Do you remember what it felt like just before labor started?

[Erdbeer]

I am one week overdue with my second baby and have no real signs that anything is going to happen soon. So of course, I am trying to read into everything my body is doing in order to get some idea of what to expect.

I had a few days of intense BH contractions with tons of fetal movement and painful kicking.

Then I had a few days of the baby moving positions, swapping from having her back/butt on my left side to back/butt on the right.

Now she's down so low and no longer swapping positions. I can sleep comfortably on my back and I feel lots of downward pressure into my pelvis. She has been tightly engaged for at least the past week.

I haven't lost my mucous plug and I am having an increase in sticky discharge.

So I'm wondering, what have others noticed just before they went into labor? Is anything I'm experiencing a clear pattern?

[Storm Bride]

I've gone into labour three times:

With ds1, there was nothing beforehand. My ex and I had dinner, and then I was going to go to bed, but had a backache. I told my ex that I was going to soak in a warm tub to ease the ache, and he went to bed. The backache never went away, and I tried to go to bed multiple times, only to get back out of bed and run a warm tub again. At about 5:00 in the morning, I noticed blood in the toilet - first clue I had that this was labour. No BH contractions, no mucous plug until hours later, and my water never broke.

With ds2, I was pushed into a scheduled section, and went into labour the night before. I don't remember anything before the pains started, and then some blood. I did have some noticeable BH contractions for a few days before that.

With Aaron...12 days of BH contractions/prodromal labour/false labour/label of one's choice. They were pretty hardcore, too. My water broke before I started labouring in earnest, too. It was a totally different pattern than my other (even though they weren't really the same, either) - and the only time my water has ever broken.

[3pink1blue]

i had no signs with my first three. with my fourth, I had painful, frequent, intense BH for days before birth. the night before he was born (about 24 hours before) i started having very frequent urination and lots of funnny feelings - like "fullness." I could just feel something going on, but it was more pelvic than uterine per se.

I had been losing globs of mucus plug for a week or so but that night, i started having bloody show. so i walked around and ate some soup and spent all night trying to get comfortable (I could tell it wasn't time just yet) and then finally went in to the hospital.

i got there dilated to 6cm and labor promptly slowed to a crawl. there was a lot of weird stuff surrounding this pregnancy though - polyhydramnios being the one major factor - so things didn't progress in a "normal" pattern. for once i was glad to be in the hospital because it was a risky birth.

[wbg]

I just did not feel myself. Nauseous, tired, crampy, etc.

[Smylingeyz]

I could tell the contractions suddenly shift to lower down and I just had a feeling it was time... shortly after confirmed by the bloody show. Good luck!

[Narn]

I felt crampy for almost 24 hours before labor started. Like I was having mild menstrual cramps. But I had a very intense internal exam that started the cramping. I don't know how I might have felt had the OB left me alone.

[Peony]

No signs the first 2 times, I'm not holding my breath about #3.

[Erdbeer]

With my son, I lost my mucous plug at 10PM. I went to bed not feeling anything in particular, and woke up around 5 in the morning with menstrual-like cramps. Over the course of the morning they turned into a kind of "pulling" feeling, coming in waves, but not painful.

[CrunchyMamaToBe]

Originally Posted by Narn

I felt crampy for almost 24 hours before labor started. Like I was having mild menstrual cramps.

This was exactly what happened with me. Cramps like my period was coming, centered down low where my uterus would have been without an eight pound passenger. Cramps on Friday, more cramps and loss of plug on Saturday, Sunday intermittent contractions, Monday full blown labor.

[dogmom327]

I had insomnia the night before but I wasn't really tired. I made myself go back to bed for an hour that morning though and then I headed out to pick up my best friend so we could go nursing bra shopping (I was 37w2d). It was the last thing I needed to do before the baby came. We went to several stores and had the most delicious lunch every (it just tasted incredible--endorphins I assume). I felt great, lots of energy. The baby had dropped a few days earlier and I'd been uncomfortable but it wasn't so bad that day. I dropped my friend off and picked up my dog who was having a play date with her dog. Clearly my dog wanted to stay but I told him that if he did mommy would never go into labor! (the plan was for him to be at their house for the birth) I drove home and as I approached my exit, I had my first contraction. DS was born exactly 24 hours later.

