Landon's birth story- Part 2 Prodromal Labor
On Tuesday, August 21st, I went to my last midwife appointment. At this point I was 41 weeks, 2 days and I knew that we would be making a plan of what to do if my little guy didn't come by a certain date. We decided that if I did not go into labor by 8:00 pm on Thursday night, I would come into the hospital to be induced. Being induced would opt me out of the alternative birthing center room and the water birth that I really wanted to try. At that point, I was dilated to a 1-2 and 50% effaced. Things were not looking great as far as having the birth that I wanted.
That night, however, I began to have regular, stronger contractions. These were definitely different from the mini contractions I had been having the past week. They started out about 10 minutes apart, and got to be 2-3 minutes apart after an evening walk around the neighborhood. These were fairly strong contractions, although I was still able to walk through them. After returning home, they slowed down to every 6-8 minutes but did not stop. I was so happy; perhaps I would be having a baby soon! We went to bed and I continued to have contractions every 3-10 minutes. I did not sleep well at all; and ended up eating breakfast and taking a shower at 3 am because I was uncomfortable. After waking and starting my daily routine around 7, they continued to get closer together and stronger. I called the midwife, and she wanted me to stay home and see how these contractions played out. I was convinced I was in labor, and so she allowed me to come in to the hospital around 10:00 am. By that point, contractions were 3-5 minutes apart. I got all hooked up to the monitors in the hospital, and my contractions were fairly strong, but were not regular enough to be considered true labor. They even slowed down to every 5-10 minutes When the triage nurse checked me, the first thing she said was "Wow, you're a 4 or 5!" followed by, "hmm... you're still about 50% effaced" which was what I was at my midwife appointment on Tuesday. My contractions were quite strong, though, and my uterus had a lot of tone in it in between contractions. The triage nurse was pretty sassy, but I lost all faith in her after she forgot to get my urine sample and put a ginormous blood pressure cuff on me (for someone with AT LEAST twice the size of my arm, and then wondered why my blood pressure was reading so low). She said I wasn't having contractions, but I tried to explain to her that the resting tone in my uterus was at the level of my contractions when I first got hooked up. She was not having any of it. She called the midwife and my midwife told me to go walk around downtown Oak Park and see if that didn't get things going. She also said to come back if I felt my contractions were more regular.
So we left the hospital and walked a mile to Subway for lunch. I continued to have fairly strong contractions every 3-5 minutes while I was up and about. We marched about the neighborhood at the hospital for awhile longer, but it was getting hot and I was getting dehydrated, so we went back up to triage. We thought maybe me being in a more active position than semi-reclined on a really uncomfortable bed would be better for me, and the nurse that hooked me up to the monitors said that I could have a birthing ball to sit on. Unfortunately, our sassy triage nurse came back, and the first thing she said to me was "Did you call the midwife back; did she tell you to come back here?!?" I felt like killing sassy triage nurse, because she said to just come back when I felt that things were becoming more regular, not to call the midwife first. She had one of her nurse colleagues check me, and this nicer nurse told me I was dilated to a 2-2 1/2. WHAT?!?!?! Sassy nurse had told me several hours before that I was dilated to a 4-5. Nice nurse brought up my chart and showed me what she had recorded- a 2. I was livid. If sassy nurse had not told me I was dilated to a 4, I would have just gone home to await more dilation. Instead, I had spent all day marching around in the heat because I thought this labor thing was going well and that I would continue to dilate and maybe have a baby by the end of the day. I was 75% effaced, though, so at least my contractions were doing a little something. Sassy nurse came in to apologize and said that my vaginal opening was a 4-5, and that the cervix was a 2. Way to be clear with your patient sassy nurse! They had me march around the unit for awhile longer, and I got pretty tired. We asked if I could have a birthing ball to sit on instead of the really uncomfortable triage bed, but since I wasn't officially admitted onto the labor and delivery unit, and was indeed, not in labor (according to sassy nurse) I could not have a birthing ball. At that point I was so fed up with the stupid hospital and triage that I just wanted to go home and have the stupid kid in the bath tub. Grrr.A few minutes later, my midwife came and checked me. She told me that I was exactly the same as I was at our office visit the day before. I could not fathom how I could have strong contractions for almost 24 hours and not have anything change in a productive way.
