Hours and hours of contractions at term

[mamazee]

I am at term. Last night, I started getting contractions about 8. They weren't too strong and didn't seem terribly consistent time-wise, so I just ignored them. But by about 11 they were pretty consistently coming at 6 minutes and lasting around 40 to 50 seconds. They still weren't that strong, but I called my midwife to kind of alert her in case I had to wake her up at some point.

So the contractions continued for hours and hours, and got a bit stronger and closer together, but never got very strong. They were as close as 4 minutes by about 4 am, but then they started getting weaker and it became apparent there was no birth coming so we went to sleep.

I had some show the first few hours with the contractions but that stopped as well.

So is this at all promising? I have no idea what to think. I was really thinking that I was going to give birth last night (or I should say early this morning) but it just petered out. I've been having light contractions all day again. My due date is in just a couple of days so I'm right at term. Does all this labor mean anything or was it just something to keep me up all night?

[fruitfulmomma]

I had prodromal labor twice before the last babe was born. Once I think was about two weeks before and lasted about 5 hours and then the next time was the day before she was born and lasted 8 hours. Then I went to bed for the night. Next morning I went to my appointment and she checked me, might have rimmed the cervix, and by the time I got home I was in labor and she was born that night.

So... Yes, it does mean something. It is getting your body ready and could be causing dilation but doesn't necessarily mean labor and birth are imminent.

[Catherine12]

I had this happen before the birth of my third baby, dd2, three times (twice about how you describe, one shorter episode) over the course of a couple weeks. dd2 was finally born 11 days after my due date (which was a very accurate date, I know when I ovulated).

So it definitely doesn't mean you're about to go into labor (though you could be... I just wouldn't count on it). But it isn't "useless", either. dd2's birth was much faster and easier than my other two babies, who arrived without any "false starts". By much faster, I mean a little over an hour instead of 20 or 22 hours. The first stage contractions got very intense, but never truly painful (again, unlike my other births). So I think there are real advantages to these "false starts", as annoying as they can be.

So consider it as doing part of your labor ahead of time... now you get to rest and recover a bit before getting back to work.

[hapersmion]

I had contractions 3 minutes apart, all day long, about a week before my DS was born. They weren't very strong, though. For me, it was because I was up all night throwing up from a stomach bug the night before. :P Make sure you're not dehydrated!

Other than that, no real way to know if it's real until a baby comes out. But good luck!