It's pretty silly since this is my second baby and I should be able to figure this out by now, but I think I might be having "real" contractions today? I felt crampy/achy all night (which has been going on sporadically for weeks) but the feeling hasn't gone away even after walking for over an hour and drinking a liter of water. My abdomen is basically staying hard with an intermittent tightening of the lower part of my uterus. Still no loss of mucous plug or bloody show though and I had both before the onset of labor with my daughter.
I'd totally just brush this off, but my first labor was 6 hours total and the first half of it (literally) I only experienced as "menstrual type cramps." I had zero prodromal labor that time though so it seemed very clear that it was the real thing. Now I can't decide and it's driving me crazy. My doulas are 45+ miles away so I'd like to be able to tell them "yes, you should come now" but I'd like a more definite sign first. My main doula doesn't think that I should worry at all about the baby coming "soon" until I actually lose my mucous plug... I hope she's right since they're my daughter's primary "labor support" and I don't want to misjudge the timing and end up having to leave her with a baby sitter (and have her miss the birth) because I did my labor math wrong.
Umm, I guess this is the downside to having a history of fast labors and a relatively high pain tolerance? (Well, I actually don't have that high of a tolerance in general, contractions just seem to be a separate category for me
)
I'd totally just brush this off, but my first labor was 6 hours total and the first half of it (literally) I only experienced as "menstrual type cramps." I had zero prodromal labor that time though so it seemed very clear that it was the real thing. Now I can't decide and it's driving me crazy. My doulas are 45+ miles away so I'd like to be able to tell them "yes, you should come now" but I'd like a more definite sign first. My main doula doesn't think that I should worry at all about the baby coming "soon" until I actually lose my mucous plug... I hope she's right since they're my daughter's primary "labor support" and I don't want to misjudge the timing and end up having to leave her with a baby sitter (and have her miss the birth) because I did my labor math wrong.
Umm, I guess this is the downside to having a history of fast labors and a relatively high pain tolerance? (Well, I actually don't have that high of a tolerance in general, contractions just seem to be a separate category for me
)
Follow Mothering