Distractions in labour

So what do people do during the gaps between contractions (at any stage of labour) to distract themselves from it? Music and stuff?

Not sure what I should be thinking of using to keep myself occupied.

kebakat wrote: Once I got to the hospital I was being nosey in all the drawers etc between contractions

LOL! Dare I ask what was in them?

um to be honest i dont remember, in the early stages i jsut napped between then once in the maternity home i can't remember, I had a bath I remember that.

With Nyah I cleaned the house, hung out the washing and sat outside in the sun... when they got too intense I stood by our bedroom window and hung my head out of it each time a contraction came... When I got to the hospital I hung onto the gas and mum's hand and my sister dabbed me with a face cloth...

for my first labour, (which started with waters breaking then contractions 5 mins apart), i finished packing my bag, and tidied a little while mike went to sleep in the lounge, i think i may have even had a little tiny bit of brekkie as it was around 5 that waters broke but no contractions till 6ish. then i had plonked myself in the bath, so actually tried to make sure legs were shaved etc between contractions and make myself look presentable! lol. then didn't really do much after that as they were pretty close, just sat there knowing the next one was coming soon, would add more hot water etc.. sad i know. lol. i stayed in too long, midwife and mike had to drag me outta the bath, and dress me in between contractions, they were hurrying me cos midwife checked and i was 7 - 8 cms, they were hurrying me down the flights of stairs at our appartment too! dammit i got angry at them, i didn't want contractions on the stairs to waited out till ihad a clear run to get to the car.

With ayja, since i waited till i actually knew this was it, i had gone round cleaning the house, getting clothes out for paris for daycare the next day, getting her daycare bag packed etc, chucking my toothbrush and toiletries into bags to stick in the labour bag, ha ha funny how things change, first time i just wollowed int he pain, second time i was too busy, he he, just wanted eacho ne over with so i could get all i had to do finished!! then cos i was really waiting for mike to get back from getting my mum to babysit, i rung my sister in hamilton (at 2.30 in the morning, lol) and chatted to her in between contractions, she stayed on the phone to me until mike got back.. he he then into the bath again and followed much the same pattern as last time but not let up between contractions so was a relatively short visit to the bath that time.

I seem to remember trying to ignore it and wishing it would go away! I passed a few hours doing that. Once it was obvious that I was in labour - by that I mean that I admitted it to myself - there wasn't a lot of time for distraction as by this time they were coming one on top of the other.
So not a lot of help but I think the trick is to try and rest in the early stages to conserve energy for the business part!

I had 36 hours of latent labour at home with Maya, spent a lot of it in the bath, the rest wandering around the house willing things to get a move on. Oh and I did make a trip to New World in my PJ's and had to stop every couple of aisles for a contraction!

With the gremlins I was induced, I just talked to Willie and my midwife, we talked about the babies and life in general, and I also spent quite a lot of time trying to work out which baby's heart rate was which on the CTG. My m/w and I kept arguing about it, once Sienna was out only Mercedes one was still going, turns out I was right after all!

hhhhm i often wonder how on earth people labour in the shower.. i mean i cannot stand usually with contractions and definately not when one is starting or for a while after it finishes.. so pretty much never, lol.. i spose, there are chairs.

in the early stage i tried to watch a dvd then as the contractions got stronger i tried a bath (for some women this works, not for me tho, they came faster and stronger and i tried to drown myself ) my friend had a shower which she said was quite good (a shower? i was there she had 5 in a row lol)
but once the contractions were stronger there wasnt really much time to distract myself, i didnt have gas so i was all focused, unfortunately, on the pain.

Altho my mum and bestfriend arguing over which was the quickest way to hospital was a good distraction ...

...kelly (aka caitlynsmygirl)

With Christopher I went for a really long walk and kept walking and walking till it was time to go to the hospital. LOL - didn't make things go any faster.

With Noah, my contractions started at around 1am so I left hubby asleep and went in to the lounge and pretty much just walked around the lounge with the tv on cos they were pretty close together and hurt more when I sat down. I tried going in the bath that didn't help me at all.