How did you know you were in labor?

[bclare]

As I near the end of my first pregnancy, this question keeps coming up. How will I know when I am in labor? From most women I speak with, it is very clear in retrospect.

My midwife does kind of a centering pregnancy group, and one of the women just had her little one. She called the midwife with really bad gas and gas pains and the midwife asked why she didn't think she was in labor. The woman said it just felt like gas and not labor, but our midwife decided to head over the see her. 4 minutes later the husband called the say he could see a head, and another 10 minutes later the baby was out. I have to say, it all went well but it freaked me out a bit (maybe because I get gas, too!).

How did you know you were in labor? Did you clearly know in the beginning, or or only in retrospect? Did you think you were many times before you actualyl were?

[emnic77]

With DS (baby #2) I figured it was just another round of contractions that went nowhere (both of my pregnancies have been random hurty contractions for days before actual labor started) I started having tons of bloody show, couldn't concentrate through the contractions, and ultimately checked my own cervix and felt a bulging bag of water. That's how I figured out it was time to go to the hospital...until then I figured I was still in really early labor since my contractions never were regular or really timeable. I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't checked, I would've thought I was in early labor until I actualy started pushing and would've ended up having DS on my bathroom floor.

I went way too early with my DD and was determined not to make that mistake again. With her, I knew I was in labor because I couldn't walk through the contractions AT ALL, whereas every other bout of them I was walking to keep labor going.

[lunarlady]

The way I could tell is the pain came and went in a cycle. It started slow (start timing here) then got intense, then faded. I would have a few minutes pain free, then it would go agian. They started out 15 minutes apart, then went down to 10, 7, 5...you get the picture! Gas pains actually can feel quite similar, particullarly if you're blocked up. I actually think I told my husband numerous times during labor "I just have to go so bad!" But the cycling was the real clue that it was labor. And, of course, the bloody show after a short time is another clue if you are aware enough to notice it. (I was on the toilet, so it was pretty obvious.) The final kicker for me was the vomitting. I know not everybody does this, but I normally have a strong stomach so for me to be throwing up I knew my body was getting into some serious buisness!

[dogmom327]

With DS, I simply had more than three crampy contractions in a row. That was a nice labor...liked that one.

With DD I went through 3 weeks of "false" labor. That sucked--really really sucked. I felt like such an idiot--I'd done this before and yet I didn't know when I was or wasn't in labor? But I did in fact know because when it was real, it was way worse than the three weeks. It felt like the end of my labor with DS.

Odds are extremely good you'll know. The situation where the baby came in minutes of "gas" pain is extremely unusual...one I dream of happening to me though!

[flitters]

Mine was very obvious. 41 and a half weeks, mucus plug came out on a Monday morning. About midnight going into Tuesday my first real contraction woke me up - unmistakably different from all the BH ones I'd been having for ages. Contractions continued all day Tuesday going slowly from once every half hour or so, to once every 15 minutes by afternoon, to once every 7 or 8 minutes by evening. As night rolled in they were about 5 minutes apart and strong enough to make me stop and bend over, but not lasting a full minute. We called our doula and midwife then with an update and to let them know we'd be calling soon. Around midnight going into Wednesday it kicked up another notch (needing back pressure, moaning, etc). I think our doula came around 3 am. I checked my cervix in the shower around 6 am and it was about 5cm. Midwife came around 8am, I was at 7cm. I stalled there for hours - until around 3pm. Suddenly, baby came out around 3:30. Plenty of time to know what was happening.

[jennica]

With Ds, I woke up in the middle of the night with contractions that were 5 minutes apart. Two hours later they were two minutes apart we were heading for the hospital. He was born 4 hours later. It was so painful, there was no mistaking what was happening, though my doula and the midwife both told me to stay home longer because there was time since I was a first time mother.

[bclare]

These stories are great, thank you all so much! I am realizing I have been hearing more "unusual" labor stories that more "typical" stories!

[athenalove46]

With my first 2 children my labor never started until my water broke. And my first one I labored for 15 hours before she was born, and with my second my labor was 8 hours. With my son.....I'm pretty sure I labored about a week with on and off contractions. I never had a typical labor with him. My contractions actually stopped an hour before my water broke and he was born within 10 minutes of my water breaking.

Good luck!!!

[laughingfox]

Umm.. I dunno.

I had many many solid hours of pre-labor for about a month before I actually went into birth-labor.

I would have contractions that were very consistent, very regular, did not go away if I walked or kept still, etc, sometimes for 7 hours at a time.
I don't know how I knew that those weren't "it", but somehow I did. I never called the doctor or anything during one of those times, but I was always very disappointed when they stopped.

When I finally went into "real" labor, I don't know how I knew, but I did. For the first day, I didn't have any bloody show, my water didn't break, I didn't lose my mucous plug, and the contractions didn't feel any different than they had before.. but somehow I knew.

It's easy to second-guess yourself.
I noticed that even though the woman in your story thought she was just having gas pains, she did know to call the midwife. I'm sure on some level, she did know, a little bit.

[xixstar]

my feedback isn't helpful... I spent a lot of time wondering on this for my last birth since my first was induced. I wanted to know how I would *know* and the only advice I found is that I simply would.

Well I had one day where I thought labor might be starting but it never went anywhere. And then a week or so later, I finally realized I'd been having contractions in the middle of the night and finally felt like I simply knew it was time....dd wasn't born until 25 hours later, so that early stuff was still early stuff, but I did just *know*.

I really hated feeling like that too, the knowing part, because it seems like such a lame answer when someone asks this question.

[averlee]

I had my first contraction while making love with my husband. Every half hour or so for the next 4 hours I'd have another contraction. In the early morning hours, I noticed the cycle lunarlady mentioned, with the intensity peaking in the middle, and they started coming closer together. 1st contraction was about 11pm, and the baby was born around 4 in the afternoon.

[Nicole730]

With both of mine, my water broke before any other sign of labor. So I knew when contractions started, they were probably real!