Hammock or Trampoline? I see this often, in first labors especially: Labor starts with a long pre-labor; the kind of labor that starts and stops multiple times, sometimes for days or even a couple of weeks. A variation of this is an early labor that presents itself with short yet transition-like, painful contractions that do not yet dilate the cervix. Both patterns seem to indicate a body working hard to get a baby aligned and engaged. Once things progress, there can be inten