How did you feel the days/week or so before labor began??

[bebe luna]

I remember others talking about feeling as if they were coming down w/ a cold or the flu in the week or so before they gave birth.
Anyone here experience this??
I don't really remember how I was before I went into labor w/ ds... I remember taking a lot of baths though...
I am 36 weeks now and have been feeling a little "off" the past 2 days... the baby has definately dropped and I feel a lot of pelvic pressure, many braxton hicks, increased fatigue, but also this feeling like I could be getting a cold... but not quite the same...

[Boobiemama]

LOL You looking for signs too???
Also 36 weeks here. Today my 5 yo said we would have the baby in 13 days. That'd be nice!!

My BH are definitely getting stronger, espcecially at night, they really pick up.

[Spark]

Hi, Jaze, my fellow March Mama!

With my first pregnancy I developed a theory. I don't know how sound it is, but just based on how my friends IRL did towards the end of their pregnancies, this is what I observed.

No matter if you go "early" or "late" we all seemed to just enter a "funk" about 2 weeks before giving birth. The "funk" included more intense feelings that we had experienced during the 3rd trimester, just at heightened levels. The "funk" feelings included depressed feelings, so uncomfortable in our bodies, exhaustion yet unable to sleep well, just feeling out of it, not wanting to see people or talk to them, inability to concentrate to the Nth degree, feeling unbalanced health/emotion wise, etc.

The theory I developed was that when you get into that "funk" you've got two weeks to get things in order. Yet, usually you don't have any ability to do anything other than making sure you take a nap when you can and relax as much as possible.

[marbles]

I like that theory Spark! I got in the funk about 2 weeks before my last birth...grumpy, irritated, avoiding people and phone calls and feeling like my baby was being stubborn by not coming out...when I think of this now it seems so unreasonable!!

I had her 2 weeks later.

With my first I had her at 38 weeks but I was so shocked and happy as I had been expecting to go late like lots of first timers.
So I never had the chance to get in the funk with her.

With this May babe, I am expecting the funk full on!

So bebe luna, are ya in the "funk" or what???

Here is some funk dust from the funk fairy!

[artemesia]

Oh no, I have the funk but two weeks is likely a tad too early for this babe to come. Maybe its just winter funk.
Yeah, I had the funk a few weeks before Dd was born, and a lovely kidney stone too. I'm hoping to avoid that little extra this time though.

[mom2kbeth]

I'm looking for signs here as well! Friday night/Saturday morning I lost my mucous plug (sorry if that's TMI, LOL!), so now with every contraction, I keep thinking "is this one THE one?". But so far ... nothing. I'm almost 39 weeks, but dropped almost 3 weeks ago. I'm feeling much like bebe luna - really tired, lots of BH, tons of pressure, feeling like I have the onset of a cold. I'm also in a funk - today, I had to send my dd and dh out for a few hours because dd was playing with our bunnies and kept repeating the word "copper" over and over again (she was pretending one of the bunnies was the dog from The Fox aand the Hound) - usually this sort of thing wouldn't bother me, but today, I felt like I wanted to crawl out of my skin!! Thankfully, dh is home and took her out for an afternoon of daddy-daughter fun and I got some much needed peace and quiet! But I'm really hoping it will be soon - this funk is killing me!!

Good luck to everyone else who's also waiting - sending you all ~birthing vibes~

Bonnie

[mamaroni]

Oh, I'm also in the "funk"!! But like artemesia, it's a tad early for me. I was just 34 weeks on monday.

My first was 6 days "early," and I felt great/normal/the same all the way to the end (like marbles, I never had a chance to experience the funk). My second was 5 days "late" and I was in a major funk, especially once I passed my due date. But I honestly never had any particular feelings of "this is the day" or "something isn't right."

I think my funk this time is part winter funk and part tired-a$$ mama funk.

[citizenfong]

Interesting theory, Claire. And here I just attributed it last time to the stress of my last week at work!

The next week, the first of my maternity leave, I had a cold and terrible sinus congestion. It cleared up a day or two before birth.

So there you go. I can personally verify both theories!

[Mamajamz]

So interesting about the funk. Never thought it before, but I can totally relate. I'm due on Monday, have had a cold since last week and am finally feeling better as far as the congestion and now my ctx's are picking up. No other signs except that tonight I suddenly *had* to leave the dinner table and be alone in my closet organizing something, and felt like crying for no reason. Weird. Glad there's a name for it, and that it's not just in my mind! They should put that in the midwifery textbooks: Final Funk.
Oh! and I thought I was getting so close this last weekend and was looking for the nesting urge, but instead was feeling so tired I just wanted to sleep the whole weekend. Yea! I really am getting close. I'm so ready to have this baby!!!!!

[MamaSoleil]

I remember looking for signs too!!!!

Here's sending you lots of birthing vibes!!!

[anothermama]

Wow! This thread wasn't what I expected at all!!!!!!

My dd was about 2 weeks late. And they were the BEST two weeks of my life.

