Am I in labor?

[CallMeMommy]

No, seriously, tell me. DS was a preemie, I never really went into typical labor with him. Look at my contraction master readings:

Time started Time ended Duration Frequency
10:40:37 am10:41:57 am1 mins, 20 secs4 mins, 1 secs
10:36:35 am10:38:28 am1 mins, 52 secs4 mins, 12 secs
10:32:23 am10:33:34 am1 mins, 11 secs9 mins, 11 secs
10:23:11 am10:24:23 am1 mins, 12 secs4 mins, 50 secs
10:18:20 am10:19:05 am44 secs2 mins, 25 secs
10:15:54 am10:17:43 am1 mins, 49 secs5 mins, 43 secs
10:10:11 am10:11:42 am1 mins, 31 secs

I'm at work and I REALLY don't want to say "Oh, I'm going home!" just to have everything stop and come crawling back saying it was just a false alarm. I'm feeling everything in my back, occasionally a head-butt to my cervix that makes me cringe, but I'm able to talk/walk/surf the net through them like normal. The durations may be a little long, sometimes I forgot to hit the spacebar when the contraction ended. I may or may not be in denial...

[Thursday Girl]

well i timed my contractions for 3 hours and they were normal ok go in now contractions. i went in and nothing. It was more like i could feel my uterus contracting, but it didn't hurt. When it starts to feel like period cramps then i would probably go. But that is me based on my experience of having two daughters with very long labors. People with shorter labors might be different.

Oh and good luck, good birthing vibes your way. How exciting, soon you will have ababy. i can't wait for the update.

[Ruthla]

I'm really confused by the way you have those contraction times listed. Can you make it simpler? How far apart are they (from beginning of one to beginning of another) and how long do they last?

If you're able to talk and work through contractions, then either they're "just braxton hicks contractions" or you're in very early labor. When I was in labor, I KNEW I was in labor. The intensity of the contractions was just so different from anything I'd experienced before.

[kama'aina mama]

It might be labor but it's very early and very mild still if it is. What to do depends on your plan. Do you have to drive yourself home? That changes things considerably.

[kama'aina mama]

1:31 contraction 5:43 rest
1:49 contraction 2:25 rest
:44 contraction 4:50 rest
1:12contraction 9:11 rest
1:11 contraction 4:12 rest
1:20 contraction 4:01 rest

1:31 contraction 5:43 rest means a contraction one minute and 31 seconds long followed by a break of five minutes 43 seconds.

Hope that helps.

They are still really disorderly which makes it hard to take them too seriously in conjunction with your description.

[hyz]

I was having something similar 2 nights ago, and I'm still here, so obviously it didn't turn into anything, lol. In your shoes, I'd stick tight at work unless you really feel too miserable to stay--in which case I might say I wasn't feeling well, and call it a "sick day" in case it didn't turn into labor. That way, you don't feel silly if you show up at work tomorrow. If it turns out it IS labor, then no harm done (at least that's how it is where I work)--you can always change the designation of that time off to maternity leave if you want to.

[finnegansmom]

Are they getting stronger? I obviously am not the best person as I didn't know I was in labor until I was basically in transition but my contractions were 4 minutes apart right from the first one. For an hour or so they were fine, managable. Then, they started to get stronger, more intense. And then more intense.

I always found timing them to be distracting, maybe just wait and see if they feel stronger?

[prairieo]

I don't think the contractionmaster times are wierd, that's just how they come up on the website screen, and op pasted them in.

op, labor is different for everybody. I had very quick labors, other people have very long labors. I would go home. I would not want to be at work, and probably would not be very productive, plus, I would want to spend some time getting in touch with my body and my baby. And if you DO end up coming back into work tomorrow, who cares? You don't have to feel babd about being wrong if you are! You should just do what feels best for you.

[CallMeMommy]

I went to lunch and the kinda petered out... They're definitely not getting stronger or more frequent. I'm going to go walk around the building a couple times and see what happens. I'm planning on driving myself home when the time comes, but if push comes to shove my mom lives and works 3 blocks away, plus any of my coworkers would offer to drive me home, so I'm not too worried about that.

[lemonsforjamie]

I used that contraction master when I was in labor and thats what my contractions looked like. Up to almost transition they were really random, 4 mins apart then one nine mins apart then 3 mins apart. I guess not everyone has the cookie cutter contractions in labor. I hated that website because I kept thinking I really wasnt in labor. Once I had bloody show I knew it was the real deal.. Good luck mama!!!