First off thank you to all the mothers who have shared their stories. As a FTM I made myself read all the different stories be them natural, induced, c section, easy, or a nightmare to be prepared for anything. This has lots of details for those FTM who are reading now and is divided into sections for an easier read. The only details I’m a bit blurry on is time of events.

Warning! It is long!

5-4 hour labor is an estimated time of active labor so not counting early contractions. Ok here we go!

Late Pregnancy & Early Labor

My due date was Feb 10th, a Sunday and I went over and visited my midwife/nurse the next day. During my pregnancy I’ve had little problems except really bad heartburn the last trimester especially and bad jaw pain on one side the last few weeks.

At my 40w1d appointment (mon) I was measuring average and in position. As she measured my stomach she mentioned that I was having a contraction right then. My whole stomach was hardening and although I knew about Braxton-Hicks I thought it was more of him being in certain positions so it was good to know something was happening.

My goal was to go as natural as I could except the use of laughing gas to help take off the edge. I didn’t even want an iv in because needles freak me out! Since everything seemed healthy we weren’t even looking at an induction date until after my 41 week appointment and I’ve had no sweeps or cervical checks done so I don’t know if I was even dilated yet.

The next day 40w2d I started inserting primrose oil tablets to try help effacing. I had been eating 6 dates everyday since week 36. Besides that I didn’t really try to walk due to weather or anything else to get my body going. If anything I was the opposite, constantly taking naps just in case Id need the sleep later.

On Wendsday 40w3d I started feeling crampy and that night had very mild contractions every 30-20 minutes all night. Just enough that I woke almost every time and was able to time them. This continued throughout all of the next day slowly getting stronger and shorter until about noon it stopped.

It is now Thursday 40w4d afternoon and after about 3 hours of suddenly nothing they started up again, this time very noticeable and ranging every 15-10 minutes. By evening they were 7-3 minutes and to the point where I had to focus on breathing through most of them averaging 45 seconds in length but some lasting almost 2 minutes. Throughout this time I took 3 hot baths and tried eating and drinking while I could. By 10 they were 4-5 minutes apart, about 1 minute long. I wanted to labor at home as much as possible because we live just over half an hour from the hospital and I feared being sent home but, at this point it was an whole body experience and I needed help even if it was just the mental stability of being in a hospital with the jet tub and gas available. We called the midwife and was told to come in at 10. It took what felt like half an hour to get dressed and in the car and then the half hour drive to the hospital.

Continued in comments may need to scroll down to find