today what I wanted to talk about and a topic we haven't covered yet is prodromal labor so
prodromal labor is something that a lot of people face and it can be super difficult so let's first
talk about what it is and then I'll go through some ideas in dealing with it and coping with it
and getting through it so the technical definition of prodromal labor is labor so contractions
that are happening that don't actually make any change to your cervix so this could be something
that takes place for hours it could be something that takes place for days some people experience
prodromal labor where it seems like they're in labor but then it stops it seems like they're in
labor but then it stops and it can also be called false labor it also can be called pretty labor
so all of those words proton won't prodromal labor false labor pre labor if those are all
the same thing and so without any change to the cervix that's really what's happening that's the
technical term now the big challenge of prodromal labor there's well there's a couple challenges
there's the physical challenge of it and the mental and emotional challenge of it physically it
can be exhausting so if you can think about your uterus as a muscle just like any muscle of your
body that's just working and working and working and working it doesn't if it doesn't have time to
rest or be done which would be the birth of baby it can become fatigued and along with that if we
aren't able to rest and just you know replenish our body refuel with some rest we can become
fatigued so it depends on what type of labor what your program will labor really feels like whether
it's thing that is stopping you stopping you from being able to you know live your normal life if
it's permitting you from sleeping then that is a more concerning type of program or labor then
something that is just kind of more of a annoying feeling that you know you're noticing and you're
thinking maybe it might be it but it it doesn't really take off and really grab hold of you and
get stronger when we see when we know labor is progressing we see signs that contractions are
getting longer stronger and closer together and usually with prodromal labor they aren't hitting
all three of those those buckets so prodromal labor the first thing I would say in dealing
with a this early labor force they were purged or male burr would be - if you can ignore it
for as long as possible and actually one of the first videos that we topics we covered was sleep
and denial so I'll put the image right here and I'll try to put the link down below and that is
something that it's a good strategy to just deny that you were in labor and just to sleep through
it and and and try to keep yourself as rested as possible with prodromal labor it's almost like
if we if we imagine labor as a marathon right where you're gonna be at the end totally tapped
out and you know have given it our all per drum a labor is almost like an ultra marathon so the
ultra marathons are those ones that are you know over 26.2 miles the 30 the 50 the hundred miles
I know a lot about them because my husband runs them anyway so energy conservation is a key when
we are experiencing this so until your labor is getting longer stronger or closer together as
much as you can rest rest rest rest and I sound like a broken record saying this but it is so
important because we don't want to burn out our energy stores early because it's it's we're gonna
feel tired we're going to always trying to play catch up that our body and our uterus is - so
resting as much as possible sometimes if you can get into a deep bathtub with the water deep maybe
some epsom salts you can sometimes slow prodromal labor or let it stop for a little bit so you can
take a rest so that is definitely key other things that you can do to try to help prodromal labor one
is to do some position changes to try to possibly get maybe in a better position if that is what's
maybe stopping your body from really taking off into a better labor pattern so um you can do some
positions like hands and knees some sidelining you can do some asymmetrical positions kind of
like the one foot up in the chair or kneeling with one foot on the ground so it's like an
asymmetrical kneeling so changing up positions can sometimes help prodromal labor and unfortunately I
feel like it doesn't help as much as I want it to but it can be something to do a little bit
more active but again rest is your would be a top priority and then be more active in some position
changing the other thing if prodromal labor is goes on for a really long time and you're just
really not getting any rest contacting your care provider for options is another could be another
option for you in some locations or some care providers will forgive morphine which is an IV
Kotik and send you home to sleep and so that the morphine can allow you to sleep through it now in
other I've seen other areas of the country that they only do this if you are hospitalized and
on monitors but that could be an option for you it depends on how serious the prodromal
labor how long it's been going on and talking to your care provider about it is really important
so if you are going to you know contact a care provider try to before you give a call sit down
with your partner whoever's been going through or seeing you and probe normal labor and try to
get some facts written out because that's going to be really important so that they have a clear
picture of what is going on you know when did these labor contractions start about how long
are they lasting the kind of the contractions I'm saying about how far apart are they and about how
much sleep have you gotten and rest in this time period too so those are important factors that can
help your care provider decide how they might need to help you or assist you in getting you
know making the best plan for prodromal labor so it's certainly a challenging curveball that
can be that you can get in labor and but it's something that with proper rest hopefully your
body can turn the corner and turn that prodromal labor into an early active labor pattern so what
are your questions about prodromal labor I would love to know let them let our inter below or if
you have stories you want to share that would be great too and just another thing the big wheel
of birth is the hundredth spin is coming up so stay tuned for more information about that and
also like I said there are 98 other videos to check out on other topics that are organized in
the free course of birthatoz hope you guys have great day thanks for hanging out with me bye