Hi ladies. I’m currently in the hospital after my water broke last night at 2:30 a.m. I was really hoping for an unmedicated labor, and my midwife has been very supportive of that, but contractions have barely started.

Some contractions feel like they’re about to begin and then stop after about 10 seconds. Others become painful, last around a minute, and feel like “real” contractions, but they’re inconsistent. It’s like my body is trying to start labor but can’t fully get going.

My midwife and I agreed that if I’m not in active labor within 18 hours after my water broke, we’ll move to induction. I’m really hoping labor can start naturally and that I can avoid induction if it’s safe.

Is it safe to wait a little longer? Has anyone experienced this after their water broke?

So far I’ve been rotating between sitting on a yoga ball, lunges, walking, pumping, showering, sleeping, eating, and resting. My first labor was also slow, but in a different way — I had contractions, but I wasn’t dilating well. This time they haven’t checked my dilation yet, but the issue seems to be that my contractions aren’t becoming regular or strong enough.

Any advice or similar experiences would really help right now.

UPDATE:

Hi everyone. So, at 10 p.m. they did a cervical massage/membrane sweep for me because I had scars on my cervix from a previous surgery, and it really moved things along. At that point I was 3 cm dilated. Contractions started and kept getting stronger. At some point they were lasting over a minute and coming every 3 minutes. The pain was absolutely unreal. My husband was with me the whole time supporting me.

After 4 hours of unbearable pain, I asked them to check my dilation, and I was only 4 cm — so in 4 hours I had only progressed by 1 cm. This was my second birth, and I honestly don’t remember the pain being this intense the first time. I couldn’t handle it anymore and asked for an epidural. I wasn’t given Pitocin.

Around 2:30–3 a.m. I got the epidural and finally fell asleep. At 5 a.m. I woke up feeling the urge to push, and at 5:54 a.m. my baby was born.

I truly admire those who go through labor without pain medication and deliver their babies unmedicated. It’s incredible. I really wanted to be like you too — to fully experience the power of nature and feel that rush of relief when the baby is finally in your arms. But the pain at 4 cm was so unbearable that I started thinking maybe a C-section wasn’t such a bad idea.

Thank you everyone for your replies and support!

Hi guys, I'm just freaking out a little bit. Long time lurker here. I'm about 39 +5 and tonight I was laying in bed, feeling probably the most comfortable I've felt in 9 months when I feel and can almost swear I heard a pop/snap like a rubber band near the bottom of my abdomen then had a pretty intense contraction right away. Immediately I was like, oh no, here goes, but only felt a slight bit of fluid. We ended up going to L & D and they stuck me on the monitors, did a swab and said I was fine, no trace of fluid and my cervix was completely shut and high. They ended up sending us home fairly quickly and I was slightly relieved...however not even 5 minutes after we get home I get another contraction and then gush waters everywhere.

So here I am, back again after the security guard told me she'd see me soon as we were leaving and I was like "Nope! Not tonight!" A little too smugly.

My second cervical exam was the same, I really wanted to labor at home and avoid induction, epidural, all of it. Does anyone have experience with getting sent home to dilate/labor and avoid the whole pitocin series of events? Or has anyone had a good experience just dilating on their own in the hospital with minimal intervention after their waters break?