Preparing for Labor- Planning to Leave

To the Point

Things to Consider

• Childcare Logistics: Arrange for a relative, friend, or nanny to watch other children, as labor is unpredictable and can happen even with home births.

• Pet and Livestock Care: Ensure animals are fed and watered; consider boarding facilities for indoor pets or environmental mitigations for farm animals.

• Designated Timer: Appoint someone else to time contractions so the mother can focus on breathing and her body.

• Timing Tools: Utilize tools like a watch or mobile apps such as "Baby Contraction Timer" or "Baby Center" to track and share data.

• Communication Plan: Designate a delegate to notify family and friends or use group threads to share updates from your contraction app.

• Bag Readiness: Pack your bags ahead of time to ensure a quick departure when the time comes. See Hospital Bag Essentials

Knowing When to Leave

• The 5-1-1 Rule: A standard guide is to leave when contractions are 5 minutes apart, last 1 minute each, and have continued for at least 1 hour.

• Distance and Traffic: If you live far from the birthing center, discuss a specific departure plan with your provider and account for traffic or roadwork.

• Water Breaking: If your water breaks—whether it is a "gush" or a "trickle"—go to the hospital or call your midwife immediately to avoid infection.

• Labor Progression Signs: Losing the mucus plug is a common sign that the body is entering the early stages of labor.

o    Mucus Plug: Losing the mucus plug (which may be blood-tinged) indicates the body is progressing toward labor.

o    Contraction Intensity: Be aware of contractions becoming stronger, more frequent, or appearing as increasing lower back pain.

o    Digestive Changes: Sudden loose stools or diarrhea can be a sign the body is preparing for labor.

Lets Talk

The arrival of your little one can come unexpectedly. Sometimes without forewarning. This means you may have to pack up and leave in short order. But when you leave for the hospital, then what? Have you set up a plan? What happens when you arrive to the hospital?

This hectic time can leave you flustered and stressed. Being stressed may have negative impacts on the mother who is the one who really need the support. Preparing ahead of time and coming up with a plan of action can help to alleviate some stress and anxiety.

This article seeks to give you a starting point for your planning and provide some lesser-known details surrounding the trip and arrival to the hospital.

Things to Consider

Some key things to consider for the big day are the logistics. Certain details are easy to overlook and add stress to the already stressful process of labor.

If you have other children, who is going to look after them? If you are planning on being in the labor room, you will likely need someone to watch them at some point during whether they come to the birthing center with you or not. Even if it’s a home birth, you may still need someone to watch your child. Having close relatives of trusted friends are often good choices for this. However, some may not have that option available. 24-hour day cares, or nannies can also be a great choice. Regular daycares can be great too; however, you should consider that option with caution. Regular daycares operate within specified hours. Labor can be unpredictable and last longer or shorter than anticipated. You may have to get creative between using regular daycare and other options.

What about pets, or farm animals? How are they going to get fed, watered, and let out if needed? Family and friends are also a good choice. But again, some of us may not have that option. If you have indoor animals, boarding facilities may be a nice option for you. I recommend contacting boarding facilities and getting all set up ahead of time, far ahead of time! If you have outdoor/farm animals, consider what time of year it may be when the baby arrives. Put in any environmental mitigations necessary to keep them safe. You may also think about having someone come give food, water, and checkup on the animals. Tossing out extra food and water can be a reasonable option as well. Just remember that you may need to provide several days’ worth should extra time at the hospital be required or you are delayed getting back home.

Who is going to time contractions? The mother may need to focus on her body and her breathing. Therefore, someone else may need to time. Is that going to be you? A family member? Friend? Timing the contractions is important because it tells you when to leave (we will discuss this in another article), and how soon active labor may begin. It is also good to think about how you are going to time contractions. Are you using a watch, phone, application, measuring arc seconds of the sun? There are plenty of ways to time. One way that I enjoyed was using a mobile application. Apps like “Baby Contraction Timer” and “Baby Center” are really nice because they allow you to share the contraction times with whoever you wish. Take some time to pick you that is on your platform and that you like. I found Baby Center to be especially helpful because it doubled as the notification to our family and friends. Which leads us into our next point.

