My previous writings on prodromal labor were strictly theoretical. I have never experienced it, and I had never before attended someone who was in prodromal labor. This past weekend, I did. I have much more to say about it now.
Prodromal labor is a term for early labor that lasts for a long while without progressing into active labor. It is a nightmare. This is the labor pattern that lasts for days, causing the mother to lose sleep, disrupt her appetite, and causes exhaustion. It will probably eventually change into an active labor pattern, but even if this happens, the biggest danger is depletion of emotional and physical resources: the mother may not be able to continue with the labor and may need pain relief or even a cesarean. This is not the kind of labor that any woman wants to experience.
The article I wrote before stands out to me now as something written by a person who has read about a topic and knows nothing of it. It strikes me now as profoundly unhelpful.
When a woman is in prodromal labor, also called arrest of the first stage of labor, one of two options should be considered: should active labor be encouraged, or should attempts be made to slow or stop the contractions?
For either option, there are universal precautions: save your energy (no marathon shopping trips), eat as much as you can (even if it's only smoothies and toast - you will need the energy), and sleep if possible.
To encourage labor to progress, stay upright and walking if you can. Sway your hips - sitting on a birth ball or slow-dancing with your sweetie are great ideas. You may want to consider using nipple stimulation.
If you wish to try to halt the contractions, you need to relax. Sleep as much as you can. Take lots of baths or showers. Get a massage. You may not be able to stop the labor from progressing into active labor, but you will increase your chances of being a little more rested, and it will make a difference.
Prodromal labor can last for days. Its cause can be a complex combination of physical and emotional reasons. To avoid physical causes, do not be induced without a medical indication. Emotional work may be needed. Are you afraid of having your baby? Are you scared of what changes it will bring to your life, especially to your relationship? Are you afraid that your partner might leave you? Are you a single mom without a partner? It is time to work through these fears. It may help your labor to do so.
Sometimes new mothers will focus too much on early labor. This is not necessarily the same thing as real prodromal labor, which takes longer than usual to progress - though the same principle applies: the excitement of steady contractions can cause women to become exhausted, if they are focusing on the contractions and spending too much energy when labor is easy. If the contractions are not stopping you in your tracks or preventing you from speaking, you're very likely in early, early labor, and need to conserve your energy. Do not spend too much effort on these contractions.
If you gained nothing else from reading this, I hope that the main point that stands out is this: if you are in prodromal labor, you need to rest.
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23 comments:
Nah, we often "teach" things we haven't experienced. We still must give the information. Great post (again!)
Hh
I have a friend who is a week past her due date and just scheduled to be induced thursday night. She said it was because she didnt want to risk complications. I had never heard of many complications for going late (my mom had her last baby 3 weeks past due - oh and breech - and I dont remember her ever mentioning complications) so I searched and your site came up (the one about being over due). I ended up reading alot of it and thank you. I dont think it will make any difference for my friend, but it sure reassured me that I'm not crazy thinking inductions are a bad idea unless really trully nessasary.
This was a great post, and I hope for your sake you are never able to write about this with first hand experience. I was in labor with my son for two days...it was miserable. It was probably that I was a first time mom focusing too much on the early labor, as you described. I noticed regular contractions at 1:00am in the morning and was so excited (and uncomfortable) I couldn't fall back a sleep. By the time my son was finally born I was beyond exhausted. I had a undedicated home birth, and by the second day I was out of my mind. Interestingly, when my water finally broke (right before I started to push) it was as though a spell was broken and I came back to my body with TONS of energy. Anyway, if you are interested you can read my birth story here:
http://smoochy4life.blogspot.com/2006/07/sonnys-birth-story.html
Are you coming back?
Hh
I wish I knew WHY I was going through prodromal labor as I type this, but I didn't know why with my first baby and I don't know why with this one 13 months later.
I have had sleep-interrupting contractions probably 10 or 12 nights of the last 21... I've lost track. My due date was 7 days ago. Everytime I think it's the real deal, I get up to walk around and they stop. My MW tells me that I'm 2 cm and 75% effaced.
With my son, I had contractions every 7 minutes (a few hours with none) for 2 1/2 days before he was born. I thought I was going crazy... this time I KNOW I am.
Thankfully, I had an unmedicated birth and only 8 hrs of active labor and 45 minutes of pushing with my son. I hope to repeat that performance any day now with this one. I have told myself each time the contractions start: "Go back to sleep. You'll wake up when it's real." I would tell every mom-to-be the exact same thing! Your body WILL let you know when it's time... it is UNMISTAKABLE.
