One of the doubts of every pregnant woman is to know what is the right time to go to the hospital (if you have decided to give birth in the hospital).
I remember that in our first birth we went when the contractions were rhythmic and spaced for about five minutes: "It's already every five minutes, we have to go now." And we really believed it. "Already", as if by the fact of staying at home a little more the baby was born in the dining room at home.
The reality is that we went to that at 10 in the morning and until 20:30 in the afternoon Jon was not born (and above it was a caesarean section), with a walk back home included because "honey, you still have enough."
The film screenwriter's advisor has no idea
He says "mother recently" in his blog "I grow dwarfs" that the cinema has done a lot of damage due to the misinformation that births bring to the movies And he is absolutely right.
In the films the pregnant women break waters and immediately begin to feel some contractions that force the woman to open some eyes like dishes, to breathe as they have explained in the preparatory classes, to hold the belly, I suppose to prevent her from being the child falls and shouting at the nervous and frightened husband "come, it's coming!"
They take the bag with the barges direct to the car, the man returns home because he has let you know what, the woman meanwhile walks bent, breathing in the same way and holding the belly.
They arrive at the hospital and almost enter the emergency area as if it were a critical patient, the professionals corroborate “that is coming” and in a matter of minutes a beautiful baby appears born without waiting or complications.
Given these types of scenes, one comes to a single conclusion: the screenwriter's birth advisor has no idea, and not only that, the writers must not have had children, because the least usual is precisely what they want us to see as normal .
And of course, when you know a little about the subject, there is no problem, but for young first-time couples, it catches them as if they were sopet and, at the first contraction, it happens almost as it happened to my wife and me: “Come on, this one is born here "
When to go to the hospital?
Must go to the hospital immediately if the woman starts to bleed or if water breaks and they are stained (They are not transparent, but they are dark). In the first case, the reason for bleeding could be a placental abruption, which is a serious and life-threatening condition. The second case is due to the fact that the baby has expelled the meconium (his first poops) and when this happens there is a risk that the baby will aspirate the meconium through the respiratory tract, causing respiratory problems of varying severity and death in a 4 % of the cases.
Removing these extraordinary situations, under normal conditions, the time at which it is usually recommended to go to the hospital is when the contractions are painful and rhythmic and occur in an interval of less than 5 minutes between them.
What if I break waters?
Breaking waters is another of the typical moments of cinema in which the baby comes immediately. The truth is that it is not quite like that. There are times when the bag does not break and the woman gives birth to a baby without having "broken water", there are times when the rupture of the amniotic bag happens without being still in labor and they spend between 24 and 48 hours until the birth of the baby (it is not recommended to wait any longer for risk of infection) and there are times when the bag is broken simply because you are in labor.
In other words, if you break water and you are in labor, the issue of contractions is more important than the fact that the bag has been broken, unless it has been around 24 hours or the waters are dyed, as I have already commented before.
If you break waters and you are not yet in labor, you will most likely get a childbirth in the next 24-48 hours spontaneously, although it might be advisable to approach the hospital, since There are times when, to avoid a possible infection, it might be preferable to induce labor.
But nevertheless…
If we take as a reference the recommendation of strong contractions every 5 minutes or less, personal experience and conversations with other moms, we can suggest that the majority, despite coming when they have rhythmic contractions separated by about 5 minutes (sometimes more, others times less), it usually takes several hours to give birth, they are at a time of dilatation somewhat early and, in short, they enter the hospital when the delivery is still "a little green."
It is not that there is a greater problem, however, sometimes, just because they are there, there is a risk that the labor will be intervened too much, since arriving early increases the risk of inductions and excessive instrumentalization of the Birth.
When did you go to the hospital?
To get a little idea of when it could be the best time to go to the hospital, I invite you to explain when did you go to the hospital and what happened then, if they told you that there was still a lot left, if they told you to go home, to stay there, if they induced you to give birth because you had been there for a long time and not dilated enough, etc.
Photos | Flickr - Torsten Mangner, David Salafia
In Babies and more | What are labor prodromes? What is dry delivery? Standing or walking shortens the first phase of labor
