Questions about dilating and labor...

In My Humble Opinion
1

First I would like to state that I see my doctor regularly and am not seeking medical advice. I also put this here instead of General Questions because I’m looking for personal experiences as well.

I am just over 38 weeks pregnant with my first child. Last Tuesday (over a week ago) at my visit I was 1cm dilated. This Tuesday at my check-up I was almost 2cms dilated. Today I went to the doctor to find out I am 3cms dilated.

Now, that is progress - but I am not having contractions. Now mind you, this is my first pregnancy - so I don’t really know what they are supposed to feel like anyway. Based on all the reports of “you’ll know them when they come” I think it is safe to say they haven’t come yet.

I guess it is possible to dilate without painful contractions - because I seem to be doing that as of right now. I wonder how long that could go on for? Also, I wonder how long my doctor will keep me out of the hospital? I mean - what if I continue to dilate, but not contract. Will my doctor keep me home until I start to contract?

I also wonder what the limit of time to get an epidural is. Initially my doctor told me that it typically gets administered between 3 and 4cms. Well, I’m right at 3 now - so 4 will be next. I hope I don’t miss that window of opportunity. I’ve also heard that once you hit a certain dilation getting an epidural sometimes doesn’t happen - because you are too far long. How far long is too far long to be exact?

Again, for the record - I have regular pre-natal care. In fact, my next appointment is on Monday. I plan to ask my doctor all of these questions at that visit. I have just been sitting here since my visit today wondering about all of these questions. I know the Dope has very wise people - so I figured I’d start my poll here. :slight_smile:

I’d truly and greatly appreciate ANY information anyone can give me. Either from their own experiences, or experiences of friends. I’m desperately trying to be patient for this baby to come - but it is becoming difficult to keep my chin up so to speak. I am VERY uncomfortable - and sleep isn’t happening anymore (nature’s lovely way of preparing me for the baby I suppose).

Thanks for taking the time to listen - and also - thanks in advance for all your wise thoughts!

2

Ok first congratulations on the impending birth of your baby! Don’t get too caught up in what you’ve planned or hoped for with your labor - it is just one day. A baby lasts a lifetime.

I’m not a doctor, but here is what I know from my own experience having 2 kids.

If you continue to dialate, eventually your water should break because of not having the uterine walls supporting that 3 or 4 or 5 cm area any more. Once your water breaks most doctors want to have the baby delivered in like 24 hours. If your water doesn’t go-a-gusher it might just start leaking…it’ll probably be a steady stream that doesn’t smell like pee. The chance of you getting to like 6 or 8 cm and not breaking your water is I would guess pretty damn close to nil.

Epidural. Well, my doctors have given me that “there is a window” talk too, and both times I did get my epidural in the window (and loved it thankyouverymuch). But my kid sister got her epidural when she was complete…they had her hold off on the pushing to administer it first (and she hated it thankyouverymuch). So window yes, but written in stone? Maybe not. Of course all will depend on your doctor of course.

The best thing to get real contractions going is to walk. Slowly and gently sure, but walkwalkwalk. And then when you are bored of walking, do that special activity which got you into this situation in the first place… :wink:

Good luck and remember any labor and delivery that ends with a healthy baby and healthy mom going home is a successful one.

3

During my last pregnancy, at my last office visit he said I was 3 cm dilated, and I would have the baby by the end of the weekend. I had him on Sunday. A friend of mine just had the same experience. We were both on our third babies, so I could guess it might take you a bit longer, but no more than a few days, I’d think.

Your doctor may want you to wait until contractions have begun and are coming at certain intervals. First-timers often take quite a while, but of course that’s not always true. You should always call your doctor before you head to the hospital- he will advise you if it’s the right time to go.

I don’t know from epidurals.

4

Oh, and TMI, but one of the first conclusive signs of imminent labor is the losing of the mucus plug. It’s usually very noticable, unless the whole thing comes out when you’re on the toilet and you don’t notice, but I don’t know how often that happens, if ever.

5

Thanks so much for the answers so far! It really is a great help to hear from people who’ve gone through this before.

