timing contractions

[birthmommom]

I am wondering how everyone is timing their contractions?

do you count?
do you have a stop watch?
do you watch the clock?

[Nature]

Honestly? I don't. I just continue life as "normal." If/when I cannot continue life as "normal" then I know its time to leave for the hospital. Usually I'm about 8cm's by that time.

With my first baby I would look at the computer clock and time them that way and write it on a piece of paper. More so I could keep the paper and look at it with fond memories later on.

[flapjack]

I use it as a method of distracting the boys when they're playing up, and they prefer to have one of them using a stopwatch, one of them counting, and seeing how inaccurate their estimation of time is. Every other time, it's been a cursory glance at a watch, but I have small boys with stopwatches and it's been a busy weekend.

[nugglemama]

I like to use this http://www.contractionmaster.com/

[guestmama9972]

I usually just glance at the closest clock. After a few then I see how far apart they are. After a while I just scrap the whole thing and concentrate on relaxing through them.

I have had so many this time around that I just ignore them, though. I figure that since this is the third time around I'll recognize when it's getting serious!

[StrawberryFields]

Originally Posted by nugglemama

I like to use this http://www.contractionmaster.com/

Wow! That is really cool--I am going to start using it!

Previously I have been just opening a new email and when one starts I glance at the clock and note the time in the body of the email. I haven't bothered timing their duration at all, just their spacing. Contractions seem to be juuuust starting for the night so I am going to give contraction master a try!!

[nolonger]

I used the one at Friends and Families for awhile, first to try to figure out if it was really labour or not and then because it was something to do, but it really didn't help me know how far along I was and it kind of irritated me that the "duration" and "time from last" columns switched around after the first two ctx.

But I still don't want to close the window I've had open for more than three days now.

[Nature]

Wow. I can honestly say I'm kinda surprised that so many of you really do time and count your contractions. Is it because you're just curious, or what?

[LoveChild421]

didn't time them with ds1, when my water broke I called my midwife and she timed them while she talked to me on the phone. Don't plan on timing them this time either, when things feel serious I plan on calling my midwife then.

[SamuraiMom]

Originally Posted by Nature

Honestly? I don't. I just continue life as "normal." If/when I cannot continue life as "normal" then I know its time to leave for the hospital. Usually I'm about 8cm's by that time.

With my first baby I would look at the computer clock and time them that way and write it on a piece of paper. More so I could keep the paper and look at it with fond memories later on.

Thats my method. With my first I timed every single one, with the clock on the TV.

[thefreckledmama]

I only timed with my first, I was induced with my 2nd. I timed long enough to be able to tell my OB the frequency/duration when she asked.

[StrawberryFields]

Originally Posted by Nature

Wow. I can honestly say I'm kinda surprised that so many of you really do time and count your contractions. Is it because you're just curious, or what?

My midwife and doula want a heads up so they can secure childcare if it seems like I am going to be needing them soon. So I time them to see if I think I might need to call them and let them know that my contrax are "x" minutes apart, etc., etc., and that they might need to come tonight. Also, once I do go into labor I am supposed to call them to come when they are 5 minutes apart, 1 minute in duration, so when I think that might be the case we'll probably resume timing so we know whether it is time to ask them to head over.

[celynen]

I had an hour and a half drive to the hospital, so I timed then just to know when I should get on the road. Turns out that even though I left when they were 5 minutes apart, I had plenty of time to spare (12 hours )

[TrishWSU]

Originally Posted by Nature

Wow. I can honestly say I'm kinda surprised that so many of you really do time and count your contractions. Is it because you're just curious, or what?

I have a 2 hour drive to make it to my IPs house. I am timing them this time around so I can figure out if they are really labor contractions and hopefully I can get on the road while I'm still comfortable enough to be a car for that long. My biggest fear this go 'round is that I won't realize I'm in labor until it's too late or I'll have a super short labor and end up delivering halfway between my house and theirs-it's nothing but 2 lane country roads with no shoulder almost the whole way! I had about 6 hours of contractions twice now that I was timing by just writing down the time when I noticed one start. Of course they were jumping around from 5 to 20 minutes apart so I figured it was nothing to get excited over.

with my dd I didn't really time them, mainly because I was in denial for over half my labor, then I thought I had hours and hours to go. My best friend timed some of them, basically because she needed something to do. Probably a good thing she did because it was at her insistence that I finally called my midwife-I had been having contractions 2 minutes apart for an hour but I still thought I had at least 12 hours to go at that point. Yeah, my dd was born an hour and a half after my midwife got there! If I had been alone I probably would have had an unplanned UC.

[MamaBBrown2003]

With my first, I just looked at a clock whenever one started, and they began 3 min apart in early labor, and were quickly 2 min apart and stayed there until I couldn't pay attention to it anymore. Since they didn't really get all that much closer together as labor went on, I realized that how far apart they are doesn't mean too much for me.

With dd2, I had 6 weeks of prodromal labor where contractions were 2-5 min apart. All timing them did was cause me to have 2 unnecessary trips to the hospital.

With ds, I occasionally timed, mostly out of curiosity. For the first time I had a "normal" pattern of contractions -- 15 min apart, 10 min apart, 7 min apart, and then when active labor started 3-4 min apart.

Mostly though, I tend to ignore the clock. If I am capable of timing contractions, it's early labor. If I try to time them and keep losing track, then it's active labor.

[sarahn4639]

With our first we kind of kept an eye on the clock every once in a while but mostly went by how I was feeling. This time I'd just like to have contractions!

The contraction timers look fun though