Who is going to call family/relatives/friends? If you are planning on notifying family so that they can come to the hospital, you should plan to set aside time for calls, or designate a delegate who will make the notifications for you. Or use the baby apps as the notifications as mentioned above. You can create a group message or thread and share the contraction timer with that chat. You should let everyone in the chat know what a contraction timer message from you means ahead of time.

Have you packed your bags yet? Packing your bags ahead of time and having them ready to grab and run is paramount to an expedient departure. See Hospital Bag Essentials for tips on what you should consider for your bag (s).

Knowing When to Leave

This sounds simple; however, it is anything but. At some point the mother may go into early-labor (or latent labor). However, most birthing centers will not admit the mother until certain criteria have been met.

Typically, you will hear that you should follow the 5-1-1 rule as your guide for when to leave. This rule, simply put is,

·        5: Contractions are 5 minutes apart

·        1: Contractions last for at least 1 minute

·        1: Contractions with the previous two criteria have been occurring for over 1 hour

This seems simple enough, and for those who live close to their birth center it is. But if you live far away from the hospital, leaving when the 5-1-1 has been met may mean that you are arriving to the hospital late. The below image demonstrates the typical 5-1-1 rule, however, as mentioned below, your experience on when to leave may differ.

Something to think about is how far away you live from the birthing center. If you live far from the birthing center, talk with your provider and discuss when they believe it is best to leave. Then you should also take into account if there are things that will make your trip longer than anticipated. Consider if there is traffic when you are leaving, road work, detours, bus/train schedule, etc. If you see signs of early labor, start thinking about these things. Early labor can be highly variable in progression; lasting from hours to days. See Stages of labor and birth: Baby, it's time! – Mayo Clinic for a more in-depth dive into the stages of labor. Given this highly variable time period, I recommend you prepare your hospitals bags and travel plans ahead of time.

Water Breaking is the telltale sign that active labor is imminent. The water breaking can be a sudden ‘gush’ of amniotic fluid, or a slow constant trickle. The timing of the water breaking is also highly variable. It can occur prior to contractions, after contractions have started, and sometimes not at all. In the case of the water not breaking, the doctor may do this for you upon arrival to the hospital. See the Cleveland Clinics “Water Breaking” for a more in depth dive into the rupturing of the amniotic sac. If the water breaks, GO TO THE HOSPITAL or call the Midwife immediately. The water breaking can lead to serious complications such as infection if not addressed. It is important to seek medical attention right away.

Signs of Labor Progressing

One sign that early labor is going to start soon is that the mother may lose the Mucus Plug (sometimes referred to as the “bloody show”). The mucus plug is…well, mucus. It looks like mucus (thick/gooey liquid) and may have slight blood coloring. It is a plug for the cervix which protects the uterus and baby from infection. When the mother loses this, it is a sign that their body progressing into the early labor stages. This doesn’t mean that they will for sure lose the plug in early labor, but is a helpful sign. 

Another sign is that contractions will become strong and more frequent. Often progressing from barely noticeable to very distinct. Early labor can sometimes appear as back pain. More specifically lower back pain. In my personal case, my wife already had lower back pain from pregnancy long before labor started. This meant that the early stages of labor went undetected for us. Be on the lookout for changes in lower back pain or “spasms” which are increasing in frequency. This may be your indication that early labor has begun.

As the mothers’ body start preparing for labor, they may have loose stools or diarrhea. This is a sign that their bodies are preparing by evacuating their bowels. Given that constipation is a common pregnancy symptom, a sudden change to diarrhea is a good indicator that things are starting to happen.

As usual, I highly encourage you to not stop your knowledge search here. The more you know and prepare, the more likely you are to remain calm, cool, and collected.

Resources

Stages of Labor: Mayo Clinic 

Water Breaking: Cleveland Clinic 

Hospital Bag Essentials

Sources

Staff, M. C. (2024, July 23). Stages of labor and birth: Baby, it’s time! Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/labor-and-delivery/in-depth/stages-of-labor/art-20046545

Clinic, C. C. (2022, October 26). Water breaking: Labor sign, what it feels like & what’s next. Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/24382-water-breaking