Now, everyone annoyed the holy heck out of me, but I was single, so I just holed up in my house and turned off the phone with a message on the maching that said "NO! The baby isn't here yet!". I was super super bi*&^y to people I guess. But Physically I felt better than I had all pregnancy. I was still very fatigued and napped about 3 or 4 hours a day but I was sleeping through the night more.

I guess I had a funky attitude but physically it was a relief.....I physically felt great. I really had no noticable signs that I was going into labor until my mucus plug came out, and that was at 6am....hard labot started at 9am and the baby came at 5pm.

[ChasingPeace]

Here I am typing away at 5 a.m. in a funk myself! I'm due Friday and I'm SO irritable. It's been like super-PMS for at least 10 days (maybe longer--I can't remember when it started). My maternity leave started Monday, and I thought I'd have this great nesting urge. No such luck! My Mom and my sister are staying with me from out of town until the baby comes, but I'm just so bitchy-- I want to be alone, and to crawl into bed! Grrrr!

It's comforting that so many of you had/have similar feelings, but oh, do I want baby to come out!!!!

[tessamami]

I was kinda numb sometimes in my butt, legs due to the weight of my belly.

[bebe luna]

yeah, I feel pretty "funky".... but I'm also going through a lot right now...
packing my home so we can move out before the 13th, preparing fo closing (sale of home) on the 13th, moving into my aunts (for 6 weeks), trying to purchase a new home (which involves dealing w/ some really crazy sellers who are resistant to leave)...
so, although I am excited to hold the new baby and be done w/ the last phase of pregnancy, I also really hope baby waits until we've moved into my aunts home...
but despite the stress and the expected physical and mental fatigue due to my circumstances, there is something else different...
a deep fatigue... intensifying BH's...achier back... baby dropped... pelvic and inner thigh pressure... uterine twinges... increased insomnia... sometimes queezy stomach... on and off mental fogginess... irritability... impatience.... emotional self... and a general blah feeling. I think funk is a good word for it!

[Boobiemama]

Well I go from feeling ggod, to feeling depressed then feeling depressed if I feel good! LOL

Last night I was thinking I am not totally miserable yet, so I cant be anywhere near having the baby, so that depressed me.

But then in bed last night, I was totally miserable! cant sleep, pee about 7 times a night. The baby kept moving weird, and it felt like I was laying on him and squishing him no matter what side I layed on. Then he was laying all on one side of me so the other side of my belly was totally empty and he was pushing on the top so that hurt.... uuggghhh, Then woke up with the really achy pubic bone .
I'm having those little twinges too. They better be doing something good! LOL

Well, my 5 yo says we are having the baby in 13 days, so I want to go with him/.

[cottonwood]

My own theory is that the reason your body puts you into the funk is that it is your body's way of getting you to slow down, seek out comfort and privacy, and focus within. The "bitchiness" is a defense mechanism. It doesn't make sense to our rational brains that we should feel like being unpleasant toward people whose intention is to be helpful, but our bodies know what they need, and it usually isn't that.

[Jish]

My funk starts about two months before I'm due, not two weeks. I'm just not a good pregnant woman and I'm in a lot of pain those last two months. I'm also one of those women who dilates and effaces really early (35-36 weeks, 4cm, you get the idea) but then just hangs on until the due date or later as was the case with ds2.

I've never noticed anything to tip me off that labor was impending. I feel the same right up till the moment the contractions start. I kind of like it that way because it keeps me from constantly wondering "is this it?"

[Mere]

With my first I felt pretty good up until the end with the exception of my back...I remember in last week and half or so preceeding labor having a very achy back and being very uncomfortable in bed. I built myself a large pillow fortress every night in order to get any sleep...poor dh, he only had about 1/4 of the bed to sleep in!

My midwife just told me today though that it's very common to feel achy, etc. earlier on with subsequent pregnancies though...ugh.

[ilovebeingamom]

My water broke at 37 weeks for my ds. Before that I don't remember a funk, I did feel out of sorts though. I did have strong nesting too, despite the fact my brain kept telling me I had several weeks to go. I typed up all the instructions for my job to handle things while I was gone. I turned it in the day my water broke. I was also supposed to go to my dh's christmas party, and I never turn down a free meal, but I just didn't feel like going. That night my water broke. I am so glad I didn't go to the party, I would have been embarrassed. I gushed, not leaked.

The other thing was that I was scheduled for a version to try and turn the breech baby, but I felt like I needed to do it sooner. Turns out he came before we could do that and had a c/s.

So I didn't have physical signs so much, but my body/intuition was sure trying to tell me something.

[Spark]

Blueviolet -- Ahh, I like your theory about the "Final Funk." It totally makes sense that if we don't listen to our bodies, then our bodies scream at us though other ways. I wonder if the "Final Funk" can be avoided through listening to your body more or if it is just unavoidable.

I've felt great for most of this pregnancy (asside from the nausea/headache/exhuastion of the first 4 months). I feel much better than when I was pregnant before. But, also, I'm not doing as much outside of the home. I have a lot less stress and take time for myself. I wonder if/when I'll enter the funk this time. I have 6 weeks until EDD.

Anothermama & Melissa, even though you didn't feel the funk, it sounds like you listened to your bodies & slowed down. Perhaps that's a key.