This car ride home from the hospital was so much more sad than the previous one. I was looking forward to going home with a baby this time, and here we were- and still no baby. In Hypnobirthing, we are taught that our bodies know how to birth babies, and we just need to get out of the way of our bodies doing their thing. At this point, I was fairly certain my body was defective. No one told me about this "prodromal" labor thing. I just thought my body did not know how to dilate. I began to think that maybe my little guy would be stuck inside me forever, or at least until I got drugs to regulate my contractions or had him cut out of me with a C-section. I was in a horrible place. What is worse is that the contractions continued, although 6-8 minutes apart now, all night and into the next morning.
Thursday morning was a major turning point for me. I knew that if I wanted to do this the way that Austin and I had planned, it had to be today. Instead of marching around to try to get contractions more regular, I performed the relaxation techniques we learned in hypnobirthing during my contractions, willing my body to open appropriately to allow our little guy into the world. I asked Austin for a blessing that my body would perform correctly and that I would not have to be induced that night. I googled ways to make contractions stronger and more regular. That's when I stumbled upon the definition of prodromal labor. It went something like this:
Prodromal labor is not only difficult to interpret, but also difficult to endure - physically and emotionally. The contractions characteristically drag on with little or no acceleration in their frequency or intensity and very little or no cervical dilation. An example of prodromal labor would be a woman having contractions every 8-10 minutes for three full days during which her cervix effaces to 75% but dilates only 1 or 2 centimeters. The contractions are usually not overwhelmingly painful, but they are strong enough to keep the woman awake and in need of some comfort measures. The greatest difficulty with this kind of labor is the exhaustion and discouragement that a woman may feel. This can snowball into making mild contractions seem strong and the prospect of dealing with the “real” labor yet to come seem overwhelming. http://www.supportedbirth.com/articles/prodromal-labor
After reading more about prodromal labor, I was bawling my eyes out. I wasn't defective! This type of labor happened to other people! Having strong contractions for so long was making me question my ability to have a natural labor- if these weren't "real" contractions, what would the "real" ones feel like?!?? I was just so grateful that my midwives did not keep me in the hospital and induce me Wednesday night. I just wish they would have said something about this type of labor, besides the curt "Well, this happens sometimes to first time moms."
That night, however, I began to have regular, stronger contractions. These were definitely different from the mini contractions I had been having the past week. They started out about 10 minutes apart, and got to be 2-3 minutes apart after an evening walk around the neighborhood. These were fairly strong contractions, although I was still able to walk through them. After returning home, they slowed down to every 6-8 minutes but did not stop. I was so happy; perhaps I would be having a baby soon! We went to bed and I continued to have contractions every 3-10 minutes. I did not sleep well at all; and ended up eating breakfast and taking a shower at 3 am because I was uncomfortable. After waking and starting my daily routine around 7, they continued to get closer together and stronger. I called the midwife, and she wanted me to stay home and see how these contractions played out. I was convinced I was in labor, and so she allowed me to come in to the hospital around 10:00 am. By that point, contractions were 3-5 minutes apart. I got all hooked up to the monitors in the hospital, and my contractions were fairly strong, but were not regular enough to be considered true labor. They even slowed down to every 5-10 minutes When the triage nurse checked me, the first thing she said was "Wow, you're a 4 or 5!" followed by, "hmm... you're still about 50% effaced" which was what I was at my midwife appointment on Tuesday. My contractions were quite strong, though, and my uterus had a lot of tone in it in between contractions. The triage nurse was pretty sassy, but I lost all faith in her after she forgot to get my urine sample and put a ginormous blood pressure cuff on me (for someone with AT LEAST twice the size of my arm, and then wondered why my blood pressure was reading so low). She said I wasn't having contractions, but I tried to explain to her that the resting tone in my uterus was at the level of my contractions when I first got hooked up. She was not having any of it. She called the midwife and my midwife told me to go walk around downtown Oak Park and see if that didn't get things going. She also said to come back if I felt my contractions were more regular.
