Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
May
14
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“When You’re Having A Real Contraction, You’ll Know, It Will Take Your Breath Away.”
“When you’re having a real contraction, you’ll know, it will take your breath away.” - L&D nurse to mother in labor.
There are 36 comments to this post.
Teri had this to say,
May 14, 2012 @ 2:43 pm (Quote)
My contractions didn’t take my breathe away. I know because I remember laughing through several of them because my mums fantastic idea to help keep me calm during labour was to record stand up comedians for me. Michael Macintyre, Dave Gorman and Russell Howard had me floored with laughter during my early labour.
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“….and that will be the time we come in with a ream of paperwork and start asking you all the same questions you filled out four weeks ago on the pre-admission paperwork!”
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Dee Reply:
May 15th, 2012 at 3:43 am (Quote)
OMG–THIS! I not only had to suffer through the very rude, full of herself pre-admissions person who berated me for getting teary about my miscarriage, I had to endure the same junk questions in labor. At least our very nice nurse timed the questions as best she could.
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silverhawkwarrior had this to say,
May 14, 2012 @ 3:04 pm (Quote)
TAKE MY BREATH AWAAAAAAAAAY!
Dum DUM dum . . .
Dum DUM dum . . .
Dum DUM dum . . .
Oh . . . I thought we were bursting into a musical number. It was the only conceivable reason why someone would say this. Or maybe mom was watching Top Gun during labor (not my preferred viewing choice, but hey, to each her own) and the nurse made a relevant and funny little quip. No?
That’s going to be stuck in my head ALL day now . . .
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birdflippin' Reply:
May 14th, 2012 at 3:18 pm (Quote)
Or if Canadian, an A&W commercial instead of Top Gun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILQ84NTtrEY
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SuzyHomemaker Reply:
May 14th, 2012 at 3:54 pm (Quote)
Breaking into musical- HA! Its like you’re laboring on Glee!
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first time mommy Reply:
May 14th, 2012 at 10:47 pm (Quote)
OMG! LOVE IT! I’d LOVE to labor while watching Glee =D *mental note* next baby if/when comes when we still have Netflix, bring laptop and stream Glee =D
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Mandie Reply:
May 14th, 2012 at 10:59 pm (Quote)
We watched Scrubs! Peed every 10 minutes, but labor was a cinch!
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Kylie Reply:
May 15th, 2012 at 6:38 am (Quote)
I was watching Glee and enjoying my (last) dinner tray during my induction when the Cervidil kicked in hard. I remember crumpling into a ball and saying “Can you turn that OFF please?” It was about the last thing I wanted at the moment…but then, it was that terrible Rocky Horror episode. 
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Kate @ Modern Alternative Mama had this to say,
May 14, 2012 @ 3:15 pm (Quote)
…maybe not until transition, at which time it could be too late to get to the hospital, if you’re going. Or, in a few labors, not at all. I was definitely “fine” until I got pretty far along. Come now…don’t these people learn??
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Laura Reply:
May 15th, 2012 at 7:57 pm (Quote)
THIS. With my second, I didn’t feel it until just about transition, and even then it was not unbearable – though I suspected I was in or near transition, but was coping fine. Luckily my waters had leaked so I *was* in the hospital (where I need to be – tendency to excess bleeding and blood pressure drops is not a good thing), since I think we had less than an hour from then to baby.
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road2vba2c had this to say,
May 14, 2012 @ 3:52 pm (Quote)
Dear Nurse,
Just because you provide cookie cutter healthcare doesn’t mean that we all have cookie cutter labors.
Love,
Everyone
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SuzyHomemaker had this to say,
May 14, 2012 @ 3:53 pm (Quote)
I sang through my contractions. Sounded awful to everyone who had to listen but it worked for me. Focusing on the words to the song took my mind off the discomfort of labor, and singing along helped regulate my breathing which relaxed my body enough for labor to progress (I tend to get very nervous and as result my labor stalls in hospital environment- hoping for a homebirth with my next).
In any case, I def was not out of breath.
