Latent Labor

Ok, so many of you are now waiting to hear news because I was heading for the hospital Thursday afternoon. As you can guess, I'm home now. Things are stalled, but went like this:

Thursday morning I woke up with a very "different" feeling. One of uncertainty and almost urgency. Not an urgency to do anything in particular, just a feeling of being rushed and restless. But not a feeling of "this is it". SO I do a few things around the house and settle on the sofa to watch some TV with my faithful companion, Neko. At about noon I notice that I have been having contractions. I haven't had many at all since my fore-water broke a few weeks ago. This is interesting. I get hopeful and eat a sort of big lunch. By the end of that I realize that they are coming stronger, longer, and pretty regularly. I'm not one to time things, but I was guessing about 8 minutes apart. I called Marcus to ask him to call the labor ward and tell them we are coming in that night after he gets off work. I then, being as vane as I am, took a shower so my hair would at least be clean. LOL. I called my mom to let her know what was going on and give her some numbers in case we couldn't call everyone. By the end of that phone call I decided to time a few contractions and they were 5 minutes apart. I was getting so excited! I called Marcus and told him he should probably come on home and get me. He did.

We got to the hospital about 4. When you go in here, they always first set you up on a CTG (non stress test) monitor to make sure you're both OK. Baby's heart rate was a little high, but probably because mine was too. And the contractions. Well, they were 3 minutes apart. Very regular. But not super duper painful. Some women's aren't. I was getting more excited when I saw they were so close and regular. And this was for over an hour. The midwife on duty came in and was so so nice! She was funny and really comforting. She felt the baby's position and she was head down but face up. Not exactly what we hoped for, but something that should work itself out. She then decided to check me and see how far I was coming in progress. I was 50% effaced and at just under 4 centimeters dilated. That's good, right?? Yeah it is. She says I'm not in active labor at the moment but well on my way.

We all decide its a good idea for Marcus and me to go have some dinner and walk around a little and come back. We went to the ultimate walking place: IKEA. They have good food and so much space to walk in. I felt ridiculous at times walking all bendy-overy and stopping at weird items to breathe through a contraction. But its all worth it, right? Maybe.

We get back to the hospital about 8 and do another CTG. Baby is sleeping and the heart rate is a little better, contractions still coming on, and causing a lot of pain in my back. (I later read that the position of the baby causes back pain, so now I'm not surprised, just irritated.) At the hospital they have these really deep, long bath tubs that nearly have you foaming at the mouth when you're in pain. So when asked if I wanted to try one I was less than hesitant! It was SO relaxing. I still felt the pains, but so much less. I highly recommend this to anyone in labor.

After the bath, I get checked again. NO PROGRESS. None! I was so disappointed. The new shift was starting so I had a different midwife this time and she really thought that I would go into labor over night, so we stayed. And she put needles in my head to "relax" me. I guess for some they work. She then gave me a shot of Brikanyl (asthma medicine) to relax the uterus so I could sleep for a few hours and a sleeping and pain pill. I am not big on taking pills and stuff anyways, but I really don't like it while pregnant. However, it was that or get no rest and possibly go into labor exhausted, which I have heard makes things much worse.

So we sleep. Wake up and after about an hour the contractions are starting to come back, but not as strong. I had high hopes that in the 6 hours I slept maybe I had dilated more. Get checked, and nothing. So we go home to rest and relax and hope to be back soon. That was about 8am.

At about 2 we come back to Kalmar to do some errands and just stop in to get checked and get some pain killers for my back. At this time, I am at a full 4 and having bloody show. But still not in active labor. While there I had another CTG. The baby's heart was good, and my contractions were coming but very irregular. However, while I normally have registered between 25 and 40 I had one that was 90 seconds long and went over 100!!! Holy cow that was freaky. It wasn't so much the pain, though it did hurt, but the feeling of "What is going on? Why is this lasting so long and so strong? ". I actually started to cry because it hurt my back so badly, and probably because it scared me a little. Just then, of course, the midwife from hell walks in and lecture me about being strong. She is all pissy because I cried. Its not like I was lying there sobbing. I just got teary. Plus, its quite emotional being in labor for over 24 hours already. I was pretty upset with that. And very glad she sent me home because, frankly, I don't want her near my labor. I need someone who has a little compassion at least.

Ok, so I'm home again. I have now been in latent labor for 49 hours. I have had some sleep, but its all been weird and uncomfortable. And I am having super weird dreams. I'm feeling really low at times and I cant seem to shake the feelings of sadness I have for little Mila being trapped in there, all squished up and wanting to come out.


It feels like things have pretty much stalled. I'm still having bloody show, but not as many contractions. I'm basically just sore and irritable now. Yay. We are both hoping that things will pick up tonight or tomorrow morning. Its 1pm now, so I guess we have a while to see what will happen!

Thanks for all of the messages of support. I really appreciate them. And the tips. I have tried most but it wont hurt to try again. And thanks for reading this long story of no progress or consequence. I just needed to share a little, I guess.