaAuer 

Thanks!  These were all helpful, Although since I'm VBAC I don't think I'll be able to get away with not going into the hospital when they're so close together.  I wish, in a way I could just wait it out, but there are so many unknowns, you never know for sure what's safe.  Anyway thanks again.

I stayed home with contractions 3min apart for about 8 hours before I went in with my VBAC--and I only went in because I was exhausted (awake for 24hrs) and desperate for pain relief (icepick in hip pain for the duration of labor).  I could tell the early, painful, frequent contractions weren't doing much for my cervix.  Instead, my body was trying to reposition my badly asynclitic babe whose position also was the reason for my hip pain.  I think if you are attuned to your body, staying home with frequent, painful contractions is just fine.  Particularly if you will be forced into limited mobility in the hospital.