Talk to me about your prelabor experiences...

[BlueStateMama]

With DS, labor began with my water spontaneously breaking, followed by contrax starting up within a half hour, and progressing from 6 min., to 3 min., to 2 minutes within 30 minutes. I'm just over 38 weeks now and last night had fairly intense contrax from 7-8pm or so, 5 minutes apart, which petered out while I took a long shower. They came back strongly between 12 and 2, and again between 4 and 5am, but never with any regularity or at consistent intervals. Today they've been rare and sporadic. No bloody show or other syx. I'm just curious what other people's experiences have been. I know the contrax are "false labor"/prelabor stuff, but I'm curious as to what's been the progression/course for others (bearing in mind, of course, that I know every labor is different!! )

Talk to me...what happened for you? Anyone else have their labor start like mine? Or did some have similar symptoms, only to have them wane and baby show up weeks later??

[Llyra]

I had contractions nightly, fairly intense ones that were less than 7 minutes apart, for WEEKS before DD was born. They would always be gone in the morning. Then, about five days before, I lost a glob of pink mucus, and felt crampy, like with my period coming. Then on the actual day, the nightly contractions started up, but they didn't stop overnight, and my water broke the next morning. DD was born 10 pm that night. This was my first delivery... But I was in what any reasonable person would call "prelabor" for nearly three weeks (DD was born at 39 weeks.)

[milkymama1104]

Had bloody show a week before dd arrived....Was in "prelabor" with tons of BH contractions for two months....She was fully engaged when I was 31 wks pg...(Oooooh, my poor bladder!) Finally, at 42 wks I got up at night to pee for the millionth time and was getting back into bed when the contractions shifted into something more serious, about 2 min. apart. They never fell into a steady pattern, and the OB broke amniotic sac when she was crowning. (I didn't ask for her to do it and was pretty upset about it) Also, when I went into "real" labor I was already 5cm from all of the "prelabor"....

[ctdoula]

With my dd, I lost my mucos plug a couple of weeks before she was born. For about 3 days before I went into labor, I was crampy. No actual contractions, just crampy. The night I started labor (40w4d), my back was achy (could have also been from painting & sewing all day, LOL). I took a bath & couldn't get comfortable in the tub. I was laying on the couch after & POP, my water broke. Just like that. No real warning at all. My ctx started within an hour & she was born 25 hrs later.

[akmbloom]

I'm one day past my due date right now, and have been having regular contractions on and off for 2 weeks now. they'll be about 10 minutes apart or so for a few hours, then taper off. I had lots of Braxton Hicks before that but they weren't regular. Then I had a bit of bloody show last week...after a cervical exam.... and the next day a couple big clumps of mucous. sometimes the contractions are fairly intense, bordering on painful, but so far they haven't gotten regular any closer together. I've felt crampy and nauseous off and on the last couple of weeks too.....the baby has definitely dropped farther and farther, and a week and a few days ago i was 50% effaced and 2 cm dilated. But no baby yet! I think the regular contractions have been emotionally stressful for me, of course the first few times it happened I thought it was labor, and got real excited, only to have it go away after a while.

[USAmma]

With both pregnancies I gave up counting cx because they were every 2-4 mins. throughout the pregnancy.

With Nitara I had real preterm labor from 23 weeks until I delivered at 38 weeks. The meds made the cx weaker but they were constant. As I was taken off the meds the cx got stronger. I called my birth team twice before actually going into labor for real the third time. It was exhausting mentally and physically.

With Abi I had lots of bh cx and a couple of mild episodes of prodromal labor. But when labor finally came for real it was very sudden and very intense. Within 1 or 2 cx I was bent over and seeing stars just like in the movies. No real warm up or warning at all.

Both labors were short, 8-10 hours from start to finish.

[hubris]

With Griff, my BH ctx got stronger and more frequent toward the end. The Sunday before he was born, they started getting lower and crampier and more regular. I lost my plug that day. For the next two days I would have regular contractions, but then they would peter off, then come back, then go away again. Finally around 2 PM on Tuesday things started picking up and labor got more serious, I wanted dark and quiet, which I hadn't particularly wanted before. I went to the hospital around 12:30 AM and Griff was born at 10:15 AM that Wednesday morning.

It sounds like you could be going into a prodromal labor like I had. Maybe your baby will be here soon! Get as much rest as you can, ok? The one thing I didn't like about having a few days of prodromal labor is that I was already tired going into the real thing.

[aprildawn]

so glad you asked this question because i'm wondering the same thing.

i woke up yesterday to some bloody show and thought "woohoo!" with my first when i started bleeding i was in real labor. well, a day and a half later i'm still just having a little bleeding and some obnoxious contractions. they were 10 min apart last night and kept me awake. now that it's daytime they are more sporadic, but just as painful. i have to stop what i'm doing and concentrate on them.

i have no idea when real labor will kick in. this is annoying.

good luck to you.

[BlueStateMama]

this is annoying.

Yeah..that

Well, they died out...and I'm back to random sporadic ones. I feel like a 12 year old waiting for her period because I keep inspecting the toilet paper/toilet for bloody show/mucus plug. But, on the other hand, the feeling like I'm close is gone...I'm in no rush...I'm just looking at it as my last few days of just DS and I....

OK, now I'm going to cry

[aprildawn]

Originally Posted by BlueStateMama

I'm just looking at it as my last few days of just DS and I....

OK, now I'm going to cry

i did that last night when i was putting dd to bed.

[hunnybumm]

I had no signs of labor until I was in the early states of labor. I started out with contractions every 10 mintues. They slowly got closer together. Went from 10 mintues apart to 6 mintues apart in 24 hours. They just kept getting closer and closer until I couldn't take it anymore (or so I thought) and went to the doctor. At about 5 mintues apart I was at 3 cm, and slowly progressed from there. 45 hour labor total.