What time of day did you go into labor?

[Kim]

Dr. Bradley suggests that most women will go into labor during the night -- just as animals in the wild will tend to do.

Just curious to know what time of day labor started for you.

For those of you with subsequent pregnancies: Did you tend to go into labor at the same time?

[LizaBear]

With Boo, my labour started shortly after 1 AM

[Colorful~Mama]

baby #1 - water started leaking at 9am. baby was born by emergency c at 10pm
baby #2 was induced :(
baby #3 my water broke at 8:30pm and he was born at 12:54am naturally :)

[katja]

Awakened by contractions at 12:30 AM. baby came 2 pm

[humanmilkmachine]

my labor probably started at about 3am the night before my son was born naturaly 12:01 pm 36 hours later!!! hard labor threw the night though...

[ChildoftheMoon]

#1-labor started around five in the evening and dd was born at 12:48 am

#2-labor started at 9:45 pm and dd arrived at 1:42 am

#3-awaiting labor to begin! ;)

[Mom2baldie]

Ive read that also.

With my DD (my only labor - 1st child was scheduled c/s) I went into labor in the late evening, I dont remember exactly what time it was. She was born at 8:17 AM after laboring all night long in my bathtub.

I am pregnant again and figuring (and hoping) that I will go into labor again in the evening and have another morning birth. :)

Something else that I think is interesting that I will share - I had a miscarriage last year that was preceeded by about 4 hours of contractions or cramps, whatever you want to call them. They also began in the evening and the actual miscarriage occured early the next morning.

I think it must just be because I am more comfortable at night when everyone else is asleep and I can relax completely without worrying about needing to take care of anyone else.

[Kim]

Thanks for the replies so far! I think it's interesting to look at the poll -- we're all over the map on this one!

Maybe I should pose this question too:

Do you feel you went into labor at the time of day that you are most comfortable?

[Shonahsmom]

I went in to labor about 8:30am, delivered at 5:23pm.

I was thrilled because I went into labor after a full night's rest. I was raring to go!

[mum2tori]

I had lots of ctxs off and on for the couple of days before I went into "labor" with both.

#1 I think my water broke about 3am. Didn't really start to have any ctxs more than one here and there until late morning on the way to the DR.'s office. Had DD about 3:30am the next morning.

#2 I started having lots ctx in the late morning. My water didn't break until after 6pm in rush hour traffic. Then ctx came on hard & fast DS was born later that evening.

ETA: I'm a night person. Both were born late in the evening or middle of the night. :)

[Ivanhoe]

I never went into labor, but I had a placental hemorrage and some contractions at 11 pm, My son was born by Cection at 1:46 am

This time I'm hoping to experience the whole thing and birth naturally at any time! Though, as someone said above, to start laboring after a full night sleep would be great!

[momto l&a]

I voted 12 pm to 3 am.

My mw said most all her mamas go into labor at night.

Its been true both times for me, I had a baby by dawn.

IMO its really nice to labor and birth at night while the world seems quite and still, nothing to interupt.

[mum2tori]

There is suppose to be a correlation between labor and a full moon. More women go into labor around the full moon. :LOL

[fourlittlebirds]

#1 - 9 pm
#2 -- 2 am
#3 -- 6 pm

I think it was in The Scientification of Love I was reading that mammals go into labor when their cortical activity is lowest -- which for us is usually nighttime. (For mammals that are awake at night and sleep during the day, it would be daytime.)

[sadean]

ds#1 2:00 am
ds#2 4:00 am

So, basically the middle of the night.

[CraftyMommaOf2]

My water broke at 4am :)
I'll be back in a couple weeks to vote for #2 :LOL

[wednesday]

My water broke around 1:30 am. Contractions began around 4 am. My son was born at 7:31 pm that night.

[MamaAcorn]

Contractions began at 3:30 in the morning as soon as I said, "I'm so sick of these Braxton-Hicks contractions that don't do anything." DS was born almost 22.5 hours later at 1:53 a.m. on April Fools days.

[lilgsmommy]

Water broke at 9:30 pm with DS and he was born at 9:20 am ( about 12 hours)

I would say yes I was relaxed, but I think it was more cause he was mad.....I had been babysitting my friends DS who was 20 days old and when ever i layed the baby on my stomach or chest and he was fussing, DS would get mad and start kicking like crazy. The night I went into labor her son was really gassy and fussy and he was enjoying laying on my stomach, when he fell asleep I put him DS's crib (which he hardley even used after birth cause we co-slept) and gtrabbed a blanket off the changing table. Felt a nice hard thump and my water broke. To this day DS is still jealous whenever my friends DS is around.

[suebearsmom]

3ishpm - #1 , 1:30ish pm -#2 , 3isham-#3 , 9isham#4 , 3am #5. :) Catherine

[lovebugmama]

I started having painless contractions regularly right after my midwife did an external exam to feel the position of the baby's head. Well, they never stopped...Painful contractions started at 2:30AM and ds was born at 12:53 PM.

