# breaks between contractions?



## ColinsMommy (Nov 3, 2005)

This is something that has been on my mind a lot since preparing for my second birth.

I had DS at a freestanding birth center. They allow births up until 42 weeks--after that you have to transfer to hospital (I guess I could have stayed at home and UC'ed, but I really wasn't up for that with my first birth). At 41 weeks I was only a "finger-tip" dilated and I consented to having my membranes swept. I lost my mucous plug but didn't bring on labor. I think I tried every natural induction method that week and never felt so much as a contraction. I even drank that nasty castor oil and it didn't even give me diarrhea!

So, closing in on 42 weeks and scared of losing my wonderful birth center birth, I agree to use cytotec, the only real induction they do there. I read all the horror stories about it, but ended up choosing that because I was more worried about a hospital birth. They gave me one dose in the morning, no contractions, and then another one in the afternoon, still no contractions. I went home ready to go back the next day for more.

At 12:30 that night I woke up with contractions 3 minutes apart but manageable. My midwife had warned me that cytotec births can be really fast, so I went to the birth center around 3:30 am. I handled labor well until my water broke around 6 am, I was about 5 cm dilated at that time.

After my water broke, there was no break between contractions. As soon as one contraction would just barely start to let up, the next one would hit with no break. DS was born at 10:51 am, so I had nearly 5 hours of solid contractions. To say I didn't handle it well would be an understatement.

It made me mad because I remember reading in my Bradley book something along the lines of nature being kind and always giving you a break after the hard work of a contraction. Apparently I was REALLY counting on those breaks. It was also really frustrating that the midwives would keep saying things like, "OK, after this contraction let's go use the restroom" or "after this contraction, let's try changing positions." There was no "after" the contraction!! By the time I was pushing I couldn't even tell where one contraction stopped and the next started. I remember thinking that if I had been in the hospital on a monitor that they would have called my uterus hyperstimulated.

Looking back, I have no idea if this was just a normal labor or if it was so intense because of the cytotec. I really REALLY hope it was just the cytotec and I don't have to go through that again. I'm terrified of having another labor like that. In birth stories sometimes women mention contractions being right on top of each other, but it seems like that's usually during transition, not with 5 hours to go.

If you've given birth, did you get breaks between contractions? (Sorry this turned out to be so long!)


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## crazy_eights (Nov 22, 2001)

I vote for hyperstimulated from the cytotec.


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## mamato3cherubs (Nov 30, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mom2seven* 
I vote for hyperstimulated from the cytotec.

I agree it probably was the cytotec. But really there is no way to know for sure. Some births transition lasts 10 minutes, some it is 5 hours. you cant tell what will happen. Every birth is different. And this does occationally happen. Usually with REALLY fast labors though. As in 5 hours or less start to finish.

You will likely have quite a different experience this time. Very rarely is a second birth comparable to a first. You will not likely go though as many hours of labor either.
Try to relax, and not worry. It wont help with anything other than keeping baby in. Sorry if that sounds blunt, but it is true









Best wishes to you!


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## kerikadi (Nov 22, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ColinsMommy* 
It made me mad because I remember reading in my Bradley book something along the lines of nature being kind and always giving you a break after the hard work of a contraction.

Yes, if you let nature take it's course but not if you use medical induction.

I agree with the PPs that it was the cytotec and I am personally shocked that a free standing birth center would use such a violent tool for induction.

Keri


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## notjustmamie (Mar 7, 2007)

I've got the same concerns about #2 (we are currently TTC). I had Pitocin augmentation with #1 and had 3 hours of transition-like contractions with no breaks between them.

In an effort to stay positive, I suggest that your experience with #1 was medically induced and #2 will probably be much easier if you only have to deal with natural contractions.

For myself, I also keep saying that I managed it once (hated it, but managed it), so if I had to, I could do it again. FWIW.

Blessings on a fantastic birth this time around!

