Can labor really start any time?

[chambom]

Hello everybody. The babies are coming!

Mine seems to want to hang out. I am 41w3d today. I am working with midwives, but at a hospital with a birth center. If I go to 42 weeks I will be risked out of the small birth center we have.

I am just wondering if labor can really start without the conditions people talk about. I am 60% effaced and 1cm and have been for a couple weeks. My cervix is soft, but the baby isn't really putting a lot of pressure on it to make changes. Contractions are also kind of weak.

With all of this could I still go into labor tonight, tomorrow...ever?

[day-by-day]

Originally Posted by chambom

With all of this could I still go into labor tonight, tomorrow...ever?

Yes! With my first, I had no signs of impending labor. I was not dilated. Then my water broke out of the blue, and 9 1/2 hours after contractions started she arrived.

It's such a crazy thing. One minute you're not in labor, the next you are. It does happen! You will not be pregnant forever.

[jerawo]

With my first and second, contractions just started out of the blue in the middle of the night. With my first, I had no signs of impending labor. I did have signs with my second, but I only realized them in retrospect. I don't know what my cervix was like with either baby, because I never had any vaginal exams.

[XanaduMama]

Originally Posted by day-by-day

Yes! With my first, I had no signs of impending labor. I was not dilated. Then my water broke out of the blue, and 9 1/2 hours after contractions started she arrived.

It's such a crazy thing. One minute you're not in labor, the next you are. It does happen! You will not be pregnant forever.

: Exactly that with my first birth. This time I had a bit more warning, maybe just because I could feel the warm-up cx's more strongly. But with ds I had an exam on Thursday and was high, firm and closed; early Sunday morning my water broke and he was born Sunday night.

Hang in there!! Do what you can to get things moving (EPO, sex, walking, squatting, nipple stimulation, etc etc), but s/he'll come when s/he's ready.

[rmzbm]

Oh yes, that can for SURE happen! And as far along as you are it probably will. Sending labor vibes...

[ChristianMomOf2]

I'm glad you posted this, I'm not even at my due date yet, but had a dream last night that I never went into labor... I guess I was prepetually pregnant! LOL

It's nice to be reassured, even when I know I have 4 weeks before I need to start "worrying" about it...

[AGierald]

im soooo glad you posted this! im 39w6d (as of midnight, lol) and i feel TONS of braxton hicks, but nothing else... ugh! Thanks for reassuring me that it can just HAPPEN with no warning!