02/11/2021
🕑Early Labor : How long does it last?🕥
Early labor is usually categorized as dilation from 1-4 cms.
Symptoms include mild period cramps, loss of the mucus plug, water leakage or complete burst, very irregular contractions that come and go. Sometimes there can be mild to no symptoms at all too.
So how long does early labor last? 🤔🤔🤔
Early labor can last for a few hours or a few days or a few weeks. There is no set time duration for it as every mother’s body and labor is different.
Some mothers don’t even feel anything and can be 2-3 cm dilated for weeks. 😱 Some mothers may have mild symptoms and still have a few days to weeks until active labor begins.
Some mothers can have the complete labor in one stretch starting from early to active to transition and birth altogether in a day or two.
‼️Why is this important?‼️
The changes that occur in our body during labor are fairly immeasurable in numbers or statistics.
The cervix may be ripening, thinning or moving into position. The baby may be aligning, adjusting and moving into position. The pelvis may be adjusting for the baby.
All of these changes and more cannot be seen. They are gradual and take their time.
The mucus plug can be lost multiple times during the pregnancy and is regenerated again. It can be days after the loss of the mucus plug that active labor begins.
The amniotic sac leakage or burst is a bigger sign of early labor. Even with that, as long as the water isn’t stained green or the mother doesn’t run a fever, there may be time until active labor begins.
‼️Do not rush the hospital as soon as early labor begins. Wait for active labor or a pattern of contractions to be established.‼️
Why❓
Some hospitals will not admit you until you are in active labor and will send you back home to wait.
Some hospitals may admit you but not into L&D until active labor is established.
Whereas others may admit you whenever you go in and put you on a clock. If labor doesn’t seem to progress, manual or medical ways to help labor progress are suggested or administered like membrane sweeps, artificial rupture of membranes, induction etc.
🤷🏻♀️Now suppose your body needed a whole week more to get ready for active labor. You aren’t giving it time and forcefully pushing it to give an immediate result. 🤷🏻♀️
The push can work on some mothers and will not work for others. For those whom it doesn’t work, they are tagged as “failure to progress” and wheeled in for a C section. 😞
Those moms go on believing they can never birth naturally. When in fact their body just needed TIME. Some more hours or days. That’s all it was asking.
This is the reason why rushing to the hospital at the earliest sign of labor can be detrimental in a healthy, low risk pregnancy. It’s best to wait for active labor to be established before heading in. ✋🏼✋🏼✋🏼
So don’t rush yourself and your body. Have faith in your body and use the knowledge of when to go to a hospital so that you have a good, empowering birth experience and don’t feel like a failure at birth. 💪🏼
