Contractions and when to go to hospital

Y

yikes

Registered User
Aside from waters breaking, signs of distress and pre-term labour etc, if all seems normal, the advice that I have been given is to go to the hospital when contractions are 5 minutes apart lasting 1 minute each.

As I*am giving birth at a public hospital, I want to be at home as long as possible as I want my husband to be with me. *What are peoples experiences with leaving it later than 5 mins apart? *I am only 5-10 mins away from the hospital.
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If the pain is bearable and it's your first I guess it'd be OK...but why risk it? Your body is in labour at that point and you would need to be strapped down with a heart rate monitor etc. To make sure things are OK inside. You also, never know what the traffic will be like...depends on the time of day and road conditions.
 
I stayed at home as long as possible. I think it was about 5 hours after my waters broke. I also live only 5 minutes from the hospital. I wasn't worried about getting there in time but rather being mobile enough to get there! My contractions started at only a couple of minutes apart and lasted about a minute. When I got to the hospital I wasn't even dilated. But 6 hours later had my son. When I arrived at the hospital I went straight to my own room and didn't have to be on the labour ward. I delivered at PMH.
 
I don't know about the public hospitals, but at the private ones it took about 30mins to do all the admissions admin/procedures so factor that in if you are waiting until advanced labour.
 
I delivered at QEH and my husband was there with me the whole time and the midwife gave me the birth ball to relief pain and gave me aromatherapy massage, baby's heart rate was monitored the whole time as was my contractions! Environment was relaxing and midwife would regularly check on my progress! So I would think its better to getting hospital sooner rather than later.... So you know how baby is doing... And you should go straight away after your water breaks anyway... I agree...dont take the risk
 
Admission procedures for me only took 10 minutes. But may take longer if other women arrive at the same time as you. I waited at home as long as possible as I wanted my husband to be with me in the early stages of labour and I wanted to be able to move around in the comfort of my own home. Once I got to the hospital I was strapped to a monitor and a drip so there was no getting off the bed. Though by that stage I didn't care!
 
Thanks ladies for sharing your experiences.

I guess I won't know until the time comes, how labour is going so far and how I feel. Agree that it's not worth the risk.

karhu, would you mind answering a few questions I have re QEH as I'm delivering there too - I'll PM youif that's ok.
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in the public system i would wait as long as possible/comfortable with. i think five minute intervals is a pretty good guide. you're more likely to remain relaxed if you're at home - this makes labour a lot more bearable for most women! everyone's different, of course...the knowledge that you're where you need to be in plenty of time may help you relax more.

fathers are not permitted into the labour ward, so can only be with you once you're transferred into the birthing room. if labour is progressing normally (ie with no complications..which is the norm) there is absolutely no need to be constantly strapped to a monitor. checked, yes, but not constantly.

with my first i didn't get the hospital until i was 8cm dilated - i got admonished by the staff..."why you come so late laaaa!"..but it was the best thing for me!* that was at Queen Mary. for my second i was only 6cm when i got there, but ended up only being there for about half an hour before bub was born. obviously this will be more stressful for some but i was much happier being at home and wanted to be in the hospital for as little time as possible.

*i did have a doula for my first, though, which helped me to feel confident that I wouldn't leave it too late! no doula for the second.
 
It depends on whether this is your first, second or third pregnancy. If its the first generally its safe to wait until contractions are 5 minutes apart if everything is going well but if second and especially third, things happen rapidly and I would hot foot it in there rather quickly. My last 2 girlfriends had their 3rd children within 15 minutes of contractiona starting up, one didn't make it into the hospital......
 
lesliefu said:
If the pain is bearable and it's your first I guess it'd be OK...but why risk it? Your body is in labour at that point and you would need to be strapped down with a heart rate monitor etc. To make sure things are OK inside. You also, never know what the traffic will be like...depends on the time of day and road conditions.
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No, you don't "need to be strapped down with a heart rate monitor to make sure things are OK inside." Heartrate monitors are wrong 50% of the time about what is going on inside, actually. They are counterproductive to labor because they can only be worn while lying down for most accurate results (still with only a 50% accuracy rate according to a local OBGYN) and lying down is the most counter-intuitive and counter-productive position for allowing baby's head to engage in the pelvis and descend.
 
mummymoo said:
It depends on whether this is your first, second or third pregnancy. If its the first generally its safe to wait until contractions are 5 minutes apart if everything is going well but if second and especially third, things happen rapidly and I would hot foot it in there rather quickly. My last 2 girlfriends had their 3rd children within 15 minutes of contractiona starting up, one didn't make it into the hospital......
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mummymoo said:
It depends on whether this is your first, second or third pregnancy. If its the first generally its safe to wait until contractions are 5 minutes apart if everything is going well but if second and especially third, things happen rapidly and I would hot foot it in there rather quickly. My last 2 girlfriends had their 3rd children within 15 minutes of contractiona starting up, one didn't make it into the hospital......
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Not making it to the hospital isn't the worst thing in the world, actually.

