Logging contractions

During the first and longest part of Abby’s labor with Esther, we continually updated this blog by measuring and logging the contractions. Newest contractions are added to the top. Her first contractions November 10th around 10:30pm starting with this post.

How we measured the contractions: Abby motions or says something when the contraction starts, and then again when it peaks. I hit the space-bar to mark these times using a simple Flash program located here.

The start and the peak are two fairly distinct points in the contraction. We can measure its length and how far apart they are using these marks. The contraction can continue after the peak for up to a couple of minutes. When she lies down, the contractions become much longer and more spaced out. When she gets up and walks around they become short and more frequent. Contractions during labor can be regular and rhythmic or they can be varied. Abby’s contractions throughout the labor where extremely varied from one to the next, although this is also considered normal.