If your contractions truly do cause you to be breathless, then wouldn’t that be of concern? How do we know baby is getting enough oxygen if mom’s contractions are so strong she can’t breathe?
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lilmrsmchenry had this to say,
May 14, 2012 @ 4:21 pm (Quote)
Seriously?
SERIOUSLY?
This is ridiculous. I have been through labor 5 times, twice it was induced. I have never, ever had a contraction take my breath away. People have different levels of pain tolerance and I know that mine is very high.
I think this nurse needs a better analogy to describe productive contractions. Because guess what, even Braxton Hicks are “real” contractions, they certainly are not all in your head, they just are not as productive toward labor. In some cases they will help ripen your cervix, but that is about it.
How about something like this:
In many cases, labor contractions are normally felt first in the lower back and radiate toward the front or vice versa depending on baby’s position. Braxton Hicks have often been described as more of an all over tightening of the uterus and often are felt in the front.
They will probably come at regular intervals and get stronger and closer together as labor progresses.
There are some things that you can do to see if they are productive contractions. Such as a change of position or activity levels. Making sure that you are hydrated. In either case, try to relax and rest if you are able to. If they stopped with these steps then they were probably Braxton Hicks or pre-labor contractions. Of course, we can always do a cervical exam to check for changes if you would like.
Of course, if you start having contractions that are 5 minutes apart or you suspect that your water has broken, we would like for you to let us know.
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K Reply:
May 15th, 2012 at 12:01 pm (Quote)
Before I had my baby, I would sometimes label someone’s labor latent/early or active based on where she was feeling the contractions. Yeah not anymore. I never felt a contraction in my back, and my “real” labor contractions I felt entirely across the front of my pelvis and in my hips. Never once in the fundus. Labor felt basically nothing like I thought it would.
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I didn’t really feel contractions until pretty far in. In fact, when I went in for non-stress tests during my pregnancy, I was having contractions and didn’t even know it. The nurses were baffled that I couldn’t feel a thing.
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SuzyHomemaker Reply:
May 15th, 2012 at 12:31 am (Quote)
I had a nurse belittle me when I was unnecessarily induced with my first because the monitor said he was kicking, but I couldn’t feel him kick.
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Christie Reply:
May 15th, 2012 at 3:26 am (Quote)
with my first i had an ECV at 38 weeks, its protocol to monitor for an hour afterwards, i was having contractions every 15/20 minutes and didnt even know! unfortunately ecv didnt work bub had put his feet down so we opted for c section a couple weeks later
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Guess I’m the lone dissenter here, but mine came on so fast and furious I could barely talk to the midwife when I called her to tell her I was in labor since the contrax did take my breath away!
That said, NOT every labor is the same as evidenced by the pp.
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That is exactly how I describe my early labors. The contractions aren’t painful yet – but the tightening sensation makes me feel breathless. Like my lungs are being squeezed too. I can still talk through it fine – I don’t even know how to explain it exactly except for that it really does feel like my breath is being taken away.
I’ve been through 4 labors – it has been like that for every single one of them. So while everybody doesn’t have the same labor, it wasn’t a nutball thing for the nurse to say either.
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Mama Wrench Reply:
May 14th, 2012 at 7:02 pm (Quote)
Only if she’d said, “Some women lose their breath during contractions, others feel like it’s intense menstrual cramps, you might also feel it more in your back than your front — just let us know if you’re experiencing any symptoms or you feel like you’re in labor, and we’ll go from there!”
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Hmmm, so I guess I got to 6 cm. without a “real” contraction. Wow! My body must be super-human! Nah, I just labor differently than “the textbook”, which also wasn’t right on most of my pregnancy things. Still managed to birth 3 sons, so guess it works even when it isn’t textbook.
