Ask Me Help Desk - False labor ?

My daughter will be 37 weeks pregnant this Sunday with her first baby. She has been having reg contractions since last Monday. When they got reg & 5 min apart we took her to the hosp. She'd dialted 1 cm so they sent her home. The next day the contractions were worse so we went again. She was 2 cm & got sent home again. Now its Friday, she is still contracting, they are still; 5 min apart, and she is fairly exhausted from all this not to mention quite uncomfortable. Once again we go to the hosp. This time she is 3 cm & 50% efaced yet still sent home again. She is only 2 days shy of 37 weeks. This has gotten crazy. Is this normal ? Now I find out that on her weekly dr appts the only thing the doctors are checking is the measurement of her belly. Her legs & feet are very swollen yet they haven't bothered checking for any clots nor even questioned her about any swelling. They've done no exams at all in her wkly appts so they wouldn't know if she is dialated at all. Only the nurses at the hosp have checked her when she's gone in. Does this sound normal to everyone out there? I had similar problems with my pregnancies and I know my dr didn't stand for any of this. She checked you head to toe every visit. Nor did she leave me in pain for a week especially if I was slowly dialating. Someone please tell me if I am just being a worrisome grandma.

Thanks

This is very common. 37 weeks, while considered to be close to full term, is still a little early to have the baby. The reason the doctor doesn't check is that the cervical checks release hormones and can actually cause labor to begin. We really want to avoid that right now.

This is her first baby, what she is going through is really not that uncommon. Fortunately, her doctor is trying to let her labor naturally rather than inducing/augmenting. It takes quite a while for most women with their first child to dilate and efface.

It's much better to do this at home where she can eat, drink, and sleep in her own bed rather than be in the hospital in an uncomfortable bed where she can't drink and can only eat ice chips.

She can take any form of Tylenol that makes her feel comfortable every 4 hours, warm baths and rest. If she wants to help rush it along she can walk an hour on her feet and an hour off.

Thanks so much for your answer & information. Everything has changed SO much since I was pregnant thus the reason I'm asking questions. I am just worried because she seems so very exhausted now. She lost the plug, has a pink show, dropped, and the poor girl's calves & feet are a good twice their normal size. Then the contractions every 5 min, which are painful in both her back & stomach. Unfortunately, tylenol isn't helping much. I just keep rubbing her feet & telling her for every contraction she has now... that is one less she will have to have later. Well, thank you again.

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Originally Posted by glassnut

Thanks so much for your answer & information. Everything has changed SO much since I was pregnant thus the reason I'm asking questions. I am just worried because she seems so very exhausted now. She lost the plug, has a pink show, dropped, and the poor girl's calves & feet are a good twice their normal size. Then the contractions every 5 min, which are painful in both her back & stomache. Unfortunately, tylenol isn't helping much. I just keep rubbing her feet & telling her for every contraction she has now....that is one less she will have to have later. Well, thank you again.

You can lose the plug weeks before actually delivering. The swelling, well that's pretty normal as well. Is her blood pressure in the normal range? Make sure she's drinking plenty of water and staying away from salty foods.