Has pre-labor made anyone else 'gun-shy'?

[Breeder]

I am absolutely hesitant to tell anyone (even DH) when I am having contractions because they have always petered out. I feel like I'm getting his (not to mention MY) hopes up, it's discouraging to me because I am so uncomfortable and seemly making 0 progress. Also I left work last wk due to contractions and when I returned I had to listen to, "I thought you had your baby!" and managers acting like I was faking just to cut out early (because I don't need the money AT ALL

So now I'm afraid I'll start having contractions and then won't leave work until they are too intense to drive home (we only have 1 car) or I'll end up having the baby at the office.

It's driving me into a grumpy crazy paranoid mess.

[MarchWillow]

I'm a little gun shy to tell anyone. It's a hard balance, because it's my fourth, and I have to give as much time as possible for my mw's and support to get here....and yet babies don't just fall out, so I'm trying to ignore the contractions as they come. I figure once they "get my attn" then I'll probably debate over it an hour to two and make some calls. I just keep telling myself "babies don't fall out, these have to hurt way worse" lol. It really is a hard call to make, especially when you get 3-4 good ones and start thinking that it really could be it. I totally feel ya!

[Beeblebrox]

I had myself a false alarm last week that made me pretty bummed.

TMI ahead....

I woke up to some blood in the ol' panties and thought, "Oh!! Bloody show!" I told DH, my mom and my midwife because I was just so excited. I took a shower and as I was drying I figured out that it was NOT bloody show, but rather a cut or a pimple or something on the OUTSIDE.

I felt like such a dope.

[majormajor]

a little bit. my plan had been to not tell anyone about contrax until they are too painful to talk through, but i've been having period-like cramps with contrax and backache since friday, so i ended up talking with my mother, aunt, and grandmother about them. i wanted to know if they were a sign that real labor was coming (verdict: mother doesn't remember ever having them, aunt had them the day before her first was born, and grandma says that's the baby moving down). they're all chill though, and won't get too excited and call hourly for progress reports, so it's all good.

doesn't it seem like our DDC has had more early labor than is usual? i feel like even if one of us gets bloody show, it's not a given. sigh...

[Intertwined]

I'm a little perturbed at DH because the moment I have a strong contraction he hides with his cell and calls my MW. I've threatened to take it away and erase the numbers. You'd think we hadn't done this FOUR TIMES, the last one being UNASSISTED!!!! But he's nervous because it's twins. Hello, all the birth supplies are here, and I can handle catching a baby, duh.

Anyway, just KNOW your body IS doing something. Last time I had labor it was because the babies were flipping. If I hadn't had my MW come over I don't know that I could have figured that out alone. They were doing it during contractions so I couldn't feel it over them. Your body is a miracle, and it knows exactly what it's doing in there.

[Galatea]

Yeah, my m/w wants me to warn her if I even feel funny, b/c ds2 was so quick, but I am tired of warning her and producing no baby. Dh keeps telling me to call her and warn her, but I snapped at him.

[kalisage]

I certainly am, and we're planning on UC! But DP & I are sharing a vehicle, so I'm worried I'll be home with the car and the baby will come.

[Luv2Skydive]

I don't tell DH when I'm having contractions.....but he's been watching me like a hawk and sees me looking at my watch or will see I have contractionmaster.com open. At this point, they've come and gone so much, I worry I won't believe the real thing since I've never gone into labor on my own. Luckily, my MW lives 3 minutes away, so she can get here if I go quick.

[thismama]

omg tell me about it! i had contrax all sunday night, and called everyone in my birth team to let them know i ws probably in early labour, called my folks to say i probably couldnt visit. then... the contrax went away! monday night i was up again, contrax stronger and closer together, finally i couldn't deal anymore and called the doula... then i stressed that i'd called her at 4am and what if my contrax went away.

so while she was en route over they did go away! gah. she was super understanding though and that helped me relax. i went to bed alone and nursed my daughter, which brought them back. even when the midwife arrived, i was at 8cm and in hardcore labour, and they spaced out and became less intense for a little bit. i have super shy contractions... even timing them in early labour made them go.

