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The night contractions started I was on the phone with my OB twice before I got the go ahead to go in. I called her the third time (MOTN!!!) when I could not keep walking and had to stop to breathe. I kept reading that was the sign you know you're ready to go in. LOL I honestly can't remember how far the contractions were at that point. I think my OB said around 4 minutes??? But when I called her the third time she said, yup, you definitely sound ready now! LOL

I called at 5-1-1 but I could still easily speak through my contractions and they still just felt like period cramps. My midwife suggested that we reevaluate in 3 hours or I call again if they get much worse. An hour later, they did get much worse and became 2 minutes apart lasting for a minute each time and were very painful. We called the midwife twice and the second time I told her that I wanted to go in. I just knew it was time to go. I had DS within three hours of getting to the hospital. I was told that my labor progressed much quicker than a normal first time mother though.

This time we're going almost as soon as I feel a contraction. With LO I had 2 contractions 20 minutes apart, the next 2 were 10 apart, 3 at 5 minutes apart and then they were a steady 2.5-3 minutes apart from then on. They were at least a minute long the whole time. 5-1-1 did not apply to me. I was at 9 when I got to the hospital. Our doula listened to me go through a contraction and told us to get to the hospital fast.

I went when my water broke. It was at 34 weeks though.

I had a long early labor (first contraction at 6:30 am, didn't get really painful until 9 pm). When they finally got to 5-1-1, I called the midwife, but told her that while they were painful, I knew they were going to get worse and I didn't feel like i needed to come in right away, which she agreed with from listening to me over the phone. She said to call back when they were "really intense" for an hour, I think. I remember asking how I would know when they were really intense and she assured me I would just know. She was right! They had actually stopped being perfectly 5-1-1, but they were intense enough that I wanted to come in, so I called back and after listening, she agreed and told me to come on in. I had tested positive for GBS so I knew I'd need a round of antibiotics before birth, too (turned out the first test was wrong, somehow, and I didn't need it, but we thought so at the time).

It was 3 am at this point, so I wasn't worried about traffic, but there was a detour so it took us almost half an hour to get to the hospital. I won't lie, being in the car with contractions really sucked. But, I checked in at 3:30 and had my baby in my arms at 7:16 am, no drugs, so I'm happy I waited at home as long as I could.

Short answer-- you do just *know* when it's time.

Good luck. I hope it's time soon

And tell your DH to trust your gut! I could tell that we needed to get there, but DH knew that I wanted to labor at home. I was handling contractions really well (except when the doula was on the phone because she needed to hear), and he didn't believe me when I said we needed to go. He felt bad about convincing me that he needed that shower once we got to the hospital

Agree with @Grizz: , trust your gut! We kept in contact with our MW's because mine started out 2-3 mins apart and stayed that way until I was pushing. I KNEW when I needed to leave for the hospital. One minute I was able to talk between contractions, and the next I couldn't. That's when we left! If you are wanting a epidural, definitely head to the hospital when you can't talk through the contraction, and aren't as chipper in between. If you want med-free, wait until you cannot focus during the contraction and in between as well!

Another +1 for trust your gut!

I was told 4-1-1 to go in, and probably waited too long, I couldn't walk or talk through contractions by the time we got there, but it worked for us, we definitely knew it was time to go!

It sounds silly but I think we knew this was it, and that there wasn't any "am I progressed enough", I was hurtinggg.

My water broke. I called the doctor and they said to come in even though I wasn't having contractions. I figured they would let me labor at home but I am glad that I went in when I did. Even though I did pre-registration still so many questions they were asking, can't imagine doing it while having contractions.

For both of my babies, my water broke before contractions, so I went to the hospital right after.

My water broke at 40+6. I was having contractions but I felt them more in my back so I wasn't as aware of timing. I definitely felt off that day though! Fx your LO decides to come soon!

I went purely on instinct. I didn't even time contractions. They just got more painful by each one that came so we decided to head to the hospital. Also we didn't want to get stuck in rush-hour-traffic. They did an NST and a check and I was at 5cm and they still told me we would have to go for a walk because the contractions supposedly weren't strong and long enough to actually have a baby. Well things changed soon because baby was worn not even 1.5h after that. (We never made it for the walk and I went completely natural (at 41+2)).

Hope LO will decide to leave the house soon

we wanted to wait until my water broke since we were going for natural labor (but I needed IV for GBS+). I was 5-1-1 a LONG time before that happened and I was still only 5cm dilated with 9 hours to go.
the only hard thing about going right after my water broke was that that point is a big emotional/physical shift so I was kind of freaking out. luckily we only lived a few minutes away but both the doula and my husband had to work to keep me calm then.

@Mae: I can't answer your question but my dh was really pushing for me to consider a hospital that is 30 minutes (with no traffic) away as opposed to the one 5 blocks away. We agreed though that if I feel like I need to go in and get checked but am not ready to be admitted that we will just shell out the money for a nearby hotel. Maybe giving yourself that mental option will help take away some of the worry about going in too soon.

I went in when they were about 5-1-1, with A it went from 11 minutes to 3 minutes in an hour though so that was scary!

I had to look back at my birth story on my blog and it looks like we left when contractions were about 1 min 20 seconds and coming on every 3-4 minutes. That was around 2:45 PM. We left for the hospital at 3:30. Only a 5 minute drive for us. I had my son at 7:15 pm. So I was only at the hospital a little over 3 hours before I had him. I think if I had a longer drive like you, we would have left sooner. Even that 5 minute drive was excruciating! Looking back I now see I was hitting transition when we got to the hospital.

This time around, I told my DH I want to leave a little earlier because it was not fun checking into the hospital right when transition was starting!

Good luck to you! I hope that baby doesn't keep you waiting too much longer.

I went in at 5-1-1 and I'm glad I didn't wait until it felt bad. I was lucky and had a fast/easy labor. The triage nurses thought I wasn't in active labor yet because I was too calm and contractions weren't painful enough. I waited for over an hour in triage until they checked me and the doc was shocked that I was at 10 (and feeling the urge to push)! Baby was born less than 3 hours from leaving the house.

I was 5-1-1 from the start. She we did 5-1 for two hours and then we headed in because I was in a lot of pain and I did want an epidural so I wanted to get started on the admit process and get comfortable ASAP : )

@Foodnerd81: My hospital was a 45 minute drive with lots of highway time but no way did I even consider a seat belt! I got in the back seat -- car seat base was removed -- and stayed on my hands and knees the entire time. But my water broke before contractions started, and even the first one was pretty painful. I didn't have an early labor with gradual buildup like some people describe. I was only at 3cm when we got to the hospital after about 7hrs of contractions.

Anyway, my point is that YMMV but you could reconsider the seat belt.