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| West Suburban Medical Center... spent WAY too much time here over the past month |
So we left the hospital and walked a mile to Subway for lunch. I continued to have fairly strong contractions every 3-5 minutes while I was up and about. We marched about the neighborhood at the hospital for awhile longer, but it was getting hot and I was getting dehydrated, so we went back up to triage. We thought maybe me being in a more active position than semi-reclined on a really uncomfortable bed would be better for me, and the nurse that hooked me up to the monitors said that I could have a birthing ball to sit on. Unfortunately, our sassy triage nurse came back, and the first thing she said to me was "Did you call the midwife back; did she tell you to come back here?!?" I felt like killing sassy triage nurse, because she said to just come back when I felt that things were becoming more regular, not to call the midwife first. She had one of her nurse colleagues check me, and this nicer nurse told me I was dilated to a 2-2 1/2. WHAT?!?!?! Sassy nurse had told me several hours before that I was dilated to a 4-5. Nice nurse brought up my chart and showed me what she had recorded- a 2. I was livid. If sassy nurse had not told me I was dilated to a 4, I would have just gone home to await more dilation. Instead, I had spent all day marching around in the heat because I thought this labor thing was going well and that I would continue to dilate and maybe have a baby by the end of the day. I was 75% effaced, though, so at least my contractions were doing a little something. Sassy nurse came in to apologize and said that my vaginal opening was a 4-5, and that the cervix was a 2. Way to be clear with your patient sassy nurse! They had me march around the unit for awhile longer, and I got pretty tired. We asked if I could have a birthing ball to sit on instead of the really uncomfortable triage bed, but since I wasn't officially admitted onto the labor and delivery unit, and was indeed, not in labor (according to sassy nurse) I could not have a birthing ball. At that point I was so fed up with the stupid hospital and triage that I just wanted to go home and have the stupid kid in the bath tub. Grrr.A few minutes later, my midwife came and checked me. She told me that I was exactly the same as I was at our office visit the day before. I could not fathom how I could have strong contractions for almost 24 hours and not have anything change in a productive way.
This car ride home from the hospital was so much more sad than the previous one. I was looking forward to going home with a baby this time, and here we were- and still no baby. In Hypnobirthing, we are taught that our bodies know how to birth babies, and we just need to get out of the way of our bodies doing their thing. At this point, I was fairly certain my body was defective. No one told me about this "prodromal" labor thing. I just thought my body did not know how to dilate. I began to think that maybe my little guy would be stuck inside me forever, or at least until I got drugs to regulate my contractions or had him cut out of me with a C-section. I was in a horrible place. What is worse is that the contractions continued, although 6-8 minutes apart now, all night and into the next morning.
Thursday morning was a major turning point for me. I knew that if I wanted to do this the way that Austin and I had planned, it had to be today. Instead of marching around to try to get contractions more regular, I performed the relaxation techniques we learned in hypnobirthing during my contractions, willing my body to open appropriately to allow our little guy into the world. I asked Austin for a blessing that my body would perform correctly and that I would not have to be induced that night. I googled ways to make contractions stronger and more regular. That's when I stumbled upon the definition of prodromal labor. It went something like this:
Prodromal labor is not only difficult to interpret, but also difficult to endure - physically and emotionally. The contractions characteristically drag on with little or no acceleration in their frequency or intensity and very little or no cervical dilation. An example of prodromal labor would be a woman having contractions every 8-10 minutes for three full days during which her cervix effaces to 75% but dilates only 1 or 2 centimeters. The contractions are usually not overwhelmingly painful, but they are strong enough to keep the woman awake and in need of some comfort measures. The greatest difficulty with this kind of labor is the exhaustion and discouragement that a woman may feel. This can snowball into making mild contractions seem strong and the prospect of dealing with the “real” labor yet to come seem overwhelming. http://www.supportedbirth.com/articles/prodromal-labor
After reading more about prodromal labor, I was bawling my eyes out. I wasn't defective! This type of labor happened to other people! Having strong contractions for so long was making me question my ability to have a natural labor- if these weren't "real" contractions, what would the "real" ones feel like?!?? I was just so grateful that my midwives did not keep me in the hospital and induce me Wednesday night. I just wish they would have said something about this type of labor, besides the curt "Well, this happens sometimes to first time moms."
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