The prodromal phase

“My labor lasted 27 hours!”: One of the things that most terrify expectant mothers are these statements. Now let’s try to explain to you if this is possible and how labor and delivery are made up.

The prodromal phase

The first phase, the one that makes us start the path towards birth with fear, surprise or enthusiasm, is called the prodromal period and is made up of all those contractions that anticipate the arrival of real labor .

They are irregular contractions , infrequent and of variable intensity. This is the only fact that makes you understand that what you are feeling is not a real labor but it is only the phase that anticipates it.

How long does this phase last? Are these contractions painful? When should I go to the hospital?

These are really hard questions to answer because  every woman perceives pain differently . Maybe for mother A the pain of the prodromal contractions resembles a menstrual cramp while for mother B that contraction is difficult to tolerate because it is painful. The transition from the prodrome phase to actual labor can take place after a few hours or after a day, gradually the contractions become regular and usually increase in intensity and frequency.

Generally  the change is slow, but it is slow because good things take time to wait , because the body must understand how to respond to this hormone production, the woman needs time to understand what is happening  and that she must let go, stay focused , breathe and move. The prodromal period is very important.

As I said before, this phase can really last from a few hours to a whole day or even several days, so it is common to hear a mother say that for hours and hours she has struggled to sleep, rest, eat, that the contractions, although they were still irregular were of strong intensity and therefore painful. To all this is added the discouragement that perhaps at a midwife visit the neck of the uterus is still not dilated and one is sent home.

Furthermore, in this very first phase, all the hormones that help you support and give you support during childbirth are not there, so we remain attentive, we still think with the male hemisphere, the one that controls, catalogues, measures.

What can be done to get better?

Breathe, take a walk with your loved one, dance, do yoga, cook a dessert made with love, try to sleep if your body allows you between contractions. A partner who supports you in each of these things is often the turning point for the progress of this phase and the transition into actual labor. Instead, phrases such as “I’ll take you to the hospital because you are in too much pain”, “when do we have to go to the hospital?” or “come on what will it be, you are not in labor yet and give all these stories” doesn’t help at all.
Attending a childbirth accompanying course, doing it as a couple, knowing what’s happening to your body, what can help you, makes you face this transition period with awareness and therefore confidence.

Put the advice into practice

• Use your voice. Go for low tones like muoaiiimioaiii. There are many CDs that will be able to show you how to do the Carnatic chant.
• Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth, as if you were blowing into a straw. Inhaling the belly it swells and exhaling the navel retracts.
• Have your partner or your midwife massage your legs and hips using sweet almond oil with drops of lavender essential oil inside. Massage the hips, legs, sides, hands and feet. Take a rolling pin and wrap it in a towel and roll it over your lower back.
• Try to pee often
• Use the hot water from the hand shower by taking showers for at least 20 minutes at a time. Pass the shower head on the belly and back. Stand upright in the shower or on a low stool at the latest.
• If you want to sleep, do it on your left side.
• Look your partner in the eye if you feel like you can’t and laugh
• Walk a little on all fours so as to help the baby’s head to channel itself properly.
• Dance with your partner making an 8 with your pelvis as if you were dancing a Caribbean dance, a salsa.

The most important thing is to be happy and keep talking to the baby, tell him what you will do once he is born, who is waiting for him, that he is very good and that everything is going well.