Early Labor for over 48 hours! Please Help!

Hey Guys - I need help I am desperate! I have been in early labor since friday morning.. Its now sunday evening, and i am exhausted and sooo frustrated! I was assessed on friday - contx were 3- 4 min apart lasting about 45 seconds. They did 2 internals - the first one cervix was still high and closed. They did another one about 2 hours later and i was 1cm dialated and cervix was soft but still posteriour. They sent me home and told me i would progress quicker there - which i wanted anyway. The middys said they expected me back in about 12 hours or so and expected i would have the baby within about 24 to 48 hours.. So things have not progressed at all! They keep starting and then stoping. The contx are more like braxton hicks now (still as frequent 3-4 min) but mostly painless, well not painless but i havegot used to them now. Every now and then i will get some stronger ones for a while- then they die out again. I am doing the active birth stuff - bouncing, standing , kneeling- swaying myhips etc. Plus taking rasberry leaf tablets and evening primrose - but its just not happening, plus heaps and heaps of walking and even a few bumpy 4 wheel drives :redface:. I am getting so frustrated! I cant sleep because i am too uncomfy. I just want it to either start or go away completely! Please please please help me, or give me some advice! :wall: I am at my wits ends!!!!:doh:

You poor girl big hus to you sweet i know your prob so exhausted by now but hang in there and when bubs finally arrives youll forget about all the long process to keep doin what youve been doin and fingers crossed bub comes soon

A few friends of mine swear by ' kerb walking'! Sounds crazy and you look pretty funny doing it but they are adament it works!

Basically, go for a walk around your streets, on foot on the kerb and the other on the road!

Not sure if it will work but hey, anything is worth a try!

Let us know how the kerb walking goes if you give it ago! Hang in there and good luck hope things hurry along for you :crossfingers:

If you have any clarey sage, start sniffing it. I did during my early labour and it really sped up and intensified the conx's. good luck!

oh hunny no advice here but just :hug:
hope bubby gets a move on!
come on little one!
labour vibes.

Try to get some rest too Hun, you need all the energy you can get in labour. Take it easy and best of luck! (And Ive heard a hot curry is meant to help speed things up too, but it didnt work for me)

i hope things progress for you soon.
I had the same thing with my last pregnancy. He ended up being 10 days late.
Fingers crossed you have bubs in your arms very soon.
Clary sage is a sure fire winner for me, i left it till late but it certainly did the trick, i massaged mine onto pressure points.
Rest up and take care

Thanks for all the advice and wishes guys. I am going to kerb walk all the way to the health food shop tomoz for some clarey sage!

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I am going to kerb walk all the way to the health food shop tomoz for some clarey sage!

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:goodone: I love it!

Good luck hope it works for you:goodluck:

:hug: Elyse. It gets really tough when we have to deal with early labour or prelabour for ages! I'm thinking that maybe try some squatting to help open things up and help bubs head to put some pressure on the cervix. I hope you get some rest while your waiting.

ozzi - i find squatting a bit hard coz i have a lot of fluid in my legs from GD. But will try it a bit more! I am getting some pains in my lower pelvis and who ha now but contrax dont seen to be getting any stronger. I am pretty tired doesnt help that i have an extreamly sore throat either!

Oh you poor thing - you sound just like me first time around!! I went into labour 3am on a Wed morning, and I gave birth at 8pm on the Saturday night... (only I had synto on the Sat to speed things up as I was over it).
Is there anything you are feeling afraid or stressed about that may be inhibiting the labour from progressing? Fear and stress create catecholamines - hormones that can literally shut down labour. I'm positive this is what happened to me.
Try as much as possible to relax, breathe deeply and think positive thoughts - visualising your cervix opening up and your baby moving down.
You can also try a teaspoon of borage oil or castor oil in juice to stimulate contractions.

Best of luck and stay positive. Your baby will be here soon.

X

:hug: Try to relax a bit. I had LOTS of prelabour for 3 of my births and the worst thing you can do (for your mental sanity) is get worried and try to bring it on faster.

Unless your water breaks (or you have to poo a lot from the pressure!) try to rest and go about your stuff and it will happen in good time. You still might have a few more weeks of it seeing as you're 2 weeks before your EDD. Also 45sec contractions aren't really business ones either, even though they are 3 - 5mins apart. You want good 60 - 90sec ones. They really are different once you are in proper labour.

