How long will this last?

[ellymay]

I swear this is getting on my nerves, I had contractions for SEVERAL hours friday night into Saturday morning but nothing that stayed consistent or got worse which I now read was prodromal labor well fine right well no though the contractions pretty much almost stopped yesterday just had a few here and there well today I get up and not only am I having some contractions here and there I am cramping and feeling nauseous and having loss BM's but I am sure this too will pass and not lead to anything, why do our bodies have to trick us LOL.....ok sorry I am done whinning now.....

[flapjack]

Oh boy yes. I know how THAT one feels

You know the really unfair thing? That you have to have a natural pregnancy, trusting in your body, to really get the whole prodromal thing (the UK don't even use the word, they call it spurious labour) and after placing this much trust in your uterus, it goes playing peekaboo. A squeeze there, a tightening there, three hours straight of contractions five minutes apart and building- and for what? WHAT, I ask you?
Well, it's doing wonders for my sex life trying to break this, but that's about it : Oh, and my round ligaments are hurting less as well.

So, who's next to whinge?

(oh, to answer the question. Last time round I started contracting on Halloween, and she was born on the 26th of November. If I go all the way to 42 weeks, then I get 42 days straight in prodromal labour, and I haven't had a full day off without regular ctx yet. Aren't I lucky? )

[ellymay]

OMG I think I would freak LOL

[flapjack]

I am I just keep telling myself that I AM the ultimate question, the one to which the answer is 42. How many days of this? 42. When will my baby be born? 42. If I go to 42+1, however, I am going to be absolutely stark raving bonkers.

[Mommy2Austin]

Repeat with me.....

Pregnancy is a temporary condition. Baby must come out....

Now lets all repeat it over and over until the prodomal labor decides to stop.... *sigh*

I have to keep telling myself this because I'll otherwise go mad! DS was born at 40w6d with AROM and an epi. I'm going all natural this time (not to mention at home!), but I swear I'm gonna go crazy before then....

[StrawberryFields]

I will cry and whine with you I woke to contractions 5 minutes apart this morning, lasting from 3 AM until 7 AM. I really thought today might be the day. Instead, it just seems to be day 8 million (FEELS like 8 million, anyway) of prodromal labor. Now I'm stuck contracting irregularly once again, and I've just about had it. Whatever, baby--keep cooking for another 4 weeks and I'll have a nice plump 42 weeker, for all I give a poop. Just quit with the contractions and the nausea and the labor symptoms already!! This needs to go one way or the other before I lose my mind!

[Theia]

Oh mamas. I can only offer you hugs. I am only 35 weeks and this seems to be something that is happening to those who are full term. But you are giving me so much to look forward to. Especially the nausea part. My morning sickness in the 1st trimester was horrible. Nausea that never ended and puking 4-5x every single day, it was so bad I picked my meals based on how bad it would taste when it came back up. Oh my. Please tell me it won't be that bad.

[StrawberryFields]

Originally Posted by peace_laughing

Oh mamas. I can only offer you hugs. I am only 35 weeks and this seems to be something that is happening to those who are full term. But you are giving me so much to look forward to. Especially the nausea part. My morning sickness in the 1st trimester was horrible. Nausea that never ended and puking 4-5x every single day, it was so bad I picked my meals based on how bad it would taste when it came back up. Oh my. Please tell me it won't be that bad.

if it is any consolation I didn't go through any kind of symptoms like this with my first baby. None. The first time I felt nauseous and started contractions, I was in labor, and he was born shortly after. And I also suffered from morning sickness with both pregnancies--worse with my first--and the nausea I am feeling now at the end of this one is not nearly as bad as that. It's more of a loss of appetite, prep for labor kind of nausea than the all day first trimester never ending just got off an amusement park ride kind of puking. For me, anyway!

[Carlito's_wife]

I hadn'teven heard of the term prodromal labor until you all started talking about it on here.

I have been frusterated the past few weeks because I have had tons of contractions but I am sure it is not true labor. They started out very frequint but no pain. Just lastnight I went from slight cramping to some kinda serious pain. But they always stop sooner or later. They don't freak my out as of yet though because I can tell it isn't that serious.