But, I do agree that first births tend to go much more slowly and usually labor takes awhile to get into full swing. If you leave when your contractions are steady at 5 minutes apart for at least an hour you'll likely make it to the hospital before the baby is born. But, also realize that labor can slow down when you're in a foreign environment like a hospital. Labor can and often does just "stall out" when one transfers to a hospital. Your labor can be going along nicely at 5 minute contractions and then you get into the crazyness of the public hospital, you go from like 6 cm dilated to 3 cm (yes you can go backwards in dilation due to stress) and your labor can go down to being irregular contractions every 10-15 minutes.
 
m_c said:
I stayed at home as long as possible. I think it was about 5 hours after my waters broke. I also live only 5 minutes from the hospital. I wasn't worried about getting there in time but rather being mobile enough to get there! My contractions started at only a couple of minutes apart and lasted about a minute. When I got to the hospital I wasn't even dilated. But 6 hours later had my son. When I arrived at the hospital I went straight to my own room and didn't have to be on the labour ward. I delivered at PMH.
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When I had my second child (which one would assume would be a much quicker birth) I was home for 8 hours before going to the hospital and then when I transferred to the hospital 4 hours later she was born. Staying home was the best decision I made! I had an inflatable kiddie pool with warm water in it and I soaked in that and gently went through my contractions until I could feel my body telling me it was time to transfer to the hospital because I didn't want to be in the car in really hard labor. Staying home, especially if you're going through the public hospital, as long as you can is probably the best thing you can do to help have as fewer interventions in labor as possible. Totally recommend it.
 
mumsy said:
I don't know about the public hospitals, but at the private ones it took about 30mins to do all the admissions admin/procedures so factor that in if you are waiting until advanced labour.
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I was in advanced labor in the public hospital and it only took probably 10-15 minutes to get through everything including triage. If you're really in advanced labor (like the child is emerging) you'll get to skip all those steps and they'll have to be done later. As I stood in the lobby of the hospital vocalizing during contractions because I was in labor (contractions coming every 3 minutes and lasting for a minute) you should have seen the looks I got--I don't think anyone, including the general staff had actually seen a woman in "real labor" before because all the ladies show up at the hospital with a tiny twinge of labor. I thought it was really cool that they could see a woman really in labor. :)
 
karhu said:
I delivered at QEH and my husband was there with me the whole time and the midwife gave me the birth ball to relief pain and gave me aromatherapy massage, baby's heart rate was monitored the whole time as was my contractions! Environment was relaxing and midwife would regularly check on my progress! So I would think its better to getting hospital sooner rather than later.... So you know how baby is doing... And you should go straight away after your water breaks anyway... I agree...dont take the risk
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Wow...birth ball and a massage. Was this a public hospital? That's great. Funny thing is with both of my children my water never broke until right before the baby was born. With my son, I labored for 43 hours and then toward the end I decided I wanted my waters artificially broken--and a few hours later he was born. I gave birth to him in a private hospital in the States. With my daughter, my water only truly broke right as her head was emerging (and I was in a standing position)--I gave birth to her in the public hospital in HK. So water breaking is not always the first sign of labor. Again, I maintain, that it is not necessary to be monitored during labor. I never wore a fetal heart monitor at all during my second labor and everything was great--being over-monitored creates stress and can have a negative effect on the progress of labor. For me, I just want a dark, quiet place to labor--I don't need machines beeping and people interfering as I focus on the task at hand--those things are of little help for me. My husband was also with me throughout both labors and in the second one he was the ONLY one in the room when my baby's head crowned--the public hospital staff were too busy with the other woman in the other side of the curtain who was strapped down to a bed with a fetal monitor. My husband actually helped catch both of our babies but the second time he did it solo. :) All in a HK public hospital. :)
 
I was already 5cm dilated before I even went into labor! So for me, the doctor told me to go right to the hospital as soon as my contractions started. I was in labor for only 6 hours so I guess I could've waited a little longer at home, but with the traffic going to the hospital, I'm glad I didn't wait.
 
Oh I am having contraction now... actually 5~8 min apart lasting 1 min each time... thinking we should just wait a little longer before we jump into a taxi... but I don't know how dilated I am... but I have been having contractions since 5/6 this morning, but it kinda slow down around noon but it comes back again.. now I am this contraction can last last last...... but it's really hard to decide whether or not go to hospital now since I am afraid it will stop again...
 
Your doctor will usually let you know when to go to the hospital. I believe you need to go right away when the water breaks as the baby is coming fairly soon. Otherwise you have to time the contractions and wait until you are a certain amount of time apart before going to the hospital. They usually encourage the patients to do this, because people prefer the comfort of their own home right up until it's time to deliver, rather than sitting in the hospital longer than needed. In some cases, you may even be sent home if you come too early.
 
Sometimes baby doesn't come for a long while after your water breaks! The reason you need to go to the hospital when your water breaks is because there is an increased chance of infection
 
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