When To Go To The Hospital
Let’s talk about when you’re going to the hospital-
If you’re a scheduled induction or c section, they will tell you when to be there and how to prepare
But if you’re not and you’re just playing the waiting game- make sure you call your OBGYN provider before heading over to the hospital maternity/ birthing center. Your OB will be able to check to see how dilated you are and give you better guidance so you aren’t just at the hospital for hours on end.
So then- WHEN DO YOU CALL? 1- if your water breaks or 2- your contractions are consistently less than 10 minutes apart
So on that note, let’s talk about something that super stressed me out my very first time being pregnant! What is a contraction/ WHAT DOES LABOR FEEL LIKE?! I remember asking my OB doctor and she very nonchalantly replied- “well you’ll know when you have one”
Well fast forward that a couple weeks when I actually went into labor, I did not know! Maybe I’m just a dunce but I really thought my stomach was just cramping, maybe I had eaten something that didn’t sit well with me! It wasn’t until literally HOURS later that I realized, oh this is a contraction.
A contraction basically feels like a serious cramp. You know when you’re getting ready to start your period and your stomach is cramping and it feels like you need to go to the bathroom- multiply that by about 10, that’s a contraction. It hurts, then it stops, and you think oh ok guess that passed, then a little bit later it starts back.
For me, we were one day before being induced so my doctor stripped my membranes. Ok just a heads up THAT HURTS! If your doctor asks if you want your membranes stripped, (for me at least) it worked, it got things moving, but it hurt. You know when you get hit in the nose and you can’t help it but your eyes water- it was kind of like that, as grown woman laying in the doctor’s office and immediately my eyes were watering because I just wasn’t expecting it to hurt so bad when she did that. But anyway, so from that point forward my stomach felt “unsettled.” So I really thought my stomach was kind of cramping as a result of how bad it hurt when she stripped my membranes. Following the appointment, I went back to work, where I was uncomfortable the rest of the day. After work, I went home, again just uncomfortable thinking my stomach was cramping or that maybe my lunch wasn’t sitting well with me. That night, I just couldn’t sleep- I was uncomfortable and my stomach kept cramping. It finally dawned on me around midnight- “what if this is a contraction?!” So I started trying to time the cramps, and wouldn’t you know, they were getting more consistent. I woke my husband up and together we timed and tracked the contractions. By the next morning, they were pretty consistent so I called the doctor, we went into her office, she checked me to see that I had dilated almost four inches, so she sent me to the hospital, where my water broke naturally, and after some much more eventful details, we eventually we got to meet our baby later that day.
Anyway all of that being said- it took me a while to distinguish between a bad cramp/ upset stomach and a contraction. Everyone’s experience is going to be different so the important thing is to pay attention to your body and know the protocols your doctor has in place for when the time comes to meet your precious little gift from God!