Prodromal labor mamas, I have some questions for you!!

[Vortexing]

So my DD is 8 mths old, and STILL people ask me how labor was. To try to sum up 4 days in a brief paragraph, I had three uncomfortable nights, then went to the midwife to get a non-stress test (LO was 9 days overdue at that point). Turns out I was 5cm dialated, and she was REALLY low, and I was just walking around, doing my thang. So off to the hospital we went and the midwives and DH and I sat and joked around from 8pm when my contractions started up again (but only every 15-25 minutes) until around 12am, when we all thought maybe we should see how far I was. I was informed that I was totally dialated and that whenever I felt like I should push, go right on ahead. I learned that my labor "pains" are what I'd describe as "uncomfortable" and in fact I WAS in labor the previous 3 nights, just didn't really realize that that was what it was.

So with that in mind, here are my questions:

1) when people ask you how long your labor was, what do you tell them? I just say it was a weird labor, but I was in the hospital from 8pm until 2am when she was born and leave it at that. I don't want to say 4 days, which is actually how long it took, b/c it didn't seem like labor to me, and only once I was 5cm and at the hospital was a baby realy "imminent."

and

2) Is this sort of labor something that is a fluke thing, or have all your labors been prodromal? Do they get longer/shorter/different with each subsequent baby?

TIA!!

[Funny Face]

Well technically I don't think what you experienced was prodromal labor. I had prodromal labor, went into labor at 5am had pretty intense, close spaced cntrx for nearly 24 hours and didn't dilate past a one. Prodromal labor is characterized by very little cervical change, since you were dilating I don't think that fits the definition. It sounds like you had a very unusually, long but effective labor! I've never heard anything quite like that!

My understanding is that you are much less likely to experience prodromal labor after your first pregnancy... at least that is what I am hoping!!

[MotheringHeart]

Moodyred01 - sorry to dissapoint you, but it is the other way 'round. You are more likely to experience prodomal labor the more pregnancies you've had.

I didn't have ANY prodomal labor w/#2 (#1 doesn't count, she was premature) and had lots and lots w/#3. My midwife mother says this is totally normal and will happen again w/#4. I had prodromal labor from about 37 weeks onward and actually called the midwife and assistant to the house because I was SURE I was in labor. A week and a half later, I had prodromal labor all day and finally went into *real* labor about seven pm.

Every woman's labor is different and (in my experience) every baby's labor is a bit different too. Truth be told, your body is working on getting the baby out for a long time and I'm not sure that there is any universal understanding of labor *length*. HTH!

[Vortexing]

Thanks mamas. Actually I did have what I'd thought was the definition of prodromal labor prior to what I described earlier, starting at around 37.5 weeks (nearly hourly contractions for 4 weeks!!!). I just see the birth in 3 phases, there were the early contractions that I'd get from around 37.5 weeks until that one weekend, then the three nights of more intense contractions, and then the hospital part. (I had distinctly different cntxns from the ol' Braxton Hicks stuff that started at the 37.5 point, which is why the prodromal thing came up). But I don't really consider that my labor, since it wasn't really doing anything (the day before my nights of more intense labor I was not dialated at all and the contractions never got more frequent than 15 minutes apart).

I always just thought though that the last three nights were also part of the definition of prodromal labor. I didn't know that wasn't necessarily part of the definition!!! I'm not sure I could have gone through all that and then have more of a "traditional" labor afterwards and been sane through it all. !!!

[Vortexing]

On second thought, is there actually a textbook definition of what constitutes prodromal labor, or is it more of an emperical type definition?

[Spark]

Here's a good definition of Prodromal Labor http://www.childbirthsolutions.com/a...abor/index.php Now, I must say, I seem to do that much longer than a few days before labor AND what might be preterm labor in others seems to be my routine during late pregnancy. I rememeber with DD1 from 30 weeks on, I would get patterned ctx increasing in frequency for nights or days at a time. Nothing would make me stop ctx, but nothing was really happening either.

I realize that many care providers view prodromal labor as something disfunctional. Ronnie Falco's site describes it as this http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/...mal.html#About But, I do think many of us labor naturally this way, I know I do.

Prodromal labor has increased with each pregnancy for me. And, it's really hard to say when true labor began. It's not uncommon for me to begin ctx in patterns increasing over hours a month or two before my due date. My last labor, I had ctx the whole night before but then nothing much that day. then, BAM out the blue my water broke & 1 hour, 40 minutes later she was born. So, I just count from water breaking to birth as the time. I had actually been laboring for weeks though. Just nothing to write home about.

Over the years, I've learned that for my body the difference between prodromal labor and actual labor is this:
- Intensity
- If I lay down, actual labor will come on harder, prodromal labor won't change much.
- Real Labor spreads out ctx more than Prodromal.