[Intertwined]

My MW has also requested knowing sooner rather than later since twins often come fast and my last 'normal' labor was only 3.5 hours (Izzy's was 33 hours but that was cord/placenta related). So while I felt slightly bad dragging her out the other night, she was understanding.

[RootBeerFloat]

This is totally driving me crazy, too. I had a nice talk with my MW about it last week and she said, and it made me feel so much better, that my job was to give her the information and her job was to decide what to do about it. Twice now I've had runs of contractions over several hours that have made me though, I'm about to go into labor, and then nothing. I haven't called but the second time I probably should have. What a pain in the arse!

[cj'smommy]

Oh yeah. I put in another thread how I thought that I wouldn't accept it was in labor until I had a contrax that knocked my socks off......now I don't think I'll accept I'm in labor until I actually have the baby......

I'm not in a hurry to have this baby yet, but I still keep checking that TP for bloody show. Why you ask? I don't know because that would just be another 'sign' I had that would lead to nothing. I'm good for another couple of weeks, really, but all these 'signs' are driving me nuts! I've had them all excpet for my water breaking and the bloody show, though I have lost lots of my mucous plug.

[Intertwined]

So here I am, 1am, contracting every 5 minutes and can't sleep through them any more and yet.....

WHY CANT I HAVE LABOR LIKE SUSAN ON DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES!?!?!?

Oh yeah, "this is it!" so obvious it smacks you in the face? No show, no mucous, still can't reach my cervix, ARG!

[trinimommy]

Originally Posted by Intertwined

So here I am, 1am, contracting every 5 minutes and can't sleep through them any more and yet.....

WHY CANT I HAVE LABOR LIKE SUSAN ON DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES!?!?!?

Oh yeah, "this is it!" so obvious it smacks you in the face? No show, no mucous, still can't reach my cervix, ARG!

LOL..I was thinking this last night too! :

I have strong contrax almost daily for an hour or 2 and then they go away.

I will be 41 weeks on Wed...I have stopped answering my phone with the "Is baby here yet questions...of course I now have like 15 unread text messages.

My mom is somehow able to look at my stomach and tell when I have a contraction though so it's hard not to say it to her...lol. I try to not time it until I get into the 2 nd hour of it.

I've been having bloody show since last week...a little last Tuesday then it went away then I have been having it again since Saturday...still no baby though.

I don't think I'll believe I am in labor until this kid comes tumbling out because I am totally discouraged at this point.

[SumnerRain]

Originally Posted by Intertwined

So here I am, 1am, contracting every 5 minutes and can't sleep through them any more and yet.....

WHY CANT I HAVE LABOR LIKE SUSAN ON DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES!?!?!?

Oh yeah, "this is it!" so obvious it smacks you in the face? No show, no mucous, still can't reach my cervix, ARG!

...Because it is not in our script. LOL

I just started watching Desperate Housewives just now, but the last "Hollywood" delivery I saw was on Ugly Betty. "My water just broke" ::screaming:: "Give me drugs" : cries:: Yeah. Right.

[merry-mary]

yeah! This past Friday I was beyond convinced I was going to have the baby as I had bloody show and mucus and contractions .... and yet, nothing. I am still a week away from my due date, so there's no need for me to be so impatient.

I've been having contrax for a good week now, mostly during the day. Worse for me is the darn round ligament pain in my groin. It only shows up a few times per day but when it does, dear God - I double over.

[1babysmom]

Oh my gosh, after last night (just posted about it) YES!! It sucks!! The thing that makes it harder is that DH, if not home, is usually in place where he's an hour away (school...and this week is finals) or he can't up and leave at a moments notice (he's an EMT). So if I call him to come home it better as heck be the REAL thing otherwise it's going to cause him a lot of trouble. So it makes me hesitant to ever say much or think about calling him. Plus, we're having a UC and I have NO idea how fast/slow things will be this time so that makes it somewhat nervewracking, too.