I know it's hard when you're going through it :hug: I cried one night after it died down because I had my MIL staying here after doing the drive over the night before cos we thought it was time. We'd rung the hospital and everything :redface:

Early labour is not an 'established' form of labour and can go on for some time. Your cervix is doing hard work softening, effacing and opening your cervix for the first few centimetres, so it is doing something, just sometimes it can be slow. Active labour is around 4cms, where you will get consistent contractions that do not stop, increase in intensity, duration etc. Yes it's exhausting and frustrating right now but the best thing you can do for yourself is to rest, play it down as much as you can, seek althernative therapies like acupuncture or naturopathy, and distract yourself. You have a long way to go, it's going to get more intense soon, so burning out your physical and emotional energy now wont help you. Hang in there and do what you can to wait it out.

Hey Guys - thank you all for your advice and support. I actually ended up getting really sick last night, with a shocking throat infection, didnt sleep more than 2 hours all night and then fever and fainting this morning. I went to the doctor and they started me on a course of strong quick acting antibiotics. I am feeling much better now - although still pretty yucky, hoping that a good nights sleep will make all the difference.
I think that maybe you guys were right about me subconciously blocking labor from starting. That my body knew that i was getting sick and stoped labor progressing as I wouldnt have the strenght to labor or care for a new born whilst i was so sick. I dont know. i am actually releived it didnt progress now, i would probably ended up with a lot of intervention, not just from being sick but from physical exhaustion. I was so focussed on starting labor i was walking a lot amoungst other things ;) so i wasnt as rested as i should be.
I have now come to the conclusion that my body knows what it is doing. It will start when it is good and ready - whether i am walking, bouncing on my ball, or laying in bed. And it is better to be rested than exhausted before the long haul even starts!
But a quick update - the contrax are all but stoped - BUT i am gettin some serious pains in my vagina and some very heavy period like pains low in my pelvis. I havent had a baby before - but intuition tells me this is doing more for me than all the contrax i have had in the last 3 days. It actually feels like i am opening up.
So now i am off to bed to get some much needed sleep until bubs decides it is ready to come out! Thanks again everyone!

Good luck!!!

hope your feeling better and that the antibiotics are doing there job!

wont be long hun and you will be holding you little bubba in your arms

try and get as much rest as you can before bub comes along xxx

thanks guys. Antibiotics have def kicked in. I saw my osteo today- not sure how much it helped i am much sorer now, maybe it will kick in tomoz. I am also trying to track down a good acupuncture therapist to see.

Good luck sweety, rest up pre labour can really take it out of you. I had bad prelabour for 2wks with my 2nd starting at 39wks, not fun but every little niggle and pain is doing something. i find people that have had bad prelabour tend to have a quicker labour coz there boday has done alot of work before labour begins, dont quote me on that though im no expert just going on friends.

Good luck and hope you have tome to get better before bubs comes :)

What a crappy time you're having, looks like it's on the up for you now though.
Good luck with the acupuncture hope you'll be meeting bub soon :D

Hey Elyse,

Just wanted to mention the importance of taking a course of probiotic 'friendly' bacteria after your antibiotics. Unfortunately not many doctors will tell you this as natural medicine is not really their forte. The antibiotics are effective at killing infections - but they cannot discriminate between good and bad bacteria - and effectively kill both. The 'good' bacteria (probiotics) in your system are important for the absorption of nutrients, for keeping the bad bacteria in check and fighting off infections (immune function) and are passed on to the baby via the breastmilk. Mothers who have been treated with antibiotics during or post labour have a much higher incidence of colic and digestive discomfort in their newborns - this is due to the lack of probiotic bacteria being passed through the milk.
Its an easy fix though - just go to the fridge in your nearest health food store and ask for either the capsule of powder form. Needs to be kept in the fridge. Once you have finished your antibiotics, take them day and night until you have finished the course.
You can also purchase infant probiotics, which come in powder form, and can be given to baby either in expressed breastmilk (best) or formula feeds. Avail from health food stores and selected pharmacies. The more probiotics a baby receives, the quicker their immune system will develop and the easier it will be for them to digest and assimilate the nutrients in their milk.

Hope this helps XX

I wholeheartedly second what Jellybean just said about the probiotics - you can start them while still taking the antis - just not at exactly the same time :)