Stages of Labour - Early Labour

There are 5 stages of labour, early labour – active labour – transition – birthing your baby – birthing the placenta. Over a series of short blogs I’m going to take each stage and discuss what is happening in your body, what you can expect, what it might feel like and what you can do to support yourself.

Early Labour - What’s Happening?

The first stage of labour is often referred to as ‘early labour’ or the ‘latent phase’. This is when contractions begin as your cervix begins to dilate (open) and efface (thin) clearing the way for baby.

What to Expect:

·        Irregular and infrequent contractions, they may start with only one or two an hour.

·        You will likely be able to chat through them and may even continue your usual routine without much reason for pause.

·        You might feel period-like cramps, tightenings, or backache.

·        Your mucus plug may release, this is your ‘bloody show’.

·        Waters may break, they also might not, there’s no set order to this!

Your labour has started, what should you do?

The first thing to bear in mind is to try not to get carried away, you could still have a long way to go, particularly if this is your first baby, early labour is on average 8 hours, but could be shorter or longer than this.

You don’t need to go to hospital, unless you have a concern, such as bleeding. It’s a good idea to follow your usual routine as much as possible, if it’s bedtime go to bed, if it’s time to walk the dog, do that. It’ll help keep you busy and distracted.

Eat and drink as normal, include plenty of fibre (you’ll appreciate it later) and the tastier the better as this will encourage those feel-good hormones and endorphins.

Endorphins are nature’s pain relievers, and they build up in your body over time, so a nice steady early labour will help you have a lovely little store of these beauties ready for when you need them.  You might watch a funny film or programme you like, go for a short walk, get a massage from your birth partner, have a relaxing bath, anything that feels good to you at the time.

I often see people talking about going for a nice long walk once you start feeling contractions, which is fine but may also be very tiring and you have no idea how long you’ve got to go, so perhaps stick to shorter but more scenic walk. Bouncing on a yoga ball is a good way to keep moving without using lots of energy, it can also be helpful to getting baby into a good position for birth. You can read more about baby’s position and positions for labour here.

Other things to consider

Other things to consider, who do you want with you in this stage or would you prefer to be alone? You might want to turn your phone on silent to avoid ‘those’ texts asking if there’s any sign of baby yet as they might be frustrating. Avoid starting to use a contraction timer, there’s very little point and it will likely just stress you out thinking things aren’t moving ‘quickly’ enough.

The more you relax the more oxytocin you will produce which will help your labour progress efficiently.

It's important to know that everyone experiences labour differently, and no labour will be the same, even for the same person, there is also no way of knowing how long it will last. In this early stage it’s good to fuel your body through rest and food/drink and nourish your mind and nervous system with laughter, love and comfort.