When I go in today for my regular appointment, I will allow them to strip my membranes if I'm effaced. If not, I'll just head home, enjoy another glass of wine or a cold beer, and cry myself to sleep.
For some reason your post came up at the top of google results for "prodromal labor". It's such an old post, too!
Anyway. I had prodromal labor (as distinct from extended latent labor, which I've also had) with my fourth child. For me it was only three days before the actual birth, I know that for women for whom it goes on and on it can be exhausting and demoralizing. But for me it was not anything remotely like a nightmare. Although it was tiring to be laboring through the night, I simply then slept through the day when I wasn't having contractions. I took that time during those three days to slow down, connect with my husband and a deeply primal birth consciousness. To me it felt like a normal building toward labor; I do not believe there was anything physically or emotionally dysfunctional about it.
I suspect that women generally are upset by prodromal labor because they've been led to believe that it isn't normal, and that labor should happen in a matter of hours and be over. But every body is different, and normal doesn't have to mean "textbook" or "average".
If women were encouraged to consider it just another phase of pregnancy and birth that some women experience and a time to get in deep with the process and just be with their bodies and spirituality, I think there would be a lot less suffering in these times.
Very wise words, Linda. Thank you so much! What a lovely perspective.
Thank you for posting this on prodromal labor. I am on baby #3 and experienced it with #2 and am in the middle of it RIGHT NOW with this one. Very frustrating indeed. People tell you it is false labor or just braxton hicks, but they are wrong.
My sleep has been interrupted almost every night for 2 weeks now. I will get regular contractions over a 6-8 hour period that are regular at 3 mins apart lasting 45 seconds to a minute and they are uncomfortable - wrapping around my back and down my legs...and then? They die out.
Repeat this process about 6-7 times and you have a very frustrated and drained 3rd time momma.
With my 2nd I was 4 cms and finally at the hospital and labor began to stall AGAIN. So they broke my water and she was born in an hour....
Again, thanks for posting this topic, it is frustrating and often misunderstood.
I have never heard of prodromal labor until after I went through it with my first. My first contractions were late on a Tuesday and my son wasn't born til late on the following Monday! Six days of shear agony, emotional and physical exhaustion. The contractions came consistently starting at 20-30 min and getting down to 6-10 min 24/7. I could not sleep except a little dozing between contractions. I couldn't lay in bed - I had to sit on the couch or chair to try to sleep. I did all sorts of moving around, using a ball, etc to get things going. When I went in to get checked, I was still only a fingertip and got sent home. OMG that was the worst feeling.
They finally admitted me on Monday morning and I was only 2-3. They used Pitocin to really get things moving. I swear, I probably wouldn't have delivered that day either if not for pitocin.
I am 10 weeks now with my 2nd and am praying I do not have to suffer that again. Pure misery.
Prodromal labor is HELL!
It is NOT just Braxton, it is not just back pain, it is not just being impatient. And for God's sake people - don't call it "false labour" It is the REAL thing with the different that it DOES NOT progress!
It is exhausting and emotionally draining. Think Chinese torture.
Nobody understands what you are going through and think you are just making it up.
I am on my 5th day of regular serious contractions, extreme back pain and pelvic pressure - and no sign of baby.
All I want to do is to cry my eyes out. It is sheer agony!
I would not wish this to my worst enemy!
I think the advice we so often hear about prodromal labor -- that you need to rest -- is about as correct and as practical as telling a new mother that she should sleep when her baby sleeps and shower every day. Yes, it WOULD help, but it's completely impractical to do.
Sleeping between contractions is not real rest, though every bit helps.
I wish I had something more helpful to offer all you who are experiencing prodromal labor. Please, hang in there! Drink some smoothies to keep your energy up as much as you can and try to go with the flow of your labor.
Read Linda's great comment above and try, try, try to be positive about your experience.
My husband and I have been waiting for our first baby, a little girl named Lorelei, to make her entrance into the world. As soon as I hit 37 weeks, I started having contractions as regular as 7 minutes apart - but like most others have said, they die out after long enough to take my energy with them. My husband is so excited, because he wants his little girl to be here finally.
These posts have helped me to feel like everything that's happening is normal, and that there is nothing wrong with being excited and wanting to help my body along when I can.