[momsmyjob]

with DD 1 water broke at 9 AM
DD 2 contrax started at 3 AM
DD 3 I was induced
DD 4 I was induced
DS 5 Contrax started 10:30
DS 6 induced
DS 7 induced

with this one I am not being induced. I'm having a water birth at home :)

[mamamoo]

With ds1 water broke early morning(I think around 4 or 5), dd I went into labour in the afternoon, around 4 or so pm(after having my membranes stripped), and ds2 I woke up at about 3 am with contrax. but my labour petered out when the kiddos woke up, and didn't really get into strong labour until around 4 in the afternoon when a friend picked them up for the afternoon, he was born shortly after they left. LOL I guess comfort(in my case calmness) around me mattered a ton. I didn't feel like I could concentrate with my older kids there, which was sad because I really was hoping they could expereince their brother being born...

[OakEmber]

I voted between 12-3am, because my water broke at 12:30 but contractions didn't really start until 3am. Dd was born at 3pm.

With my m/c I guess you could say the timing was similar, about 4 am is when I felt some cramping, although I had been bleeding since about 6pm without any. Hmm.

I don't really know about saying that is the time of day I am most comfortalbe...but I was relaxed as I had been sleeping already for an hour when I woke up to go to the bathroom and water broke.

[mom2threenurslings]

With my first, I went into labor the night before being "induced" ...long story.

With my second, I went into (hard) labor after my dh went to work, while my mom was driving my dad to the airport ... I was at my parents' house alone with my 18 month old son, who rubbed my back during contractions!!! His little brother was born several hours later at 2:46AM (mom made it back from the airport just in time to take me to the birthing center!).

With my third, I nursed my two boys and put them to bed, thinking "this will be the last time it will be just the three of us". I went into labor a few hours later, alone, at home (I called dh at work to let him know, but wouldn't let him come home because I like to labor alone!)

[msrog]

Woke up at 4 a.m. with water broken... Thought I'd go back to sleep (on a towel) but contractions started like 15 minutes later. Had the baby 8 hours later after 2 hours pushing.

Interesting about nighttime laboring... I'd not heard about that phenomenon, but it is true for us! And 4 was perfect; I felt rested, and the baby came early the next day (didn't have to miss any hospital meals, haha).

[Parker'smommy]

My water broke at 1 am with ds and was delivered 22 1/2 hours later via c-section that evening at 11:25 pm. It was a full moon and the hospital L& D was hopping that night.

THe nurses said they always schedule one extra nurse on full moon nights!!!! They also said that they have more water breaking before labor starts on full moons too....interesting. They mentioned something about the gravitational pull of the moon on the Earth that breaks the bag of waters...not so sure about all of that but hey, it sounds cool. But Im pretty sure my bag of waters broke pre contractions or labor because I had TWO pelvic exams ( yep, long long story!) that night within hours of each other that Im thinking stripped my membranes......

[Kim]

When we took our hospital tour the nurses said it had been a crazy night -- Full Moon.

They also said they see an increase in the # of births when the barometric pressure changes dramatically.

Wonder where I could find some information to back up these claims?

[Ione]

Let's see... regular, strongish (but not painful) BH contractions about 10-15mins apart started at about 6pm (very much nighttime, sun-wise) and did not go away with rest, bath, etc.... the first "big"/"painful"/"real" contraction was at 6am the following day (still night sun-wise). (And DD was born at 11:45am that same day.)

So... should I answer the poll as 6pm or 6am?

[applejuice]

Baby #

1 - 19:45
2 - 17:35
3 - 01:15
4 - 22:45

[mealymama]

Around 11 in the moring and I gave birth the following afternoon. In a perfect world: next time I'll start laboring around the same time but have the baby by midnight so I can get some sleep!

[huggerwocky]

~

[Tuesday]

12:05 a.m. on due date and DS was born the next day at 4:12 a.m. by c-section (28 hours later)

[Evergreen]

1:55 am

29 hours later she was born!

[shanetedissac]

With my first it began about 10:45pm. Born at 4:01am

My second my membranes ruptured the night before about 8pm then labor started early the next morning. Born at 1:10pm

My third started about 6am. Born at 10:24am.

[BoobyJuice]

Both times I was worried about my husband not being there. We lived in CT and he worked in NYC for the first and NJ for the second - looong commutes. I think that might have affected when I labored. Also I am a big time night owl.

(I have contactions on and off for about a month beforehand so I'm timing this as hard, active labor)
With my first, 3 AM
With my second, 11 PM

Hadn't gone to bed yet with either. Seems I get insomnia before going into labor. The bad part is, you're exhausted.

[sun-shine01]

2:30 pm - water broke - nothing for the next 12 hours then at 2:00 am - contractions started and at 7:21 pm - DD was born

[*Erin*]

There is suppose to be a correlation between labor and a full moon. More women go into labor around the full moon. :LOL

i went into to labor at 3 am, full moon shining in the sky. my dd was 2.5 weeks late, and ended up being born on the first day of virgo, it's pretty cool to me :) i *knew* that would be the night too. wild!