Amy


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## georgia (Jan 12, 2003)

My first birth was a Pitocin-birth, and it was from hell. No breaks. Torture. I literally thought I was going to die, and wishing I just would







It took me over a year to even remotely consider the idea of contemplating another child, b/c I was terrified of having to relive a birth like that. I've since learned that a large number of births in the US include even _more_ interventions and drugs than even I had. And this, to me, is a travesty because birth is not supposed to be horrible! It can be wonderful









My next two, home waterbirths, I had the natural breaks, and I finally *completely* understood why messing with birth is _never_ a good idea.

(barring true medical emergencies, of course)

ITA there is never a way to really know how things might have been different, but when pharmaceuticals and the other common interventions are involved (the term 'cascade of interventions' comes to mind), there is a definite, easily identifiable pattern, IMO. So, I definitely vote for overstim.









This Mothering article about Ecstatic Birth is wonderful


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## ColinsMommy (Nov 3, 2005)

Thank you all SO much for your replies. It makes me feel so much better. I was hoping my experience wasn't a typical natural birth, but I had to wonder if I was just a wuss, yk?


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## crazy_eights (Nov 22, 2001)

Someone I know had an induced labor with her first and opted for no pain relief. With her second, she wound up delivering in her bathroom b/c "she was waiting for the really hard contractions" to go to the hospital. *I* thought it was funny, but she most definately did NOT.


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## cheeseRjedi (Jun 5, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ColinsMommy* 
It was also really frustrating that the midwives would keep saying things like, "OK, after this contraction let's go use the restroom" or "after this contraction, let's try changing positions." There was no "after" the contraction!! By the time I was pushing I couldn't even tell where one contraction stopped and the next started.











I was lucky and did have breaks in between contractions. But when I got a break, I was so tired that I would nod off for a second (and hallucinate








) and the next contraction would wake me up. It took me almost an hour to get off the birthing stool b/c I just wanted to rest for a second anfd then BAM, the next contraction started.


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## stacey2061 (Feb 1, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mom2seven* 
Someone I know had an induced labor with her first and opted for no pain relief. With her second, she wound up delivering in her bathroom b/c "she was waiting for the really hard contractions" to go to the hospital. *I* thought it was funny, but she most definately did NOT.


haha...part of me wonders if that will happen to me too!


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## georgia (Jan 12, 2003)

Yeah, during the birth of our second child, dh couldn't believe he was born when he was b/c dh was waiting for me to scream in pain like I did w/the pitocin. He said a few days later, "Wow, that was so much easier!" At the time, I was







: But he was right. It was SO much more manageable, if that makes sense. I could handle what my body was doing; rather than it being done 'to me.'


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## Romana (Mar 3, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mom2seven* 
I vote for hyperstimulated from the cytotec.

I agree.

Julia
dd 1 year old


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## Cheshire (Dec 14, 2004)

I gave birth at 40 weeks 5 days. I had a hospital birth but was not induced.

By the time I went to the hospital at 4:00 pm I was 4cm. They hooked me up to a monitor to check me out and my contractions never ended. You could see how one would top out at 100% and then never drop back below 50%. I had one continous pain, no breaks.

I too had prepared for Bradley and I kept waiting for a break to be able and gather myself back up. By 9:00 that night I was at 5cm, had tried so many different things to help relieve the pain (moving, rocking, soaking in a tub) nothing helped and I developed a migraine to top it all off (after my midwife had said she never had a mom get a migraine during labor).

So, I told dh and midwife I could do labor or I could do a migraine but I could not do both. I had an epi. Within a couple of hours I was ready to deliver. My epi had worn off and I wouldn't let them give me more because I wanted to be able to feel to push.

My contractions never changed and I was able to push my 10lb 11oz baby out in 45 minutes.

I did not receive any kind of labor drugs (pitocin, etc.) during the labor or birth (besides the epi). After I gave birth I lost quite a bit of blood and the midwife and I talked it over and I agreed to the pit then. I don't remember having much pain from cramping after.

