How to determine when it's time to go to the hospital. The first signs of childbirth: how to know that it's time to go to the hospital. What every expectant mother needs to know

Hello future moms! Today our article is again devoted to the problems of pregnancy and childbirth. We will tell you how to understand that it is time to go to the hospital. And also about the basic rules that must be observed during pregnancy.

Pregnancy is good

For many, pregnancy is a dream of a lifetime and the desire to create a strong family, and for someone - a panic fear of two stripes on a test. The reasons for this can be very different:

• - age;
• - living conditions;
• — loving person or relatives who are against the child;

The choice to keep the pregnancy or terminate it depends only on the woman.

What to do during pregnancy

How is the pregnancy going early dates? Dizziness, impaired stool, pain in the mammary glands, nausea, mood changes, increased sense of smell, vomiting, fever from 36.9 - 37.2 - all these are early signs of pregnancy. It's time to visit the doctor necessary tests, make an ultrasound and register in the antenatal clinic. Throughout the pregnancy, the doctor will monitor weight, abdominal circumference, pressure and check your tests, and there will be a lot of them throughout the pregnancy. During pregnancy, you should monitor your health, especially nutrition.

Closer to childbirth, it is worth deciding in which maternity hospital the long-awaited baby will be born. Doctors will determine, based on the course of pregnancy, whether a woman will give birth herself or whether a caesarean section is necessary.

How to know when it's time to go to the hospital

The most responsible has arrived important point is childbirth. But not always a woman understands that it was the real contractions that began. Very often they are confused with harbingers. Harbingers are irregular, chaotic, scanty pains in the pelvis, lower abdomen, lower back, sacrum. Over time, their symptoms generally weaken and stop.

Real contractions are regular, coming after an equal amount of time, sipping in the lower abdomen and lower back at the same time. Do not put off the road to the hospital. If a woman gives birth for the first time, childbirth can last from 11-18 hours, if a multiparous woman from 8-10 hours. But as statistics show, surveys of women who gave birth again noted that childbirth lasts 4-8 hours.

The main stages of childbirth

There are 3 stages of childbirth:

— the first - when the uterus opens and occurs with contractions;

- the second - attempts and when the baby passes through the birth canal;

- the third - the period after childbirth, the expulsion of the placenta (placenta).

When a long-awaited child is born, it is weighed, measured, the pediatrician conducts an examination. The baby is placed on the mother's chest and allowed to taste the colostrum. Colostrum is a treasure trove beneficial vitamins, trace elements and useful properties. After 2-3 days, breast milk "arrives" in the mother.

And from that moment on, the life of mom and dad changes, they are no longer two, but three. Ahead of them is waiting for so much happiness, joyful troubles and worries about the baby.

Every pregnant woman, especially if she is expecting a baby for the first time, sooner or later asks the question: How to understand that it is time to go to the hospital? In addition to the obvious "symptoms" of the onset of labor, such as contractions or passing amniotic fluid, there are also so-called harbingers of childbirth, which allow you to prepare in advance and understand that the birth of a baby is just around the corner.

What are the harbingers of childbirth?

The harbingers are certain signs, according to which it is possible to assume soon the onset of labor activity.

For recent weeks gestation is characterized by a change hormonal background. As a result of the obsolescence of the placenta, the level of progesterone produced by the body is reduced, which was responsible for the preservation and normal course of pregnancy throughout all nine months. It was on the amount of this hormone that the normal tone of the uterus, the formation of a mucous plug, the development of the baby, the supply of oxygen and other necessary substances to it, etc. depended. Instead of progesterone, estrogen begins to be intensively produced, which is necessary to prepare female body for the upcoming birth. It provides elasticity and patency of the birth canal, as well as the speed of opening the cervix. In addition, as soon as the required amount of estrogens accumulates, a nerve impulse will be sent to the brain, and labor will begin.

Harbingers of childbirth become an external response to hormonal changes that occur before childbirth in the body of the expectant mother. Their appearance is absolutely normal, so you should not worry and urgently consult a doctor if a woman has found one or several signs at once. At the same time, there is no need to worry if a pregnant woman does not notice them, since this does not mean at all that preparation for childbirth is not taking place. This only indicates that it passes unnoticed by a woman.

