stalled labor, need to get things going...?

Question

Last night i went into labor at 1130. by 1am they were regular, 2 minutes apart and starting to get painful. went to the hospital, they checked me at 130 my cervix was closed, hard, and high up. at 3 (cxn's still 2min apart and hurting more) they checked again and i was 2cm thinning and my cervix had moved down more. so things were progressing well. then at 7am they checked again and i was still 2cm, cxn's were getting verry painful, to the point where i needed to sit down during them and couldn't sleep because they woke me up. they discharged me to do this early/latent phase at home. since then my contractions have slowed and decreased in pain.

this same thing happened with my first pregnancy. i was stuck at 2cm having dysfunctional labor for 2 1/2 days. i don't want to do that all over again.
it's been almost 20hrs, my labor has stalled and i need to find a way to get things going again. any suggestions? please, no "it will happen when the bb's ready" comments. thankyou

Answer 1

Did they assess fetal position? Sometimes a posterior baby or other misalignment causes a prolonged "pre-labour" (or whatever one wishes to call it).

There are simple things that can be done to encourage the baby to turn (positioning, light pressure, etc). There is a hypothesis that posterior babies are caused by poor posture or poor muscle tone in the mother. As such it is likely to be repeated. Chiropractic care is also highly effective at getting babies into optimal positions if you can get in tomorrow, however the studies I have seen are based on more than one treatment before labour, I am not sure how helpful it would be at this point.

There are some exercise recommendations below. Obviously don't try anything that seems risky to you, but after discussing some problems I had last time with my midwife apparently it is *supposed to* feel "wrong" while the baby turns? I actually think the sitting backwards on the toilet is what worked for me, but its hard to tell.

http://www.motherspirit.net/articles/pregnancy/preventpost.htm

http://mother-care.ca/pos_pain.htm

http://www.homebirth.org.uk/ofp.htm

http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/postrppr.html

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/labourandbirth/planningyourbabysbirth/babyinpositionforbirth/

If you have a birth/yoga ball:
http://www.canadiandoulas.com/birth_balls.htm

Answer 2

I was in early labor with very painful and erratic contractions for over 3 days when I was pregnant with my daughter. They sent me home from the hospital twice! After the second time my ob said the best thing I could do would be to go home, have a small glass of wine and take a bath to relax and try to get some sleep. She was right, I went into active labor that night and had her the next morning.

Your body is very tense right now and I know it is hard to relax, but it is very crucial that you do. Try to take a nap or something and just let your body do it's thing. You are going to need all of your energy to bring that precious baby into the world!

Good Luck!

Answer 3

As hard as it might be you should Walk, Walk, Walk and walk some more!

I had the same thing happen to me I was in "Latent Labor" for 6 weeks!! Until I had enough and I was far enough along I went to the hospital and refused to leave so they sent me to walk up and down the hall ways of the hospital... like in the movies!

It worked after two hours of walking which was not easy for me at 9 months pregnant and having been on Bed Rest for 8 weeks but it did work!!

Best of luck & Congratulations!! Be sure to post and let us know how it turns out!!

Answer 4

I was a week late with my daughter and nothing was working. I wasn't dilated or effaced or anything. I had tried everything and had given up. Then my boyfriend found this thing that said , Eat Pineapple. I laughed it off but it gave me a huge craving for pineapple, I ate some and 4 hours later I was in labor. Could be coincidence but I think it was the pineapple.

Answer 5

Since the first 2 answers address the physical aspects, I will give you a mental / emotional aspect to consider trying. Relax. Breathe slowly, evenly and fairly deeply...now, in your mind affirm that you relax, release and let go.

Also, see about having a nice, long massage - one of the biggest problems with birth is that the mom gets all tense and stalls the process. Common cause is "fear."

Good luck! and congratulations.

Answer 6

Walk a lot and have sex! Sorry both might not sound unappealing but they do work. My husband made me go into labor with the first baby.....and with the second baby I was 1cm dilated and they told me to walk for 45 min. I jumped from 2 to 8 cm dilated!

Answer 7

Acupuncture!! In all the books I read and the few ladies I knew that tried it, they said that the same day they had acupuncture done (in the morning for the women I knew), they were in labor by that night!! And their labors went relatively fast! You'll have to search for someone who is specifically trained in inducing, but that shouldn't be hard! Have a fun labor!

Answer 8

i have been told try to stand and walk as much as possible go for a slow walk around the block maybe but i was told by a midwife the more you stand and walk the more pressur it will put on your cervix so it will dialate quicker good luck hope all goes well for you

Answer 9

Walking is very good to help get things going again, also bouncing on a body ball(birthing ball) might help you as well. Try and relax and take some nice walks and lets hope it starts those contractions again. If not, maybe talk to your doctor about induction, that might help with the drip.

Answer 10

They don't have you hooked up to oxytocin? Well, that's choice #1. They could give you a shot of stadol, and you might could get an hour of rest #2. #3 is have they broken the membrane? Don't tell me they can't do it yet, because they did it on me at 2 cm. Choice #4 is a c-section. Mention it to your dr. and you can have that baby in your arms in less than an hour.

My story that you can ignore if you'd like: I've had 2 c-sections, and though there was some pain, and it took probably 6 weeks to heal completely, it was the best choice in each birth. I never got further than 5 cm dilated, and my first baby's head was 15 cm. I just didn't have the hip space for two bouncing babies to make their entrance that way. C-sections are cool.