It all seems like it happened so quickly but I labored for 19 hours. I, too, wonder what will happen if we decide to have another baby. It was a great birth in spite of the fact that two of the things dreaded happening actually happened (the migraine and accepting an epi).

I put my vote in the middle. It could have been the cytotec or it could have just been the way your body labored that birth?


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## mykidsrock (Jun 21, 2005)

Well my first three were all inductions with pit, and yes...there were NO breaks between contractions. Same thing, as soon as one was coming down, another was starting up...JUST TERRIBLE!! My last baby was all natural, no induction, nada. Yes the labor hurt, BUT I totally got minutes in between where I could doze off, and they came on more gradually than my pitocin contractions.


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## cottonwood (Nov 20, 2001)

There's no "could have" about the cytotec. That's what cytotec is notorious for. Now, that doesn't mean that you wouldn't have had continual contracting without the cytotec, but logically the cytotec on top of what you would already experience naturally is only going to make it that much worse.

To answer your question, I've had four natural births and had breaks between the contractions with all of them, as well as one hour-long break an hour before the birth. The contractions were incredibly intense and painful though, and I really can't imagine having done it on pitocin or cytotec -- I would have opted for the epidural too.


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## Funny Face (Dec 7, 2006)

Sorry to be the one who has the unreasurring response, but I labored naturally throughout most of my labor (first baby) and had very short breaks between contractions until my water broke 30 hours into labor at which point there were NO breaks in contractions, believe me, I understand your pain, I thought I was going to suffocate as I couldn't catch my breath! I don't know how long that would have lasted as we then headed to the hospital and I got my epidural 3 hours later and delivered dd 3 hours after that.

I will say that my mw said that my second labor was likely to go much differently as my cervix will have given birth once and can efface and dilate at the same time.

Just my experience!


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## crazy_eights (Nov 22, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Cheshire* 
By the time I went to the hospital at 4:00 pm I was 4cm. They hooked me up to a monitor to check me out and my contractions never ended. You could see how one would top out at 100% and then never drop back below 50%. I had one continous pain, no breaks.

Just checking in with a technical point here - unless you had an internal monitor, where the contraction "tops out" and where it drops back to are irrelevant. You can't tell anything about intensity with an external monitor.


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## wombatclay (Sep 4, 2005)

I agree that the cytotec couldn't have helped...but it also sounds like a labor where the babe wasn't positioned correctly for birth since those labors tend to be "one contraction on top of another" for hours. Back labor often doesn't give you breaks, and it can happen to any mama (induced or not).

My own labor began at 42+ weeks with no induction/medication. It ended 32 hours later with a c/s since dd was OP and asynclitic and we were both exhausted and she was clearly NOT moving on her own!

For about 19 of those hours I had little or no break between contractions. Everyone swore I was in transition (non-stop contractions, vomiting, chills, etc) and kept asking if I needed to push...but I never went past 7cm and none of the midwife/doula tricks did anything to shift dd or bring me a more "normal" pattern with breaks between contractions.

Although I hadn't had any machine monitoring (just doppler evey so often), before the c/s I had a spinal and an internal monitor for an hour or so...everyone who saw the print outs cringed and it actually made me feel a little better to be able to say "see? I told you they were strong and they weren't stopping!". And yeah, the spinal was the first pain med I used and the internal monitor the first medical intervention other than a few VEs...so I can't blame my labor on anything but dd's choice of exit positioning!