I do know that my mucus plug has either a) completed passed, or b) mostly passed. At this Tuesday’s visit my doctor manipulated my cervix to assist this along because they believe my baby is going to be rather large. A few days before that I did have some mucus discharge. Then today (before my appointment) I had more mucus discharge. Then after my visit I had some bloody show. Sorry for all the TMI discussion, but I’ve found out more and more that pregnancy/labor is hard to talk about without having TMI things thrown in now and again.

So at least that is a good sign! I’m really hoping to go some time this weekend. Though I really don’t know what my chances are of that happening. I’m beginning to feel like I’ll never give birth. :eek:

6

I guess I should have added that my office visit was on a Thursday. :smack:

7

I was kind of wondering what day of the week your visit was.

So - I guess I could go some time this weekend - but it may be unlikely being that this is my first child.

I guess my one good thought will be that if I don’t go into labor this weekend that maybe at my Monday visit I will be further dilated and at that point they will just send me to the hospital?

8

I know it’s easier said than done, especially with your first, but try not to be in such a hurry! Get lots of sleep now, and let the baby spend another whateverittakes in there cooking. Do take heart that if you have a couple more, by your third you can practically just lift your leg and shoot it out!

I personally would advise against being induced unless labor does not progress once it starts and the doctor recommends it. It causes contractions to be much stronger, IME. I was induced with the first two and the third seemed like a breeze comparatively.

If you are determined to have that baby ASAP, you could try the Castor Oil method, on your doctor’s advice, of course. It’s nasty but it does work a lot of times. (Sorry if that’s too medical advicey.)

9

I hope somebody else chimes in about epidurals, but I swear they made me wait until I was 10 cm before they gave it to me. I was 3 cm when I was induced at 6 am and they gave me the epidural sometime around lunchtime. Maybe the window is somewhere between 4 -10 cm.

I second** trublmakr’s ** comments about induction contractions. Not fun.

Good luck and have a fun weekend! Don’t worry - it’ll have to come out eventually!

10

For my last pregnancy I had a female doctor who told me to forget walking or any sort of heavy work. She said one of the hormones responsible for labor (I believe oxytocin, but it’s been ten years and so I’m not completely sure) is released upon orgasm. I took that as a strong hint and had the baby the next day. (Talk about TMI.)

11

I do know that one of the reasons the doctor had even mentioned inducing me is because of the size of the baby.

My husband was ten pounds, and his family’s genetics typically produces ten pound babies. I’d much rather NOT give birth to a ten pound baby if it is at all avoidable. :slight_smile:

I hate being this anxious, and I know all will come in time. I guess it just stinks because I don’t have anyone that I am close to that has been through this before. I’m definitely treading unfamiliar waters!

12

For me I had an appointment on the 22nd and was about 2cm dilated, my doctor told me that is no indication of how long until you have them. Some women stay at 2 or 3 cms for awhile before they move on. Me, I went and had my son less than 3 days later.

For the epidural, I got mine when I was about 5cms dilated. As I recall, they told us you couldn’t get an epidural when you were in hard labour. I think they told us to ask for it right away because you never knew how long it would take for the anesthesiologist to get there and if you waited too long to ask, by the time they got there you could be almost done.

I stayed at home for little less than half my labour. Just relaxed, took some warm showers, snacked a bit and napped on the living room floor. That’s my best advice. Stay at home as long as you are comfortable, then go in.

It’s natural to be nervous too. I was really nervous, and when I went in it looked like I had packed everything including the kitchen sink. :wink:

Congratulations on the coming bundle of joy!

13

After reading this, it’s safe to say that I have decided never to give birth. Thank you.

14

Question for those who say they were 2 and 3 cms dilated when they went in to the hospital…were you actually having contractions at that point?

I guess what I find very strange is that I am 3cms - and no contractions.

That part makes me think it is never going to happen - because I can’t FEEL labor happening, you know?

15

IIRC, your body is having contractions, but of the minor kind.

