37 wks & 4 days - Prodromal labour questions

[Seuriu]

Hi everyone,

I am 37 wks and 4 days along with my first child (a girl) and I started having random contractions 5 days ago that wrapped around to my sides and were in my back, but I only had a few a day. Then on Tuesday I woke up feeling like I was going to have a bad period, all crampy and I kept having to use the bathroom. Contractions were a few an hour and by 7pm they were every 10 minutes. At midnight every 5 minutes and I decided to go to the hospital thinking "this is it!". By the time I was at the hospital my contractions were stronger and happening every 2-3 minutes. I was told that I was 3cm dilated and started allowing myself to get really excited.

They sent me home and told me to come back when I couldn't talk thru my contractions any longer or my water broke.

At 11am I went back to the hospital because I had a few "trickles" after using the bathroom - so I was pretty sure it wasn't urine and my pad didn't show any urine, just some clear fluid. They tested it and did a swab and told me they found no amniotic fluid and that I was still 3cm dilated. Still having contractions 2-3min apart. So they sent me home again, pretty sure that my water hasn't broken. They did say my cervix was thinner than when they had last checked me.

It's now 5:16 am the NEXT day and I'm still having contractions between 2-5 minutes apart and they get stronger when I walk. I took a hot shower before going to sleep last night and I got 6 hours of sleep, the contractions seem to ease when I lay down. They still happen but not as strong. Still though, 28 hours of contractions this short apart is driving me nuts! I feel so unproductive! I had some mucous appear on a few pads thru the day and a spot of brown/red last night before bed with some of the mucous. I called the hospital, frustrated because I feel like I should be in active labour by now and they told me that my cervix IS thinning but that it can take some time. They couldn't give me a time frame and said it could be even several days.

I'm confused because I've been reading everything I can find online, and there are conflicting reports about prodromal labour and early labour. I had one doctor say I'm in early labour and another say I'm in prodromal labour and some websites say it's false until you lose your plug but a doctor said I have lost my plug. I have no idea what the hell is going on and I feel like I'm being toyed with.

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? Some people are telling me that it'll be "anytime" now since I lost bits of my plug (I don't know if I've lost the whole thing - one doctor said i did but then I lost more of it after he told me that so I guess he was wrong) and some people are saying it could be days, and some websites are saying weeks! Arg!!!!

[amaayeh]

I'm sorry!  I've had that with all of mine, except not quite that close together.  To me, it sounds like baby isn't in an ideal position for birth so your body is getting started and then it stops because it needs baby to sit another way.  I would try leaning over your sofa or birthing ball while you have a contraction.  That is what helped get my baby into position last time and then I had a quick labor.  Good luck!

[konayossie]

That's sounds really frustrating, mama! I am not sure there's necessarily a differnece in prodromal and early labor (except in hindsight). In my first pregnancy, I had timeable contrax (every 5-7 mins) for 12 hours in a row one day, then they stopped, and that was it for a week. The next week, I had exactly the same type of contrax for the same # of hours, except at the end of that 12 hours, my water broke and contrax continued, and so then it was "early labor" instead of prodromal. It deifnitely sounds like your body is gearing up, but labor could still be a ways away. My advice is keep hydrated and SLEEP/REST as much as you can. Once your contrax get more active, you probably won't be able to. I have heard of some mws recommending a glass of wine or beer and a nice relaxing bath to see if you can knock it out if it's prodromal and get some rest.

[Jaimee]

I'm sorry you're feeling frustrated and going through such intense pre-labor.   But I agree with all the pp's... this  happens and is totally normal.  The only risk is you getting exhausted.  So do be sure to keep eating, keep hydrated and rest as much as possible so that  when the real thing kicks in you have the strength to get through it.   If your contractions slow and feel less intense while laying down, relaxing in the bath, etc. then that is a pretty clear sign that it's pre-labor and not the real thing.  This can help you mentally deal with them better by realizing that you should focus on going about your day as normal as possible while taking breaks of course.

As for the mucus plug, you can lose that at any point in your pregnancy and it will regenerate.  It has been my experience that I lose mine within 48 hours of labor starting, but I also have lots of red bloody show with it.  The blood indicate that your cervix is dilating more and more.   You can walk around pretty far dilated for days without going into "real" labor.  I was at 5+cm for several days with my second before labor kicked in.  The good news here is that everything will go that much quicker when the time comes b/c your body is doing a lot of work ahead of time.   

Good luck mama, hopefully you're off having your baby right now!