*To the OP*- my feeling is that I've now seen just about the worst contraction pattern labor can throw at me! After an experience like that I feel like just about anything is doable...so just keep reminding yourself of how strong you are and how amazing you are to have coped with that the first time round! A more "normal" labor pattern is going to be such a nice surprise after an experience like that, and even when things get tough you can draw on the strength you earned in that first labor...you've DONE that. You did just fine...and no matter what this birth brings you're building on an amazing foundation of strength and ability and courage. It's funny, but when my doula asked me last visit what I wanted in an ideal birth I said "labor lasting less than 24 hours with breaks between contractions and transition style labor lasing no more than three hours, ending in a vaginal delivery". She burst out laughing and suggested I come up with something a little more "ideal"...but she knows about my first labor and realized that my "wish list" really _was_ ideal compared to my first birth.


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## AugustLia23 (Mar 18, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mom2seven* 
I vote for hyperstimulated from the cytotec.









:

I had beautiful breaks in between my contractions, but I was not induced with cytotec. But like a PP said, there is no way to know for sure, you may have had that sort of labor no matter what(I doubt it though).


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## ColinsMommy (Nov 3, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mom2seven* 
Someone I know had an induced labor with her first and opted for no pain relief. With her second, she wound up delivering in her bathroom b/c "she was waiting for the really hard contractions" to go to the hospital. *I* thought it was funny, but she most definately did NOT.









This is my dream!!!

Quote:

There's no "could have" about the cytotec. That's what cytotec is notorious for. Now, that doesn't mean that you wouldn't have had continual contracting without the cytotec, but logically the cytotec on top of what you would already experience naturally is only going to make it that much worse.
I don't know why I didn't think of it like this--of course there's no way the cytotec made labor any easier!

Thanks again for all the replies. I love reading about all your different experiences. I think the real lesson for me is not to have any expectations about labor--that's what got me into trouble last time. I'll just try to remember that this is a totally different labor and I'll likely have a totally different experience.


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## Cheshire (Dec 14, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mom2seven* 
Just checking in with a technical point here - unless you had an internal monitor, where the contraction "tops out" and where it drops back to are irrelevant. You can't tell anything about intensity with an external monitor.

I've been away from my computer for a few days, so sorry for the late reply.

Can you explain in more detail? It was an external monitor. I do know that the nurses explained that the 100% mark would mean different pain levels for different women so my 100% would be different than someone elses.

I do remember that my contractions felt like one big long contraction - my uterus never seemed to relax and give me the break I was expecting.


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## luckymamato2 (Jun 3, 2006)

I did get breaks between contractions, but it was still difficult to move at the end. During the pushing phase I got lots of breaks. I remember skipping one or two and I just laid there. My doula told me I snored between them!


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## cidercat (Oct 31, 2006)

I got no breaks between contractions during my absolutely intervention-free birth. Water broke at 9:15 pm. 10 minute long crampiness (not what I would even call a contraction, not enough to really even wake me up as I was trying to sleep before real labor started) at 10:15 and 11:15. Threw up at midnight, and contractions started then and never went away until I started pushing. DS was born at 2:45 am. So about 2-3 hours of non-stop contractions.

Now that I'm pg with #2 and I'm re-reading my Bradley stuff, DH & I are laughing out loud at how McCutcheon keeps saying how kind nature is to "always" give you a break. A break??? You've gotta be kidding me. I realize my labor was fast, and I'm not really complaining, but there are some of us out here who labor without cytotec and still have one long, non-stop, hard contraction!

You should see the contraction timing sheet that DH was trying to fill out. He has way more patience than I do... I would've crumpled it up and launched it out the window, trying to figure out how to time my contraction(s).


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## musicmomto5 (Feb 22, 2007)

I never experienced breaks between contractions, or between pushing contractions until I had a water birth with my 3rd baby. Huge difference! Just like I had heard about. You couldn't pay me enough to have a birth out of the tub again


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## MCatLvrMom2A&X (Nov 18, 2004)

I dont know much about cytotec but I do know that for me the piggy back ctx you described happened with my dd. I went into labor on my own 5 days after my edd. From the first ctx I felt to the time I started pushing I had those ctx. 12 hours of nearly constant ctx







: the last 9 hours was hard labor. The only time I had a break between ctx is when I entered the pushing phase and that lasted only 10min. and dd was born.