I lost my mucas plug overnight while in labor so for me that wasn't a sign of impending labor.

[~Katie~]

No signs for me, at least none that I was aware of. The morning of the day I went into labor I had some discharge that looked like egg white cervical mucus, it turned out to be my mucus plug. I didn't realize it at the time because I never had any bloody show or blood tinged mucus. Other than that I went from feeling nothing to contractions pretty quickly that afternoon, and had a baby 11 hours later.

[NaturalNixi]

I felt nauseous and I never even throw up so I knew that was a good sign of labor. I also had to use the bathroom a lot to clear out for a few days before I delivered. Then I started getting slight cramps.

[Novella]

#1 and #3 I woke up because I had mild contractions. Had been sleeping soundly as normal prior to that and felt normal before bed. No signs.

#2 saw doctor an hour before my water broke with a slow leak. Told him for how I felt, labour could be weeks away. (I was already 41 weeks).

#4/5 woke up because I needed to pee. Couldn't settle back to sleep. Felt like I needed to pee again immediately. Ran this circuit for about 30 minutes before I decided perhaps it was the start of labour. Had felt totally normal before going to bed - no signs.

Perhaps my #2 will give you hope!

[Biscuits & Gravy]

DS1 was an induction

DS2: Started losing mucous plug a couple of days beforehand, but that was the one and only sign I had. I was completely surprised and shocked when my water broke. Contractions did not start until about an hour after that.

[MyBoysBlue]

I was completely clueless. With my first labour, I was asleep when my water broke and then contractions started at 1-2 minutes apart. I hit transition quickly and he was born not long after. I remember thinking that I have to pay attention for the signs of labour so I wouldn't get caught off gaurd again. Well with DS2, I had sex just over an hour before he was born. I was completely caught off gaurd again. Both were born before their due date.

[TzippityDoulah]

my first I awas havign back pain that very slowly turned into back conractions that last forever!! eventually I went in to the hospital (this was before I knew a thing about natural birth - 8.5 yrs ago) and they felt I was going fast enough so the induced/augmented... ugh.

my second I was in prodromal labour for days. not so bad I couldn't take it - but enough to kick my butt and make me exhausted! I have RLS BADLY and I tried sleeping on the couch b/c I was uncomfortable. then I felt a pop and my water broke. I started contracting 2 hrs later and delivered 6 hrs after that.

Both times I didn't know it was coming. it just did.

[momasana]

I did not have any signs leading up to labor. I felt a strong contraction, went to the bathroom and had a bloody show, and then began regular contractions.

[soccermama]

No labor signs until I was admitted to the hospital after they found out that I had no amnionic fluid left. Then the contractions started setting in!

[3pink1blue]

i forgot to mention the most important stuff about the days leading up to the birth.

Sept 1 was my brother's birthday and at his party everyone said I looked like hell. My SIL joked that I better not have the baby on her new couch lol. but i wasn't feeling like I was in labor, just feeling bad. And no appetite.

Sept. 2 was DD1s first day of school. (She was homeschooled for Kindergarten.) It was the hottest day of the year. She got out of school and I learned that she needed all these supplies, so we loaded up into my non-a/c van and went to wal-mart. I could hardly walk from the cramps, felt like diarrhea or something, not uterine.

Sept. 3 was DD2's first day of preschool. I felt GREAT that day! I had lots of energy but I still couldn't eat. I got Arby's after I picked her up but I couldn't eat it. (It sounded so good too!)
Then we came home and I put together the pack-n-play, and then i decided to completely sort the toyboxes. my grandma called and predicted baby would be born within a day since I was "nesting." I didn't think I was nesting though. i just had so much energy!

that night the contractions started for real, and DS was born the next day, Sept. 4.

[Bellabaz]

I was sleeping. The contractions woke me up although at the time they were not strong, just like cramps really. they picked up rather quickly though.