Now I am pregnant with my third and 32 weeks along. At 21 weeks I experienced an evening where I had regular contractions all night but no other symptoms. I had an ultrasound scheduled for the following week and mentioned it to the technician who said that my cervix was not showing any change from my anatomy scan. At 25 weeks I experienced another episode that lasted two and half days with regular contractions, cramping and back pain. I did not call the doctor or seek treatment because I assumed that since I was in "pain" it couldn't be labor. At 30 weeks I experienced another two and a half day episode with the same symptoms but assumed that since we had a yard sale a couple days prior, that my pregnant body was just giving in to the stress and hard work. Then at 31 weeks I had a six day long episode with the same symptoms, just worse. The contractions were initially every 4-5 minutes when I timed them and progressed to every 2.5 minutes before they finally tapered off to being infrequent. During those six days I had every symptom of early labor, but did not call my doctor as I knew I would be told to go to the hospital 45 minutes away. Knowing my past experiences, I decided to wait and see if something more obvious would happen to clue me in and resolved that I would mention these symptoms to my doctor at my 32 week appointment. The doctor was disappointingly unconcerned. In fact, I don't think he really believed me. I am dilated to 1 cm, but that is not unusual at this stage for someone who has given birth before. As a prodromal laborer, I can't imagine having repeated episodes of these symptoms for the next 8-10 weeks. I have no confidence in my ability to really
KNOW when I am in true labor unless my water breaks. With the hospital 45 minutes away, I have a legitimate concern about making it to the hospital in time. Based on my past experiences, it appears that I don't really know I am in labor until 7-8 cm. Given how quick I transitioned with my second birth, delivery at a hospital seems unlikely with a 45 minute drive. I have resigned myself to the fact that with this pregnancy, I may well deliver with my almost 2 year old son and two dogs attending me at home in a worst case scenario. My partner in crime is a school teacher so he can't just rush out of work during the day.
So for now I am reading up on emergency childbirth procedures. Here's a great link:
http://www.pregnantchicken.com/pregnant-chicken-blog/2012/4/17/8-steps-on-how-to-deliver-a-baby-just-in-case.html. At the end is another link to a .pdf file from the American College of Nurse-Midwives which includes a list of items to have handy for just such an event. I also located an emergency OB Kit that can be purchased from Amazon for just over ten dollars.
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