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i had a fast intense labour, the pain was horrible all in my back (i didnt think i was even in labour because i felt nothing in the front, not even tightening) each contraction would bring involuntary moaning that increased in volume, but at no point was my breath taken away, sure they were loud long breaths but i wasnt gasping and if i wanted to i could talk right up to transition, i screamed “for gods sake hurry up!!!” to my husband at that point because i was sitting in the car while he dropped our son off at the FIL’s, not breathless at all
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In my first (and only) labour, I was nearly sent home because the nurses didn’t believe the contraction times I’d written down, since I wasn’t in pain, and they didn’t want to bother checking if I was dilated. Only one nurse believed I mightn’t be making it up, but her shift was ending and she couldn’t convince the nurse to take a look at me. *sigh*
When I started to feel strong feelings (I have no idea how to describe that, there was no pain, but it was a ‘big’ feeling..)it took 20 minutes of leaning on the call button till the nurse came. I was in the loo by then, it still took her a while to decide it was worth getting down there and checking it out..
But then, after my daughter was born, the midwives told me I was welcome to come back any time : )
Like Teri, I was laughing through mine too.. In the hospital classes we were told by a nurse how they can tell when women phoning them are having “real contractions” because they can’t talk through them. If my water didn’t break early i don’t think I’d have made it to the hospital.
*cough* sorry about the long rambling post.
But hey, we’re all the same, don’t you guise know?!
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count me as another who does not feel any pain till I hit transition… transition on pit that is having done that 2 times so far … no taking my breath away… I feel it tighten and i know what it is just no pain… and it is rediculous how many people dont’ think that you can be in labour when you are not feeling pain
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This is mine. This nurse was such a condescending a-hole. She kept insisting I couldn’t be in labor because I would *know* if I were in labor. I was sent home from the hospital by her and the midwife who told me I wasn’t in real labor. So I labored at home, by myself, for 8 more hours. My husband didn’t know what to do, because he thought I “wasn’t in labor” and the nurse told him to sleep to save up his energy (it was 1 am), so I was literally laboring all along, the whole time thinking I wasn’t in “real labor.” Then, at about 9 am, when I kept going to the bathroom to try to have a bm, my husband asked what was going on. I told him I really had to poop. He freaked, and was like “let’s get you to the hospital.” I guess that’s the funny thing about transition, because it never occurred to me that my urge to have a bm might actually be me pushing.
I had been thinking the whole time that I was a wuss, wouldn’t make it once “actual labor” came along, that I agreed to the painful ride to the hospital again with my husband because I was going to get that epidural, dammit. I mean, if these weren’t “real” contractions, there was no way I could handle the real thing.
Imagine the surprise of the hospital staff when they went to do a CE and discovered the baby in the birth canal, and when 2 pushes later he was out.
Not a “real” contraction my a$$.
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Jenny Islander Reply:
May 16th, 2012 at 1:05 pm (Quote)
My “real” contractions felt exactly like food poisoning: intestinal cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting with associated sick-all-over muscle shakes. Apparently this is not unusual for precipitous labors like mine. Luckily I had engaged a homebirth midwife who came over to have a look at me when I told her I felt really awful and was worried that my illness might hurt the baby. Otherwise I would probably have had that baby all by myself on the toilet. Or my husband would have come home from work to take me to the doctor and I would’ve had the baby in the car! But the midwife took one look at me and thought, “Hang what she’s reporting, we need to check for labor,” and lo and behold my uterus was contracting and the pain was being referred to my guts. So she got me into bed, called her assistant, and my baby was born in a comfortable situation with nobody in my face trying to make me prove that I was really properly actually in labor.
Reason number eleventy grillion why I chose to birth at home for all subsequent births.
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i heard a midwife say the exact same thing to an expectant mother over the phone and my problem with it was that it sort of freaked me out, because if something takes my breath away it is something shocking and difficult to cope with. i did end up with a pitocin induction and towards the end it *did* sort of take my breath away at times, so i know what she meant. but – i wish they used language that inspired more confidence in women’s ability to cope.
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All labors are always the same all the time and all women experience all things the exact same way!!!
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Mharry Reply:
May 14th, 2012 at 7:38 pm Mharry(Quote)
Oh wow! Just like periods! We’re all the same all the time.
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