HELP! how am i supposed to know?

[worriedbabe]

i have been told by my midwife to look out for signs of preterm labour ( i've lost my plug at thirty one and a half weeks, plus had a lot of bleeding in early pregnancy). but, that is going to be extremely difficult for me to do. my braxton hicks TOTALLY mimic labour. i seriously can't tell the difference. my morning sickness hasn't eased up so if i vomit i can't count that as a sign. i always have diahorrea or constipation right the way through pregnancy so i can't count diahorrea as a sign either. i also get lower back pain with it being my 4th child and my waters have always had to be broken when labour was well under way...took the midwife 15 minutes to break them last time so seriously, how the hell am i gonna know? i don't want to go to hospital every time i get braxton hicks...apart from anything else i have to get a babysitter at no notice every time i go. but i'm scared i'll leave it too late to stop a prem labour to be sure it is labour before i go to hospital. help and advice please.

[worriedbabe]

i called a midwife about this one. she said contractions will become more painful and frequent ( which i know ) but when i asked if i had the time to wait for that to happen and still make it to hospital in time to stop the labour...the answer was no lol. so, pretty much, to be on the safe side, i should go to hospital every time i get braxton hicks/contractions because there's no way of differenciating between the two in time to stop a premature labour. i think i may still follow my instincts a little on this one...or i could be in hospital every day for weeks!

[smjmekg]

You may know I had a c-section, but before I did my BH were a lot like the real thing, and I constantly wanted to go in just to be checked, it was my first baby and I was a nervous wreck at the end. BUT they said, along with what you already said, that if they were more painful and more frequent to come in...BUT they said consistent as well, if they are coming every ten minutes, before 36 weeks I was supposed to come in, and after 36 weeks every five minutes. So I'd say if you are having any consistent contractions to go in and get checked.

[JoyRenee]

If you are a major concern for pre-term labor then it might be a good idea to stay at the hospital for a few weeks.

[megmil]

Well my doctor says to time for an hour. If I have ten or more an hour. Well, I did a few times and was even sent to delivery and held overnight and in the morning they stopped. Happened four times with my last. So she told me to wait until they are less than 5 minutes apart. How far away do you live from the hospital????? when I did go into lador I finally made it to the hospital when I was at a six with contractions like 2 minutes apart and still had plenty of time to fill out paperwork and get an epidural and everything then it was about another 30 minutes to an hour before he came. He was a fast one but labor started at 4 in the morning and I kept thinking it was another false alarm so waited forever before going. He was born after 5pm, don't remember exactly off the top of my head. But I live 30 minutes away from the nearest hospital and made it after being in labor all day so I'm sure you can make it. Watch for contractions to be real intense to where you really have a lot of trouble moving at all. I mean you have to drop what you're doing and sit until it passes and they are 5 minutes or less apart.

[worriedbabe]

i'm really close to the hospital, it's a 5-10 minute drive. there are a few reasons why i think i may go into preterm labour. firstly, the bleeding i had from 9 to 16 weeks, i'm a smoker ( i have managed to cut right down but i still smoke) and then losing my plug so early. they don't seem to be too worried at the hospital, but maybe they're going off my history ( i've had 3 babies, all overdue ) but this pregnancy has been so different from those. i had to sit for 5 minutes yesterday before i picked my son up from nursery, but must've just been braxton hicks again because the pains eased off after a couple of hours. the concern is if i get to hospital and i'm 5 cm dilated, it's too late to stop the labour. i guess i'll just have to be alert and careful this time around.

[bossetina]

1st of all our u dilated at all....when i was preg last year i was 30 preg..stares to have BH contractions and keep my in over night they told me to count how far your contractions our apart if they our 5 to 7 min all the time to see the DR