Thank you so much for this post!! I have been having contractions for a little over TWO WEEKS now...never get any closer or any stronger, and for the past few days have been stuck at about 30-45 seconds long and 25-30 minutes apart.
I've felt so frustrated because every time I think it's time....it isn't. I get myself ready emotionally and physically, and it isn't time. I'm to the point I've given up even trying to figure out if it's real or not, and I don't even mention the contractions to my significant other anymore. I've given up, and when I know my s.o. or my daughter aren't looking or around, I've cried about it, I'll admit it. I took a hot shower, almost as hot as I could stand, and kept it on my lower back to help the pain, and I cried my eyes out.
I'm so scared that by the time I do progress, I'll be too emotionally worn out to care. It's hard pretending everything's okay when I just want to call my doc and beg to be drugged up and shot full of Pitocin.
~Bellalunarena~
I found this article over a year-and-a-half ago while researching prodromal labor after my second child was born (both labors were prodromal). I am now currently 36 weeks, 2 days with my 3rd and once again have had bouts of strong, long and close (anywhere from 2-15 min apart) contractions for hours at a time for months.
Like Linda, I have learned to make the experience work for me. I have accepted that (at least so far), this is how my body gears up to have a baby (like an old car on a frosty morning--revving up a lot before actually getting going for good).
Like other commenters, I, too, didn't know about prodromal labor until after I experienced it myself. I was so frustrated with the lack of information on "legitimate" (medical/pregnancy) websites regarding the subject. I kept VERY detailed track of my last birth experience, both for my own assurance that I was not crazy (the other commenters are right: people don't believe you--it's pretty frustrating.) and for anyone who experienced something similar and felt unbelieved, too. I have posted both prodromal birth stories here: http://nmfrogblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/time-spacing-duration-behavior-or.html
and here: http://nmfrogblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/rubys-birth-story-three-years-late.html
Chinese water torture is a good description--what is hard is not that the pain is so unbearable, it is that it lasts so long and reality gets blurry, making you question your own sanity.
There is a lack of accessible and helpful information out there re: prodromal labor. Thank you for posting this so I could find it. It has helped me in my search for answers and affirmation of my experiences. Just knowing that others have also experienced it and that it does exist has been very encouraging. God bless you.
-Sarah
Thanks eveyone for your experiences - I am happy to see that this has happened to other expectant monthers - I am currently 36 weeks with my 3rd child and never experienced anything like this with my first two. My "false labour" which certainly doenst feel false last for 3 hrs at a time. This has been happening for about a month now, every 3-4 four days. I dont want to have a premature baby - my second was - so I am definetly not frustrated - just slightly confused. But I am feeling very positive about it now after reading your stories.
My labor with my second daughter was unusual. I have always called it prodromal labor because of the length and how slow I was to progress. However, my contractions were 5 minutes apart right off the bat and painful enough to take my breath away. There was NO WAY I could sleep through them (believe me, I tried) and I lost two full nights of sleep before I eventually gave in to Pitocin and an epidural. I was simply too exhausted to keep going without any augmentation. I really felt like I was about to pass out. Was my labor truly prodromal even though the contractions were 5 minutes apart from the get-go and never let up? Despite the regular, closely-spaced contractions, I simply was not dilating and I couldn't imagine going on any longer like that. Right before I finally got the Pitocin and epidural, I was having piggyback contractions with no break between them, but I was nowhere near transition.
Angela
Angela,
Yes, it sounds like you experienced prodromal labor! Prodromal labor is defined as extended labor without cervical progress. I don't know why it happens, and I suppose there are a lot of factors that can contribute to a cervix refusing to dilate with steady contractions. Getting an epidural sounds like the right decision, at the very least so you can get some much-needed rest.
Like Linda, above, I had prodromal contractions for two nights before going into active labor on the third night. For me, this was a fantastic way to go into labor for a first time mom. I wouldn't have had it any other way. On the third night I started having what I thought were prodromal contractions at 7 PM (like clockwork), recognized by 9 PM this was actual labor, was 7 cm when checked at 11 PM. And had my baby at 2 AM. As I understand it, prodromals do a fair amount of work ahead of time so that your actual labor is shorter. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to learn what a contraction feels like and talk about it with my doula, so when the real deal came, I was ready. I could see how this would be very frustrating if it went on for several weeks, but I believe most who have prodromal contractions deliver within a matter of days. For me, it was the best possible labor I could have dreamed for!