The real ones, for me, felt at first like menstrual cramps until towards the middle of the whole birthing the baby thing my belly would get rock hard during a contraction. After I had my epidural (thankyouverymuch) the rock hard stomach was the only way I could tell I was having a contraction. (YMMV)
That was the last time my belly was rock hard. now it’s flubber.
Just relax and enjoy these last two weeks of nothingness.
This would be an excellent time to write down in a journal just for the baby:

Ten Things My Child Will Never Do and Things I Shall Teach My Child and the ever popular ** I Will Break The Genetic Habit Of This Really Bad Habit That Runs Through My Husbands Family. My genetics are vunderbar, TYMV.**

I wish I did.
I could use a good laugh.

I need a good laugh about now.

16

It is possible to fully dialate without noticable contractions. A distant aquaintance did that, felt her first contraction with the need to push and had a baby 15 minutes later. Its really rare, but it happens.

When things do happen that quickly, there may be an unplanned homebirth.

My doctor said epidurals come between 4 and 10. But this is something I learned, the cervix gets progressively stretchier. When my daughter was born the OB nurse didn’t check me. I started labor at 1:00am with my water breaking, she checked when I got into the hospital, and it was 7:30 when the shift change happened that I was checked again (this despite my pleading to be checked - I wanted an epidural). When the next nurse checked she said "hummm, eight, nine, ten - I can stretch this as much as I want, but you need a rest dear (she had been caught up on the previous labor and delivery nurse not checking and not calling the anetheistist), she put down eight made a phone call, and let me rest for three more hours in epidural-land before they had me start pushing.

17

Some people have an active labour from 0cm, which mean that they are having strong, regular contractions from the word go. it’s also what happens in most inductions.

Most women have a passive dilation up to about 3cm. That means that although they’re dilating, they’re not in labour…the definition of which requires strong, regular uterine contractions.

Once you get to 3cm, passive dilation isn’t going to get you any further, so active labour is required to get you more dilated. If you’re at 3cm already it’s unfortunately just a matter of time before it starts, but if you’ve had your membranes stripped (assuming that’s what your doctor did when they “manipulated” your cervix) then it should all be within a few days.

Because women in their first labour usually dilate at a rate of about 1cm/hr, you’d expect to have about 7 hours of labour (consisting of proper, strong, regular contractions, about 3-5 mins apart and lasting for 45-60 seconds) to get you to 10cm, and another hour or two after that until you’re holding your baby. Plenty of time to ask for that epidural.

Whether or not your waters have broken by the time labour starts is irrelevant, but if they break before labour starts, see your doctor ASAP.
The epidural window isn’t a specific dilation, it’s more about the amount of time available and is on a case by case basis.

For example, if I have a woman in her 5th labour, whose last labour lasted 3 hours in total, and who is at 7cm, she could well have delivered the baby by the time the anaesthetist arrives to put in the epidural.

However, if I have a woman in her first labour who is taking an hour per cm, and she’s at 9cm, it’s likely that they’d have time to put in an epidural before the real work of pushing out the baby even begins.

I was with one lady who was in her second labour. At her 2 hour examination she was at 4cm, fairly comfortable and not asking for any pain relief. At her 3 hour examination she was at 9cm, already getting the urge to push, and “asking” for an epidural would be putting it mildly. To say that there wasn’t time for one was an understatement!

18

Hang in there! Just think of this as doing it the easy way. Some women are in hard labor for hours only to find out they are only 3 cm.

One of my friends got to 8 cm without particularly noticing the contractions.

Different women feel labor differently. There really are some lucky ones that find the whole process pretty easy. Maybe you are going to be one of the lucky ones.

Don’t let anyone talk you into more pain than you’re really experiencing.

W/ my first, the midwife didn’t want me to come in even though I felt like “it was time” because I sounded too “together” on the phone. I ratcheted up the anxiety in my voice. Funny, things got much more painful after that. sigh.

19

I don’t know if they still do, but they used to say not to have sex or take a bath once you’ve started dilating. It can introduce infection.

And, yes, good luck! When come back, bring pictures!

20

I dilated but never went into spontaneous labor. Both kids were induced. Once they got it started it went quickly: 3 hours for the first one and 54 minutes for the second. Hope all goes well for you.