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If contractions space back out by getting in the tub, then you probably have some more time to labor at home.Hey. If contractions are getting close together (3-5 minutes apart) and more intense, you can try getting in the bath to see if contractions stay in this pattern - if they do, then you're likely on your way out of early labor and headed to active labor. Another time taking a bath can be a great idea is if you are trying to decide when to go to your birth location. If it's true labor, contractions will continue. Taking a bath will not stop your labor if this is true labor. If you can't get comfortable enough to go back to sleep, often times taking a bath will help you relax enough to be able to lay in bed and doze for a little while before contractions get more intense. Baths, especially baths with magnesium flakes, can calm an irritated uterus. Sometimes at the end of pregnancy, moms may experience an irritated uterus that causes nonproductive contractions. Use hydrotherapy to see what happens to your labor.
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Other things you can do to ignore contractions during the day is to make sure your bags are totally packed or to bake some healthy muffins or lactation bars for when your baby is born. So, if you really think things are intensifying, take opportunities to rest while you can. It would be hard to work all day while in early labor and then active labor pick up in the evening. If they are more frequent then you may want to consider taking a nap / resting in case things pick up quickly. If you're only having a few an hour, you can probably just keep doing what you are doing. Our general rule is to ignore then until they make you stop and focus / breathe through them.
We don't recommend trying to focus too much on every contraction.
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If it's during the day, you'll have to see what you feel like doing. If your contractions are 8 minutes apart, you might have to focus and breathe during a contraction, but then rest and doze off between the contractions. if you are not resting and sleeping some in these early stages, chances are you'll be feeling it when active labor hits. Remember that the average first labor is 18-24 hours. We can't emphasize enough how important it is to rest in these early stages. If you wake up in the middle of the night and notice contractions, get up and use the bathroom, drink some water, and GO BACK TO BED. Most of the time you can lay down and rest during early labor. Our general rule is to sleep as long as possible if you're starting to feel contractions at night. So what should you do during that time? Here are some tips. However, on average, early labor lasts about 6-12 hours for the typical first time mom. Other women experience what seems like early labor for DAYS and that's considered prodromal labor which can be challenging to handle. Some women experience virtually no early labor - once their labor starts, it hits hard and they don't recognize this time of milder and spaced out contractions. Getting through early labor and into active labor can take different amounts of time depending on the person. Early labor contractions are usually more than 5 minutes apart, can last less than a minute, and have varying intensity. We know that the cervix doesn't always match what contractions are doing ( that's why we wrote a whole blog post about why you can't trust the cervix), but this is a generality that we see a lot. Typically, in an unmedicated labor, contractions during this time are further apart, shorter, and less intense than when moms are in active labor or transition (that's when the cervix is 5-10cm dilated). First of all, what is considered early labor? Early labor is the time in labor when your cervix is 0-4cm dilated.