When to go to the maternity
Forget the stopwatch.
No need to time your contractions or watch an app. Four signs will tell you when labour has really started, and when it's time to go.
When to go to the maternity
No need to time your contractions or watch an app. Four signs will tell you when labour has really started, and when it's time to go.
You're no longer asking yourself whether this is it. If you're still wondering, it's not it yet. Once you are in active labour, you know it: there's no doubt anymore.
If you still want to eat, you're not in active labour yet. Once labour is really under way, food is the last thing on your mind.
If you can still talk through a contraction, it's not it yet. In active labour, when a contraction comes, you can't do anything else: you focus on it and breathe through it.
Even at 2am, you'll be bouncing on your ball, dancing, moving around. Staying in bed is out of the question.
When all four signs are there, labour has really started. Take your bag, your partner, and go to the maternity calmly. Until then, trust your body, trust yourself: you can wait calmly at home.
The four signs are about what you feel, not numbers.
Birth is run by a very old, automatic part of the brain, the one that also runs your breathing and your heartbeat. Every time the thinking brain takes over, it gets in the way. As Caroline puts it: the more you think, the less you labour.
Picture the start of labour as an old train starting up. At first, contractions are small, short and far apart: this is the latent phase. They can then get stronger, longer and closer together, until they become regular.
In active labour, it's a high-speed train: it goes fast and usually doesn't stop anymore.
Going to the maternity too early can slow things down: the different environment (smells, light, people) can break the momentum and make the train stall. If you then go back home, labour can start again and pick up speed, but going back and forth several times can make it longer than it needs to be.
And this slow start is a good thing: it gives your body time to make endorphins, your own natural painkillers, so you're ready for the stronger contractions.
Free app · iOS & Android
In Hoama, tick the signs as they come, on the day, even without a connection. The app also has breathing, mantras, guided audio stories and a guide for the birth partner. Free, no account, no ads.
