Ok ladies, not that i know everything BUT some useful information from a l&d nurse:

1. EVERY hospital and doctor are different! Just because one hospital will keep a mom at 1cm does not mean every hospital or doctor will!

2. Even though contractions are every 2-3 minutes according to your timing, does not mean you will be staying at the hospital. Labor contractions need to DILATE YOUR CERVIX. Labor and delivery floors can not keep every mom that comes in contracting if their cervix is not changing.

3. External contraction monitors (like the one for an NST, also called a TOCO) do NOT measure the intensity of contractions. The only way to tell how intense a contraction is, is to place an internal intensity monitor which is only done if your water is broke. Just because your contractions are picking up like huge mountains on the monitor does not necessarily mean they are strong contractions.

4. Please call your hospital with questions instead of posting on here. If you are worried just call, the nurse or doctor that you talk to are professionally trained.

Just my 2 cents on commonly asked questions and concerns, no hate please 🙂