Well, I'm 39 and a half weeks pregnant and been doing the whole prodromal thing for a week now. Contractions have been 15 min apart at times though mostly much closer together, getting down to 2 mins sometimes. We have been ready to go to the hospital several times but right about the time we decide we shouldn't wait anymore things will start spacing out again. Contractions have gotten stronger over time as well and can be pretty painful, but honestly I am just glad the intensity is increasing over the week, because that's got to be some sign of progress. I hope. I think in the whole week I have only had a few hours without contractions (or at least I am saying "without" because they spaced out to half an hour or so and were quite mild). Unlike others, I am sleeping, but I think it is just exhaustion, and that I have always been pretty good at sleeping through anything. I am up a lot at night but take lots of naps, and it definitely helps. The worst part is really the emotional aspect-- for me and my family. We are all very excited about the birth and we have had so many false starts. It really is a roller coaster. You get all excited and then there is the let down of "nope, this isn't it" over and over again. I think it is hardest on my husband because he is the one who is on "red alert" to look after me, and he feels like he can't do anything else until this baby is born. After most of the week off he finally gave in and went back to work today because he didn't want to use up all of his paternity leave before the baby is born. But I know he is sitting on the edge of his seat all day while he is at work, wondering if he is going to have to rush home at any minute. And I think he has had far less sleep than me in the past week. My 10 yr old daughter is pretty wiped out with the waiting too. It def affects the whole family. We're all "prodromaling" here. What fun. That being said, better this than being induced. I was induced w/ pitocin with my daughter and you couldn't pay me enough to go through that again. If this is what my body needs to do, then so be it. (Just hope it gets the show on the road soon!)
I experienced prodromal labor for 3 days leading up to the birth of my daughter. I went into labor around noon on a Friday. The contractions got to be uncomfortable enough to disrupt my sleep by that night. We went to the hospital on Saturday night, only to be sent home and told by a nurse that when I was in "real labor" I'd know it. Believe me, anyone who has experienced painful prodromal labor can tell you that it is very much like "real labor". My poor husband laid next to me in bed for THREE nights while I moaned and groaned. Around 8 o'clock on Monday morning, my husband literally dragged me back to the hospital and as it turned out I was 4 cm dialated. There was really no difference in the amount of pain, but my husband noticed a change in my general behavior. I had the baby 3 hours later. Prodromal labor is no joke...I feel for anyone who has experienced this, especially when medical staff treat you as if you're whining about nothing.
Wow! I never heard of prodomal labor before - My husband just found some info and sent it to me, and praise God that he did... Now I don't feel like so much of a freak!
Pretty sure I did his prodomal labor that with both my first two kids, and am doing it again right now with my 3rd. Right now, I'm dilated to 2, and all the way soft, effaced, all that stuff. Had regularly irregular contractions two days ago. Contractions 15 min apart yesterday. All day today, they are irregular again, but do not go away for sure. I would say the worst part is the emotional toll!
Second child gave me 24+ hours of regular labor with Zilcho progress. I was going in for the induction - they put in the cervadil, and daughter was born 2 hours later. Went from "just over 1" to delivery!! Doctor did NOT make it.
I guess it will be hard to know if I'm in active labor or not... L&D always sends you away unless your contractions are regular, and mine disappear all the time. Scheduled induction in 3 days. Hope this kicks in the "real labor." My guess is that baby will be born in an hour or two after active labor finally happens. I'm cool with that. Just not so cool with not knowing when active labor has started.
I went into early labor last Saturday (Aug27) being at 35wks. within a couple of hours I had dilated 2 cm and the doctor said the cervix had thinned out to 2cm when it was supposed to be 3cm at that week. We were able to stop the contractions with some pills and lots of rest. I had a checkup today and the doc was surprised that the baby had not been born yet.
I have been having what I think are BH contractions since, they are not regular but I feel like in the course of a week and a half they have gotten a little bit stronger. It is very tiring to have contractions all day, and I am just wondering if this will be going on for weeks on end, or if this is prodromal labor and maybe we'll be in labor within a week? I had not even heard of Prodromal labor until today, if someone has any advice on this situation I;d be happy to hear it.
I couldn't agree with you anymore I am only 35weeks and 5 days and having been suffering from this for almost 2 full weeks! I am dilated to a one and I'm getting no sleep! I'm still trying to work and I just don't know how much I can take! I do not one my child to come this early but I am not sure how much more I can take of this! Its horrible! And exhausting!
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