It is important to note that the harbingers of childbirth can appear a week or even two before childbirth. They do not mean that labor activity will begin immediately. As a rule, a reduction in the time between the appearance of the first signs and childbirth is characteristic of multiparous women. In this case, the precursors may appear in 1-2 days.

What are the symptoms of the imminent onset of labor?

Among the main symptoms indicating the imminent onset of labor activity, we can distinguish:

1. Relaxation of the stool. In order to facilitate the upcoming birth and the passage of the baby through the birth canal, the body begins to remove everything superfluous from itself. As a result, diarrhea may occur. It can occur several times a day, but is accompanied by dehydration, as well as a change in the color and smell of feces. As a rule, this symptom, unlike the others, appears almost before childbirth in 1-2 days. However, it may be absent if the woman is multiparous.
2. Weight loss. As a result of hormonal changes, excess fluid is removed before childbirth. It is the greater, the stronger the swelling during pregnancy. The fluid was retained in the body under the influence of progesterone, but its reduction leads to its release, which contributes to weight loss from 0.5 to 3 kg.
3. Isolation of the mucous plug. A mucous plug created from a special secret of the cervical canal is necessary during pregnancy to protect the fetus. It is needed to prevent infection from entering the uterine cavity from the vagina. Estrogen softens the cervix, opens its canal, resulting in a yellowish-brown discharge, transparent or jelly-like, but without an unpleasant odor. The mucus plug can come out completely or in parts. As a rule, it is not accompanied by painful sensations, however, the presence of a pulling, mild pain, as before menstruation, is also a variant of the norm. As soon as the cork has moved away, the baby does not protect anything from bacteria, so it is not recommended to take a bath, you can only use the shower.
4. "Dropping of the abdomen". As a rule, the child is in head presentation. Before giving birth, his head pulls the uterus down, clinging to the entrance to the small pelvis and preparing to move along the birth canal. Thanks to these changes, the uterus stops pressing so hard on the diaphragm, as a result, a woman can feel the following improvements - shortness of breath disappears, heartburn and a feeling of heaviness stop. However, the pressure on the organs located in the pelvic area increases, as a result, the urge to go to the toilet increases.
5. Discomfort. As a result of sprains, as well as a rush of blood to the pelvic organs, unpleasant sensations may appear in the lower abdomen, in the lumbar region or slightly lower. The pain should not be strong, it resembles a pulling sensation before menstruation. Discomfort can manifest itself both when the mucus plug is released or training contractions, and for no apparent reason.
6. Training bouts. Precursor contractions are the contraction of the walls of the uterus for a few seconds. The expectant mother feels how the uterus tenses, “hardens”, and then relaxes, while the cervix does not open. It is not difficult to distinguish them - they are irregular, or the gap between them is very large. In addition, they are weak and not accompanied by pain. Real contractions increase over time, they become more frequent and last longer.
7. Neck changes. Only a doctor can determine them during the next examination. The neck is significantly shortened, from about 4 to 1 centimeter, and also softens.

In what cases you need to go to the hospital:

Depending on whether the woman is nulliparous, or the pregnancy is not the first in a row, the birth process will differ significantly, as well as the factors that need to be paid attention to in order to understand that it is time to go to the hospital.

- at first birth

If the mucus plug has gone or any of the forerunners of childbirth listed above have appeared, you should not go to the maternity hospital, they simply will not accept you there, since there may be a few more days or a few weeks before the onset of childbirth. But when regular contractions began (not to be confused with training ones), it's time to get ready. Since the first birth, as a rule, takes at least 12-20 hours, it is not worth going to the hospital or, even more so, calling an ambulance immediately after the onset of contractions. It is necessary to wait until the interval between contractions is about 10 minutes.

It is important to understand that the described procedure applies only to those situations where the pregnancy proceeds without complications, and there are no additional factors, such as improper presentation of the fetus or premature discharge of amniotic fluid.

- with repeated births

Repeated births tend to be faster because the cervix softens and dilates much more easily than the first time. On average, the entire process of childbirth in the second and subsequent times takes about 6-7 hours. Therefore, so that the birth of a child does not take place in a place that is completely unsuitable for this, it is necessary to go to the hospital immediately after it becomes clear that the contractions are regular and the interval of contractions is decreasing.

When is emergency help needed?

