Scared of leaving it too late

I am worried that I might wait too long to go to the hospital when I go into labour. The reason why is that I am booked into have a c/s due to medical reasons. My labour with DD started with my waters breaking 18days early. I will be booked in about7-9 days early for this preg but am worried about going into labour early without my waters breaking.
How will I know that it is real labour before it is too late to get a c/s? There is no way I will be having another vaginal birth, and am terrified at the thought of problems due to not being able to get to have a c/s or worse still not to the hospital in time. I guess I dont really have a question specifically, but any ideas and other experiences would really help.

Highly anxious.:help:

Love

They do emergency c-sections while you are in labour so I should think that unless you have a really, really fast labour it is unlikely that you will get to hospital too late. Do you live a long way from your hospital?

Thanks, that makes me feel a bit better. I love 30-60mins away from hospital depending on traffic. I guess it is probably the unkown about labour without waters breaking that is worrying me. Thanks

Love

If you live that far away, then just to feel reassured, tell yourself that you'll go to the hospital the minute you even suspect something's going on. Then you won't worry and can relax. The hospital won't mind you turning up as many times as you need to be reassured. As Dach said, only a small percentage of women have such a speedy labour that they caught out like that.

Helen I was dilated to 9cm when I had my emergency c/s, so they can do it quite late in the game.

I agree with Sal, ring or go to the hospital if you have any concerns no matter how early into labour you may or may not be. I had an emergency c/s after forceps and all the pushing had been done so they can do it at the very last moment. And if it helps ease your worry, I was pushing for 35 minutes and then had to wait 2 hours before the c/s and everything was fine.