[flapjack]

Peace laughing- mine hit at 36 weeks Don't count your chickens yet, my love, you could still have seven whole weeks (49 days) of prodromal agony.

Carlito's wife, the one thing that is making this both better and worse is knowing that generally, whenever I've had prodromal labour it's hurt a lot more than the real thing.

Amanda, I feel so guilty because I'm convinced you "caught" this from me. I was SO sure that you were in labour last week, and instead I seem to be contagious

[guestmama9972]

I want to whine! I had contractions all afternoon on Wednesday and finally decided to time them that night. they were 3-5 min apart but didn't really hurt too much. So I went to bed hoping that I'd wake up in active labor, but nope. I had one huge contraction in the middle of the night and that was it.

Baby has dropped so low I feel like something is hanging out of my vagina. But at least I am not short of breath anymore.

I am dreaming about her. I can see her, feel her, smell her in my dreams. I need her out!

[applecore]

I'm not whining because I don't have it near as bad as many of you mamas, but I tend to have a hard time determining when labor is beginning because I have pretty hardcore uncomfortable bh ctx all the time from early in pregnancy. They are really hard to distinguish from early labor ctx, so I'm pretty much a few hours off from baby time when I finally realize I'm actually in labor. Even after my water spontaneously ruptured w/ #2, I was experiencing what I would consider my normal everyday ctx for a couple of hours until hard labor hit really fast.

[Dea]

So these contracts are painful? I've been having a lot of contractions but they aren't painful, they are hella intense though. If I'm shopping they like to come one on top of the other, or if I am busy around the house. If I rest and drink they slow down.
I haven't put much thought into it since I'm only 36 weeks and they don't hurt. So are these prodromal things, or just plain ol' BHes like I've been having forever?

[Mommy2Austin]

Ok so tonight I have a nasty headache along with crampy contractions and the poops (sorry TMI) I just want DH to get home so I can sit in the shower and try to feel better

Now with DS I don't remember having real regular ctx because I had all back labor with him before I got my epi (4 days of back labor and I was DONE) so besides the BH I have no idea what ctx should feel like. Can they be just crampy and not really of the tightening sort? My BH makes my belly get all tight and hard and uncomfortable but what I've been feeling is belly cramps...*sigh* Come home DH!

[flapjack]

Dea, for me the most painful contractions of pregnancy are those that are happening whilst I'm trying to get into active labour (from 2cm-4cm, which is pretty much where I'm at now) and then the turning and repositioning ones. The ctx I had that tried to shift and reposition Alex were pretty freaking awful as well (I'm remembering them 9 years later,they were that bad), but they were kind of centred on baby, not cervix.

[Dea]

Originally Posted by flapjack

Dea, for me the most painful contractions of pregnancy are those that are happening whilst I'm trying to get into active labour (from 2cm-4cm, which is pretty much where I'm at now) and then the turning and repositioning ones. The ctx I had that tried to shift and reposition Alex were pretty freaking awful as well (I'm remembering them 9 years later,they were that bad), but they were kind of centred on baby, not cervix.

So then these are just plain ol' baddy BHs? Whoot whoot.

[mama_nym]

I had podromal labor with 2 of my 4 ... a couple weeks of "intense bh's" that were annoying, but I could live with and three days of intense contractions 7-8 minutes apart (sometimes spacing to 10 min apart when I was really making an effort to get some rest). With ds2 my water then broke and he was born 2 hrs. 46 min. later after 7 mins of pushing (I dilated from 2cm - fully dilated in 45 min). With ds3 my water broke and it was about 6 hours later that he was born (again after 7 min of pushing!), but I chalk that up to the fact that I got into the birth tub and relaxed so much that the intensity of my ctrx mellowed a bit and let me get much-needed rest!

: to all of you in "podromal hell" as one of my friends refers to it as! I'm 37w4d and have yet to feel anything more than a dozen weak bh's, so I have no idea what's going to happen this time around!

[flapjack]

: Here, honey, have some of mine (that's the contraction smiley, too)