Do not rush to send to the hospital is only in cases where labor begins without any complications. But there are certain symptoms, in the event of which, you should immediately call an ambulance, as they indicate a risk to the life and health of the child. You need to seek emergency help in the following situations:

1. Drainage or leakage of amniotic fluid. It is important to understand that even a slight leakage of water indicates a violation of the integrity of the amniotic membrane, which means that the child is no longer protected from various infections and environmental influences. Ideally, no more than 10-12 hours should pass between the moment the waters break and the birth itself. When you are in a hospital under the supervision of doctors and the timely administration of the necessary drugs, this period can be 24 hours or more (but this situation is considered undesirable).
2. There is a lumpy discharge or bleeding (scarlet blood). Even a small amount of red discharge may indicate placental abruption or the development of other pathological conditions that threaten the life of the child.
3. Sharp pain between contractions. When the contraction releases, the discomfort should also disappear. If acute or aching pain persists all the time, this is an unconditional sign of the presence of complications.
4. Contractions occur more often than once every 5 minutes. If the interval between contractions is rapidly decreasing, then there is less and less time left before delivery. In this case, it is not recommended to get to the hospital on your own. Also, if there is already a rapid birth in the anamnesis, or they have occurred earlier with the next of kin, it is necessary to go to the hospital with the onset of the first regular contractions.

It is important to understand that at the first signs of malaise or deterioration of well-being ambulance should be called immediately, without waiting for the appearance of more serious symptoms.

Finally

The last weeks of pregnancy are an extremely exciting period for every expectant mother, regardless of whether she is going to give birth for the first time, second or third. Harbingers of childbirth are not a reliable guide, as in some cases they may simply not be. Therefore, after the onset of contractions, it is important to remain calm, make sure that contractions are the beginning of labor (and not training contractions), and go to the hospital when the breaks between them are reduced to 10 minutes (first birth) or 15-20 minutes (subsequent).

Especially for- Olga Pavlova

From the first weeks of pregnancy, every pregnant woman begins to worry about questions: where to give birth, what things you need with you, which method of delivery to choose. But after almost nine months of pregnancy, the woman chose the maternity hospital, she clearly knows what to take.

There remains one important question - when should you go to the hospital?

I don’t want to go very early, but I don’t want to be late, and then give birth in an ambulance or even at home. But, unfortunately, no doctor can accurately determine the date and time of birth.

Therefore, you should know a few things that will help prepare for childbirth and arrive at the hospital on time.

What should every expectant mother know?

The gestational age at which a child is considered full-term varies significantly according to different experts and, on average, is in the interval between 39 and 42 weeks.

The main harbinger are precursor contractions - painless contractions of the abdominal muscles. Such contractions appear at any time, are irregular, quickly disappear after taking antispasmodic drugs.

With the help of precursor contractions, the woman's body begins to prepare for the upcoming labor activity.

Less commonly, a few days before childbirth, women fix in the form of a small amount of mucus that appears in the vagina. This plug serves as additional protection at the entrance to the cervix.

A little about the beginning of labor

When should you go to the hospital? The answer is simple - at . However, there is emergency reasons when a delay in admission to the maternity hospital threatens with various complications.

These reasons are the appearance spotting and prenatal rupture of amniotic fluid.

generic activity represents, which are regular, painful and repeated at regular intervals.

Gradually, the frequency of contractions increases, while the contractions are not stopped by the use of conventional antispasmodic drugs, what distinguishes them from forerunner contractions.

It can be difficult to distinguish between these two types of contractions, in which case it is better to play it safe and go to the hospital.

Appearance may accompany normal labor (opening of the cervix is ​​accompanied by minor damage to blood vessels), but most often the appearance of blood is a sign of placental abruption and other pathological conditions.

The development of placental abruption threatens the death of the fetus and mother, therefore, if even a small amount of blood appears, it is better to call an ambulance.

Outflow of amniotic fluid usually easy to determine - amniotic fluid often has a large volume, although, again, there may be little water, their gradual leakage may take place.

The feeling of the appearance and discharge of water (not mucus) from the vagina is also an indication for calling an ambulance.

In conclusion, it should be said that in the presence or with a complicated course of pregnancy, prenatal hospitalization in a hospital is planned in advance. All other cases are under the jurisdiction of the woman herself.

So when is the best time to go to the hospital? It is better to come to the hospital earlier than to worry later - will the ambulance arrive in time?

It is also worth insuring primiparous, because first births usually take a long time, up to 10-13 hours, repeated births proceed much faster.