How many times...

So, if you are pregnant now, how many times have you been into the hospital with a false alarm and sent home? If you have already had the babies, how many times DID you go in and get sent home with false alarms before the real deal? Just curious!

 

I went in 3xs but not b/c of false labor: Once with cervical shortening they sent me to the hospital for the 2nd round of steroids (it was a Saturday and you have to do them 24 hours apart); Once really early b/c of bleeding (surprise- it's twins!) and a third time b/c my blood pressure was weird, I had a headache and swelling. I was fine. The last time I went in, my water had broken in the tub, (and at least 4cm dilated) so then I had the babies.

Are you feeling like you need to be checked out?

 

I constantly feel like I need to be checked out, but I am 37 weeks and have a bicornuate uterus so I keep thinking I will be in labor and won't realize it because the pain from my contractions is quite dull sometimes. And I suck at timing them because I am too absent minded to pick something up and write the time down! But I am always afraid to say "we should go to the hospital" because if I come home with no results I feel like I am turning into the boy who cried wolf, and then nobody will believe me when it's really happening. haha. And I've been in twice already for contractions. Once when I was in my 2nd trimester, because I wasn't sure what contractions were supposed to feel like and I was having BH but wasn't sure if that's what they were or not. The second time was last Thursday because for a couple of hours I was having between 7 or 8 per hour, but by them time I got to the hospital and hooked up and laid there monitored they spaced out and only happened a few times while I was there.

 

I was 38 weeks with my little boy and had bloody discharge along with some contractions off & on all night and into the next day. Called my OB (it was saturday) they said go to the hospital to get checked but it was more because I had bloody show and not because of the contractions. I was positive it was nothing and I would be sent home - they checked me and I was 3cm & contractions were still just sporadic so they said theyd check me in an hour and if I made any change they would keep me but if not then I go home so an hour later they checked & I was 4 cm ! my contractions were still pretty minor and not in any pattern. I was shocked! Then my water broke and all hell broke loose ;-)

with the twins I made it to my scheduled C sec

 

from 17 weeks until I delivered at 35 weeks I was in triage at the hospital every week it seemed like. Around 30 weeks they said I would be on bed rest in the hospital until delivery but then got sent home only to return a week later for a 2 weeks stay on hospital bedrest.

 

i was in twice - once at 27 weeks after a routine u/s showed my cervix had shortened & baby B's amniotic fluid had increased quite a bit, but after an afternoon & evening of monitoring babies & contractions + a round of steroids for the girls' lungs, i was sent home. i didn't go in again until 34 weeks - at my OB appointment that afternoon they said i was about 3 cm dilated. i'd had some mucousy discharge throughout the week. that evening i had a few contractions that felt crampy, rather than just tight. and then it started happening about every 5 minutes (i was told to go in if i had more than 6 in an hour that didn't go away after drinking lots of water, emptying my bladder & resting for an hour), so i went in. my girls were born the next morning.

are you concerned about not making it to the hospital in time? or just curious about signs & symptoms of labor? most women are in labor for a while before they realize it and it's fine. many women also go to the hospital very early & have to hang out for a looooong time with not much going on. unless your doctor has said otherwise, i would say wait until you are 100% sure before going in. when you get to the point where you can't ignore your contractions any more, where you can't continue to walk & talk through the peak of them & have to stop & pause to get through them, then you're getting close to active labor. one tip i read was to use the 4-1-1 rule: when your contractions are 4 minutes or less apart, last 1 minute or more for 1 hour, then it's a good time to go in as you're almost certainly in active labor (usually defined as being 4 cm or more dilated). again, only if your doc hasn't given you other instructions.

 

I went in 3 times from 29 weeks to 30 1/2 weeks with real contractions. Given shot to stop them and sent home. I was put on bedrest and meds. Then I went in at 35 weeks and again sent home after a shot. Then at 36 weeks went in and water broke, so I had the babies. IT is not bad to go in. But if you are far enough along to deliver, don't go until you are sure, then you won't have to wait so long and it is better to walk around and move.

 

Never. The nurses all said that it was really unusual that I hadn't been in before when we showed up for the scheduled c-section. Then again, they also said it was unusual how calm we were when we showed up ("we're here to have a couple babies") LOL

 

One time around 34-35wks. I thought I was having contractions, but they were very minor and my cervix was still long and closed so they sent me home. I made it to my C Section at 37wks 1day but was contracting every five minutes when they hooked me up and I didnt even know it. I just was looking at the monitor and was like...wow...I dont even feel these!! The nurse said I would have had them within a day or so even if I hadn't been scheduled! ssshhhwwweeewwww...I was scared to go into "labor"!!

 

I'm with Silly Putty - never went in prior to my scheduled c at 38+5. We had lots of comments about our calmness as well. Then again, these babies were #3 and #4 for us and it was my third scheduled c.