It's almost time. Are you prepared? Labour could happen today, tomorrow, the next day…or anytime in the next 6 or 7 weeks. We've already discussed c-sections, so here are the basics of what you will experience if you are going to deliver vaginally. Note: labour is not a linear process. Sometimes it starts and then stops. The rule of thumb is the more active you are, the more you're going to encourage labour, the more you're relaxing, the more slowly it will progress.
Dads/Baby Daddies/Significant Others/Labour Coaches: have you decided on how involved you want them to be in the birth? Discuss the various options with your partner and your health care provider. Will they allow you to cut the umbilical cord or videotape the birth? It is best to find out the answers to these questions beforehand. This allows time for any preparations to be made.
Labour and Birth 101 (the class you didn't think about when you were doing the horizontal mambo 30-odd weeks ago). Labour and birth in a nutshell.
EARLY LABOUR: Contractions are powerful muscular movements which occur down and across your uterine muscles, pressing the baby out of the uterus, towards the birth canal. They begin quietly about 20 minutes apart. The rate and intensity will increase until they are spaced at about 5 minutes apart and quite powerful. This stage might end when your water breaks (or not – it doesn't happen about 75% of the time) or when you lose your cervical mucous plug (which is termed bloody show and if you have ever seen it, you will know why...it's kind of like a horror movie).
ACTIVE LABOUR: This stage occurs when contractions become even more intense in duration and rate. Active labour contractions last for around a minute and are 3 to 5 minutes apart. Oh and by the way – this phase can last for hours and HOURS.
TRANSITION: This is the point you are aiming for, the point most movies and tv shows glamourize. It is also the point where the contractions are non-stop and as intense as they'll ever be. This is the portion of labour when moms-to-be start screaming obscenities and telling everyone in the room how she has changed her mind about having this baby. But, thankfully it's too late to get a divorce / change your mind about the baby / set the operating room on fire / wish they'd never been born themselves because that baby is just about ready to head out -- in what must be the most literal sense of the expression. Labour hurts…as Captain Obvious might say – labour is called labour because it is difficult.
If you're in the hospital, and decide to have an epidural, this is when it is usually administered. You will likely remember this person fondly for the rest of your life.
DELIVERY (of baby): An extremely intense time (that hopefully doesn't last too long!) of pushing in heaving intervals of groaning and bearing down like you're trying to make the most massive bowel movement. Holy Crap!
DELIVERY (of placenta): After newly evicting that wee beast from your belly, you will deliver the placenta. The contractions you will feel during this time will be a whimper of what you felt before.
Printer-friendly version