I got these directions from my OB as to when to go to the hospital, for first time parents. I was a bit surprised he didn't stick with the more concrete guidelines in regards to length and timing of contractions. Could you please read these over and let me know what you think? This will be my first birth...
watermelon / 14467 posts
Length and timing of contractions mean nothing for some women. Mine were all over the place. The part about water breaking is kind of fluid too. My CNM told us we didn't have to come in when my water broke unless I was GBS+ or there was blood/meconium in it.
ETA: this seems pretty legit.
grapefruit / 4455 posts
Length and timing meant not much for me. My first I had a whole day of 2-4 min apart contractions (back labor) and was in a lot of pain..and was only 2 cm. They gave me a choice and I went home for another 24 hours. I still had irregular contractions but was 8cm after 24 hours. I went back because I absolutely could not take any more. So to me this seems about right! The only thing as a mom but not a doctor that I would add is if your gut tells you something is wrong or things are happening it can't hurt to get checked out.
pomegranate / 3275 posts
I've never had a vaginal birth, but always have timeable contractions, 5 min or less apart, for hours. The only time I go in to get checked is if I'm worried my water broke, and that's because I'm a csection mama.
I think that's good advice! But always go in if you are worried, you just might get sent home.
pomelo / 5084 posts
That's basically what they told me over the phone when I called two weeks ago. My contractions were six minutes apart and I called. They said come in when you can no longer stand it. Lol.
honeydew / 7504 posts
Seems on point. Funny that they recommend taking a 30-minute walk once you reach they point where you can't walk during contractions.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
Mine gave me the 5-1-1 rule (5 minutes apart, for at least a minute, for an hour) as a guideline to call, but then I talked to the midwife over the phone and based on listening to me talk through the contractions, we both agreed I didn't need to come in yet. She told me to call again when they were "really intense". I was afraid I wouldn't know when that was but I did. I wanted a med free birth so I pretty much waited as long as I could then went in.
That said I didn't have to go in if my water broke as long as I wasn't gbs +. I think I was supposed to call if it broke but still could labor at home. Mine didn't break until I was already there not long before baby was born anyway.
pomegranate / 3601 posts
Hmmm, I am pretty sure my first would have been a homebirth had I stayed at home for that long. Once you really feel you need to go you should just go.
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
Was about right for me. I went when mine were crazy intense and (I was sobbing) and they were 2-3 minutes apart and I was about 3 cm. I had false labor a week before that and my contractions were 5-1-1 and painful but not crazy painful and I wasn't dialating at all.
pear / 1616 posts
The timing didn't mean anything for me as well. For my first my contractions were about 45s-1 min long but 2-3 min apart. I was only at 4cm. It stayed 2-3 min apart the whole time (not sure how long after the epi) and I gave birth about 8 hours later. For my second I was already at 4-5cm before contractions. Once contractions got painful I think I was at 6-7cm and gave birth 3 hours later so I still had some time. So I think what the dr wrote sounds reasonable but I'd trust your instincts over this
pineapple / 12053 posts
Sounds good to me, but I couldn't have walked/showered after. I kept laboring at home until I got panicky. My labor so we're both very short (7 and 4 hours from water breaking which was the start of labor for me)
grapefruit / 4418 posts
Yeah, length and timing didn't mean anything for me. Mine never were regular of consistent and when I got to the hospital (after 8 hours) I was 4 cm and had my baby 8 hours later. I was supposed to go the second o thought my water had broke because I was GBS+ but I didn't know that so I waited until my ob office to ask. By then contractions were painful but I could still walk and talk through them.
persimmon / 1385 posts
I think this looks way more practical than the 5-1-1. I went into labor in the middle of the night so my husband would doze off between contractions making our count super inaccurate. My OB was also pretty set on coming in right after my water broke. Luckily my water broke right before we were going to go into the hospital anyway. But if your water breaks first having to go in right away would kinda suck.
Anyway it sounds like your OB is just sick of seeing people come in way to early because of bad math 
pomegranate / 3658 posts
Our Bradley course gave advice that was somewhat similar - basically avoid going to the hospital as long as you can stand it. This is great advice for an OB to be giving out, reason being that if you do go in and get sent home, for a lot of people that winds up slowing down labor and increasing your chances of eventually needing some kind of intervention.
Having said that, I was in the <1% of births that went from water breaking to holding my baby in 2 hours, so all those plans were completely out the window. But for the vast majority of women it's great advice to stick it out at home for as long as you can manage.
pomegranate / 3375 posts
Do you know the position of your baby? For me, my baby was ROA (great position), which means my labor was very, very short. All of these would have likely allowed enough time to get to the hospital (I had a home birth), but I'm not sure I'd want to ride in the car at that point. I think your OB's advice is really good. Laboring at home for awhile will mean less need for intervention or waiting in the hospital. I feel like you'll know when it's time if you let the OB's instructions lead the way.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
Sounds about normal. When I went into labor, I called the OB to ask what to do. The OB on call gave me this one instruction, "When you are in the worst pain of your entire life, then it is time to come to the hospital.." I really hated the instruction then but now I actually appreciate it. He was right. It made me wait until 5am and I had her at close to noon. If I had gone in earlier, I couldn't have hung out on my couch or eaten that pb sandwich that was so delicious at 3am.
nectarine / 2173 posts
I really like this, actually. The timing of your contractions matters a lot less than intensity.
pomelo / 5132 posts
For me, they never thought my contractions sounded painful enough...with #2, even though I was 5-1-1 and GBS+, they still wanted me to wait, and then I was 9cm at my 40 week appt. all this to say, I think the advice is good,but trust your gut and your body.
grapefruit / 4361 posts
Okie doke! Thank you all for your input!! I will find out in about 2 weeks if I am GBS+, and if so I know that will affect his directions somewhat. The baby was ROA as of 30 weeks so hopefully he hasn't moved too much. Lastly, we live just a 10 min drive to the hospital. My work is 30 min away, but I'm going to go home if I start having timeable contractions. I'm only 34 weeks along at this point, just want to be prepared 
nectarine / 2086 posts
Something like this would have been helpful for me. My contractions were 3-4 minutes apart from the very beginning of labor so we went to the hospital after only a couple hours bc that's what they had said to do! But I got sent home after spending 2 hours in triage. I remember walking up to the reception desk fairly composed saying "Hi! I think I'm in labor!" and they looked at me and said "oh? And what makes you think that?" Lol. At the time I was like "how dare they?" But after we back the second time 8 hours later, there was a huuuge difference lol.
When I called my midwife before we returned the second time she told me that if I was still asking "do you think it's time to go to the hospital?" - that it wasn't and that when it was time I would KNOW. And that's true! At some point the contractions changed (transition) and I was like OMG we gotta go NOW!
honeydew / 7235 posts
Yeah, I had similar advice for my first --- don't come in until you can't walk or talk through a contraction. I labored at home for 9 hours and they got progressively worse until I was in real pain and worried. Got to hospital and I was still only 4cm!!
coconut / 8483 posts
The midwives told me 4-1-1. Mine were like 3-45 second-1. So they told me to wait until they lasted a minute. I knew that wasn't going to fly. Then I started to bleed to we drove in (45 mins) and was 6cm.
Pains started around 5am I think. Arrived at the hospital by 11am.
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