what "signs" did you *not* have before labor?

[cicely_m]

I'm trying to figure out if I need to wait to for all these things before I know that these contractions are actually doing something.
People who have given birth, did all of these things happen to you? (I know they can happen either hours or weeks before labor...)

Did you have:

1) diarrhea
2) nausea/vomiting
3) bloody show
4) backache
5) change in mood/frantic nesting

anything else?
(I know that not everyone's water breaks first, so I didn't include that one)

[superfastreader]

Originally Posted by cicely_m

1) diarrhea
2) nausea/vomiting
3) bloody show

I got these in active labor.

I had no early labor. My water didn't break until pushing.

[Dabble]

I had a backache all day while at work, but thought nothing of it - I was nine months pregnant after all! I had no other signs or symptoms. Went to my regular midwife appointment that afternoon and learned that I had been in early labor all day, and was dilated to three. They admitted me, and DS was born ten hours later!

[Patchfire]

I had the diarrhea and nausea/vomiting once I was in the throes of labor. I never saw any bloody show with my second (I'm assuming it came out in the water when I was in transition), and my mucus plug came out when I was 7 or 8 cm, hard in active labor with my first. No unusual backache (I was developing gallbladder problems when pg with my second, unbeknownst to me, but that's a different kind of backache, I finally realized). I didn't even really nest right before labor - it was more a few weeks beforehand. My mood did change a few days before - I was utterly convinced I would never, ever, have the baby and was in a very foul mood!

[broodymama]

Diarrhea was the only sign that I had.

The day before I went into labor with DD I had no signs, I didn't even have any Braxton Hicks that had been so frequent before. I took my toddler walking with some friends for a few hours that morning, then came back home and spent the rest of the day kicked back on the couch reading and napping. (In hindsight it was like anti-nesting, my body was resting up.) We went to bed around 10 pm and I told DH that I was going to be pregnant forever, that DD was never going to come.

A few hours later, just before 1 am, my cats woke me up (deliberately, and they were all lined up down the bed watching me). About 20-30 minutes later my body cleaned itself out, so I thought maybe something was going on. Maybe 45 minutes later I was in transition and then, just over 2 hours after waking up, DD was in my arms. I would never have guessed that I was going into labor that night!

[lachingona1]

Originally Posted by cicely_m

1) diarrhea
2) nausea/vomiting
3) bloody show
)

I had all these symptoms. I was in prodromal labor for 3 days and and actual labor only lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes when DD2 was born.

With DD1 I had lots of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. That labor was 42 hours.

[barefootpoetry]

The only sign I had was diarrhea, and a general sense of "this is it." I had no bloody show, never lost my plug, never got nauseous, my water never broke.

[mama_ani]

I have had 4 children and never had any of those symptoms at all and only 1/4 of my labours started with water breaking.

[Flower of Bliss]

I had vague diarreah-ish bowel movements the evening before. I woke up at roughly 5 am (after going to bed at about 2 am) with a stomach ache and kept getting back up with it until I gave up at 6am. I assume that was really just contractions. I had no nausea, no bloody show, no specific back ache to my memory, and no frantic nesting.

However, I was certain that I was in labor. I also knew that I needed to get to the hospital ASAP. I had planned to labor at home and go into the hospital at the last minute. Though in the car ride there I was worried I was going in too soon, I arrived at about 8:30 am and had DD in arms 2 hours later.

[frontierpsych]

I only had diarrhea because I took castor oil. NEVER. AGAIN.
No nausea/vomiting.
I think my mucous plug came out gradually, I didn't have the big gooey chunk that some women describe.
My water didn't break until I started pushing.
I went into pre-labour (for 2 or 3 hours at a time) about 10 times over the 2 weeks before I gave birth. (I was dilated to a 4 and 90% effaced before "actual" labour started).
I had a backache the whole last month or so, and back labour.
I had my membranes stripped twice, and started labour after the second time.

[krankedyann]

Originally Posted by cicely_m

1) diarrhea
2) nausea/vomiting
3) bloody show
4) backache
5) change in mood/frantic nesting

I didn't have any of these. The diarrhea didn't hit until I was over 7cm with ech baby, and the nausea/vomiting never came. I didn't have any bleeding until labor was well established with both babies, and no back ache at all in labor with one- the other baby was posterior, but I had no back pain until my water broke at 9cm.

[Daffodil]

I had none of those things before labor or early in labor. With my first, I had nausea and I think some bloody show after I had been in labor for quite a while. With my second, I don't think I had them at all.

[DreamsInDigital]

I had none of those at my last birth. I had bloody show but not until after I already started laboring.

[the_lissa]

I didn't realize I was really in labour the first time until I started throwing up.

[~*~MamaJava~*~]

[1) diarrhea
2) nausea/vomiting
3) bloody show
4) backache
5) change in mood/frantic nesting

[/QUOTE]

only 1 and 5, and neither of those was really severe i nest at about 37 weeks, it includes about 2 days of unbroken cooking, and that's about 4 weeks from labor for me, anyways

twice my water *did* break before labor!

[dianna11]

None of the above. I suspected absolutely nothing, until for some reason, DH started timing DD's "kicks" and discovered they were strangely coming at 2 minute intervals. About an hour later, they were getting strong and I was quite sure I was in labour by the time I had any bloody show and nausea.

[queenjulie]

Nope, none of the above--at least, not during labor. I had diahrrea throughout my pregnancy, so that wouldn't have helped me know I was in labor, and I went through a nesting phase in the second trimester. But I knew I was in labor--my contractions woke me out of a sound sleep with excruciating force. There was no doubt they were the real thing.

[Jilian]

No signs at all with DS1, but with DS2 I had bloody show about 24 hours before he was born.

[Queen of my Castle]

Did you have:

1) diarrhea- for 2 weeks before!
2) nausea/vomiting-no, never
3) bloody show-yes, when I was in 'real' labour, and knew that I was in real labour then!
4) backache- always?
5) change in mood/frantic nesting- mmm, I was having 'pre-labour' for weeks before, and false labour a week before, so I experienced everything except the bloody show. And for the record, I was losing my mucuous plug for like 2 months, (no blood) but it just regrows.

anything else?

[~Katie~]

I did not have diarrhea, nausea/vomiting, or bloody show. I was a frantic nester for weeks beforehand. Never lost a huge blob of mucus plug, just a small amount here and there. I was only convinced I was in labor once my contractions came every 3-4 minutes and lasted 50-60 seconds for 4 hours.