I remember thinking why didnt any of the many many books I had read mention this could happen?!?!?!?! I was POed to say the least.

The good news is with my ds labor was a typical labor with 3-5 min ctx like they are "supposed" to be. I thought all thru that labor about how happy I was for the breaks between the ctx.

So even if the cytotec didnt cause this for you there is a chance you will have a more normal labor pattern this time around.


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## crazy_eights (Nov 22, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Cheshire* 

Can you explain in more detail? It was an external monitor. I do know that the nurses explained that the 100% mark would mean different pain levels for different women so my 100% would be different than someone elses.

It means that that monitor piece that monitors contractions [called the "toco"]? If I pick it up and move it to a different part of your belly, tighten the strap or you turn on your side you could get totally different readings - none of which tell us anything about the intensity of your contractions! In fact, I've had women turn on their side and the contractions start picking up and "dips" instead of "humps" - but it is only related to their position. They didn't start having "negative" contractions. Does that make more sense? [confess to being an L&D nurse here]


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## georgia (Jan 12, 2003)

Chava, your secret's safe with us


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## 1babysmom (May 22, 2006)

I was like you...although I wasn't induced with meds, as soon as my water broke (at a mere 3 hours into labor and about 5 cm) I got no break whatsoever. No, wait...I got just enough of a break to think about how much I was dreading the next contraction...but then it'd come before I could even finish my thought.

But before that point, my contractions were mild and yep, there were breaks in between.


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## applejuice (Oct 8, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mom2seven* 
I vote for hyperstimulated from the cytotec.

ITA


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## mkmama (Jul 9, 2006)

I'm not trying to post a "i had it worse" scenario by any means, but i am writing to say yes, i had NO break between contractions.

water broke at 2am, very light contractions started. By 7am they were minutes a part. They stayed that way, 3-5 minutes a part until 11am. After 18 hours i was only 3cm dialated and had been laboring HARD, no pain meds. For EIGHTEEN hours of labor i had less than 30 seconds of "break", but not even that half the time. it was horrible.

Why no breaks? I had no pain meds. WAIT, NO MEDS (no pitocin, no cyotec) I was not progressing. After 27 hard labor and getting to 9.5 cm i had to have a c-section. Why? i'm worried that will happen with the next if i ever get pregnant...


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## sanguine_speed (May 25, 2005)

I want to throw a caution in here. My first was an induction at 38 weeks. It hurt like heck. My second was not an induction. It hurt even more.

I had convinced myself that the second one would be "easier" because it would not be induced and my body would know what to do etc. Boy was I disappointed! I had a long prodromal labour, and really did not manage with the pain well at all. I felt very betrayed.

This time, I am preparing myself for all possibilities.


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## applejuice (Oct 8, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sanguine_speed* 
This time, I am preparing myself for all possibilities.

Which is the way it should always be.


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## meggles (Mar 9, 2004)

I always had breaks and had back labor AND was on pitocin for the last few hours due to stalling at 8cm. At the end, I was so exhausted that I was sleeping/dreaming during my breaks. I did have a 40 hour labor.


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## 2bluefish (Apr 27, 2006)

My baby got stuck during labor #1 and I had 12 hours of transition - with contractions one on top of the other, no breaks (midwife says there were some toward the end, I was so traumatized by that point I couldn't handle another) - while my uterus kept slamming the baby down in my pelvis. Nightmare.

Second I was on pitocin - went just fine, breaks between contractions

Both times, I got a "rest and be thankful" phase before pushing - pushing was self-directed, the rest phase was shorter with #2 though, probably due to the pit

I don't think one on top of the other for very long is normal. I see that as a sign that something's not right. And I think caregivers should be more attentive to that and not write it off as a variation of normal. It's a horrible experience - I'm sorry for everyone who has had to deal with that!


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