Contractions and when to go to hospital

[thanka2]

It depends on whether this is your first, second or third pregnancy. If its the first generally its safe to wait until contractions are 5 minutes apart if everything is going well but if second and especially third, things happen rapidly and I would hot foot it in there rather quickly. My last 2 girlfriends had their 3rd children within 15 minutes of contractiona starting up, one didn't make it into the hospital......

It depends on whether this is your first, second or third pregnancy. If its the first generally its safe to wait until contractions are 5 minutes apart if everything is going well but if second and especially third, things happen rapidly and I would hot foot it in there rather quickly. My last 2 girlfriends had their 3rd children within 15 minutes of contractiona starting up, one didn't make it into the hospital......

Not making it to the hospital isn't the worst thing in the world, actually.

But, I do agree that first births tend to go much more slowly and usually labor takes awhile to get into full swing. If you leave when your contractions are steady at 5 minutes apart for at least an hour you'll likely make it to the hospital before the baby is born. But, also realize that labor can slow down when you're in a foreign environment like a hospital. Labor can and often does just "stall out" when one transfers to a hospital. Your labor can be going along nicely at 5 minute contractions and then you get into the crazyness of the public hospital, you go from like 6 cm dilated to 3 cm (yes you can go backwards in dilation due to stress) and your labor can go down to being irregular contractions every 10-15 minutes.

 

[thanka2]

I stayed at home as long as possible. I think it was about 5 hours after my waters broke. I also live only 5 minutes from the hospital. I wasn't worried about getting there in time but rather being mobile enough to get there! My contractions started at only a couple of minutes apart and lasted about a minute. When I got to the hospital I wasn't even dilated. But 6 hours later had my son. When I arrived at the hospital I went straight to my own room and didn't have to be on the labour ward. I delivered at PMH.

When I had my second child (which one would assume would be a much quicker birth) I was home for 8 hours before going to the hospital and then when I transferred to the hospital 4 hours later she was born. Staying home was the best decision I made! I had an inflatable kiddie pool with warm water in it and I soaked in that and gently went through my contractions until I could feel my body telling me it was time to transfer to the hospital because I didn't want to be in the car in really hard labor. Staying home, especially if you're going through the public hospital, as long as you can is probably the best thing you can do to help have as fewer interventions in labor as possible. Totally recommend it.

 

[thanka2]

I don't know about the public hospitals, but at the private ones it took about 30mins to do all the admissions admin/procedures so factor that in if you are waiting until advanced labour.

I was in advanced labor in the public hospital and it only took probably 10-15 minutes to get through everything including triage. If you're really in advanced labor (like the child is emerging) you'll get to skip all those steps and they'll have to be done later. As I stood in the lobby of the hospital vocalizing during contractions because I was in labor (contractions coming every 3 minutes and lasting for a minute) you should have seen the looks I got--I don't think anyone, including the general staff had actually seen a woman in "real labor" before because all the ladies show up at the hospital with a tiny twinge of labor. I thought it was really cool that they could see a woman really in labor.

 

[thanka2]

I delivered at QEH and my husband was there with me the whole time and the midwife gave me the birth ball to relief pain and gave me aromatherapy massage, baby's heart rate was monitored the whole time as was my contractions! Environment was relaxing and midwife would regularly check on my progress! So I would think its better to getting hospital sooner rather than later.... So you know how baby is doing... And you should go straight away after your water breaks anyway... I agree...dont take the risk

Wow...birth ball and a massage. Was this a public hospital? That's great. Funny thing is with both of my children my water never broke until right before the baby was born. With my son, I labored for 43 hours and then toward the end I decided I wanted my waters artificially broken--and a few hours later he was born. I gave birth to him in a private hospital in the States. With my daughter, my water only truly broke right as her head was emerging (and I was in a standing position)--I gave birth to her in the public hospital in HK. So water breaking is not always the first sign of labor. Again, I maintain, that it is not necessary to be monitored during labor. I never wore a fetal heart monitor at all during my second labor and everything was great--being over-monitored creates stress and can have a negative effect on the progress of labor. For me, I just want a dark, quiet place to labor--I don't need machines beeping and people interfering as I focus on the task at hand--those things are of little help for me. My husband was also with me throughout both labors and in the second one he was the ONLY one in the room when my baby's head crowned--the public hospital staff were too busy with the other woman in the other side of the curtain who was strapped down to a bed with a fetal monitor. My husband actually helped catch both of our babies but the second time he did it solo. All in a HK public hospital.

 

[karhu]

Yes birth ball and massage at public hospital... Queen Elizabeth

 

[evgreen]

I was already 5cm dilated before I even went into labor! So for me, the doctor told me to go right to the hospital as soon as my contractions started. I was in labor for only 6 hours so I guess I could've waited a little longer at home, but with the traffic going to the hospital, I'm glad I didn't wait.

 

[dressuphk]

Oh I am having contraction now... actually 5~8 min apart lasting 1 min each time... thinking we should just wait a little longer before we jump into a taxi... but I don't know how dilated I am... but I have been having contractions since 5/6 this morning, but it kinda slow down around noon but it comes back again.. now I am this contraction can last last last...... but it's really hard to decide whether or not go to hospital now since I am afraid it will stop again...

 

[karhu]

Go if you are unsure... The hospital nurses or midwives will know what to do

 

[daddytobe]

Your doctor will usually let you know when to go to the hospital. I believe you need to go right away when the water breaks as the baby is coming fairly soon. Otherwise you have to time the contractions and wait until you are a certain amount of time apart before going to the hospital. They usually encourage the patients to do this, because people prefer the comfort of their own home right up until it's time to deliver, rather than sitting in the hospital longer than needed. In some cases, you may even be sent home if you come too early.

 

[karhu]

Sometimes baby doesn't come for a long while after your water breaks! The reason you need to go to the hospital when your water breaks is because there is an increased chance of infection