False Labour

Last Friday afternoon, I was getting some of my regular Braxton Hicks and some were even starting to hurt more than usual, so I was getting my hopes up a little bit. By 10:50pm though, everything had stopped and I was quite annoyed and frustrated, so went straight to bed while Chris stayed downstairs to do some work. To be honest, I was really fed up and my mind was going round and around in circles, as I was so sure my baby was going to be earlier than this, so I just couldn't get to sleep. 

By 12:00am, Chris came up to bed and I started to get a solid stomach cramp, similar to when you have food poisoning, which is just how my labour started with Jackson. An hour later and the pain wasn't going away, so I decided to have a bath to relax myself. After the bath, I started to get regular contractions and they started at just over 10 minutes apart. I rang the labour ward for advice because throughout all of my appointments, I never thought to ask if it mattered that I was going for a VBAC, as to when I should come in. The midwife told me to come in when they were under 5 mins apart and lasting for about a minute each. 

Surely enough, an hour later they were coming on 4 minutes apart and lasting a minute or longer. I remember turning to Chris and saying 'this is it isn't it?' to which he laughed and said, 'of course it is!', so my Mum was called and over she came very quickly. 

By 5:20am, we were at the hospital, after a very uncomfortable car journey. I was monitored and checked and firstly they told me that this baby was back to back and then, when I was checked internally, they also said that the baby was looking up (this is just the same as with Jackson and the main reason that my labour was so long with him, ending in a C-Section). I was also told I was only 3cm dilated. A while after that, my contractions slowed right down and it is safe to say I was incredibly disappointed.

Still, they moved us to the Labour Ward and recommended that I went for a walk to try and get things moving again. Therefore, off we went walking around and around, breaking for the occasional contraction. I was checked again 4 hours later and had only moved to 4cm, so they recommended that we went for lunch. Of course, I wanted to do everything that they told me too so off we went again. On the way, I had a few contractions but after lunch they completely stopped which, again, was so disappointing. 

As things weren't progressing very well, I was moved to the ward upstairs in order to see if we could wait and get anything to develop, whilst they could still monitor me. I managed to get a sleep in, as I hadn't slept at all since the Thursday night. After the sleep, we thought we would give walking another go by walking round and around the hospital. The contractions started back up again and were between 5 - 7 minutes apart, which got our hopes up but after a couple of hours, they slowed right down again. By this point it was 8pm and the midwife recommended trying to get some more sleep as this could be the reason why my body wont go into active labour. 

By 4am the next morning, I had woken up and just wanted to go home. Everything had completely stopped and I was tired, hungry and missed Jackson like mad. I asked the midwife on duty and she checked with a doctor, who eventually came up and said that I could go home. This all took nearly 2 hours, so after a total of 26 hours in hospital, we were heading home, without a baby. 

Most people's 2nd labours are supposed to be easier and quicker but for me, it seems to be quite the opposite. It's so frustrating and disappointing, not only for me but also for Chris as he got so excited to meet our new son/daughter. 

Fingers crossed it will all happen soon and we will be meeting our new baby very quickly!

Love Sophia xxx