Questions about early labor

[mama.rye]

I am still learning alot about birthin' babies
You ladies are all so knowledgeable.
I hope I don't get anyone upset with this question...

It seems like there are quite a few women on here who have been/are currently experiencing BH and stronger Contractions for days before labor.
I totally feel for you! I can't imagine feeling that excitement and anticipation and pain, and then having it stop and not progress...

I wonder: Is this very common? Is this how most labors start? I know every woman is different, but I'm wondering if the "out of the blue" labor happens - where you just wake up or stop dead in your tracks in with a huge contraction and it progresses quickly to labor.

I have been having no feelings of contracting at all this whole pregnancy, but while my MW was feeling the baby the other day and putting the doppler on, she said I was definitely contracting. BH i assume. I have lost a little mucus and I feel some pressure. But, that's it. I am "due" on Tuesday. The thought of having three or four days of early labor before he even comes makes me want to weep!

I suppose I am just looking to hear that it does happen that women suddenly go into labor without days and days of warning signs. I feel like I am about to lose my mind with emotional stress, discomfort, boredom and frustration.... I can't imagine adding days of contractions to this.

Good Vibes to anyone who is having contractions right now!!:

[mkmb129]

I had none of this with my son. Some period-like crampiness, but I'd had it the entire pregnancy, so it wasn't a big deal. It made going to 41wks not such a big deal, I hadn't had the chance to get my hopes up! When labor started, though I was skeptical, I knew that it was labor. I'd been in 'early labor' all day the day I went into labor, but didn't realize it, so it wasn't a bother. The painful stuff was about 24hrs total, but didn't seem like it at all. Everyone certainly is different, and honestly, I've never heard of people experiencing weeks of contractions until lately. I'd say maybe it's a 50/50 thing? Who knows! This starting and stopping stuff sure is frustrating! I hope you do not have to deal with it!

[MeepyCat]

Not in your DDC, just dropping by...

I have been told that, actually, BH contractions are, like, super-early labor. Your body is preparing to give birth from about 15 weeks on, just some women notice it more than others. My guess is that if Braxton-Hicks aren't bugging you now, you may not notice the early labor stages that some women find so painful and aggravating. Some women are lucky like that.

I don't think the "Out of the Blue" labor never happens, but movies and tv will give you some funny ideas about normal labor. (My personal favorite is from the fourth season of West Wing, when the laboring woman is in bed, wearing a hospital johnny, with a blanket over her legs, not a monitor, not an IV, nothing, and a doctor walks into the room, and without so much as touching her, informs her that she's ten centimeters dilated. Would that all cervical checks were so noninvasive.) Anyway, the process does generally take more than 22 minutes with commercial breaks.

[mama.rye]

thank you for your replies and sharing! that made me feel a bit better.

i know i will just have to wait and see...

its interesting how vastly different everyones experience and body handles birth!

more replies welcome...

[ibusymomto5]

I usually have a few days of strong, painful but irregular and spaced out contractions before real labor hits. I usually lose my mucus plug over the course of these few days. Once real labor hits and stays it goes super fast, like 2-4hrs start to finish. My body does a lot of work ahead of time, and then when real labor hits there isn't much work to do.

This time though, I had nothing before real labor hit. It caught me off guard and made me blow labor off thinking it was just the start of a few days of contractions and losing my plug. The prelabor stuff for me is usually every bit as uncomfortable as "real labor", so it's very hard to distinguish when it's actually the real thing or just practice stuff.

Bh are never uncomfy to me and I often don't even notice them. There's a definite difference in the feeling of real labor contractions and bh.

[thebeljur]

With my first two pregnancies, I didn't feel any BH contractions. Nothing. First labor was about 8 hours. Second labor was about 4 hours. Still, neither labors just started BAM with heavy and hard contractions. There was still a gradual build up of their intensity.

However, I've been feeling the BH contractions this time around. We'll see what that means after I go through this birth!

[HeddyBee]

Well, I've had lots of BH for the past few months. A few weeks ago they started to change, so instead of just having one when I get up from sitting or change position, sometimes I'll have random ctx while resting or lying down. These feel more intense and involve my back as well as my abdomen. The other night I had 3 solid hours of regular ctx about 9 minutes apart. They petered out around 7 am, though, and since then I've only had a few random (but getting a tiny bit more intense) ctx. I also have a kind of menstrual-cramp feeling off and on and I've felt a bit anxious & weepy.

I'm a first time mom as well, so I have no clue what this all means.

[~Stephanie~]

I always have days/weeks of "false" labor with my kiddos. I know it is not like that for all women though. My SIL's labors have all begun with her water breaking. I hope you have a quick, easy labor.

[PassionateWriter]

Originally Posted by mama.rye

I am still learning alot about birthin' babies
You ladies are all so knowledgeable.
I hope I don't get anyone upset with this question...

It seems like there are quite a few women on here who have been/are currently experiencing BH and stronger Contractions for days before labor.
I totally feel for you! I can't imagine feeling that excitement and anticipation and pain, and then having it stop and not progress...

I wonder: Is this very common? Is this how most labors start? I know every woman is different, but I'm wondering if the "out of the blue" labor happens - where you just wake up or stop dead in your tracks in with a huge contraction and it progresses quickly to labor.

Good Vibes to anyone who is having contractions right now!!:

i can only answer for myself. i havent read the replies yet so this isnt in response to anythign anyone has said.

i have an unusual pattern of labor...each of my labors have been very very long...which is unfortunately the reason i had 2 c/s's with my first 2 sons. i just went past the point the OB's were happy w/ and was dx'd as "ftp" (failure to be patient in my world of NCB now! lol!). my 3d son was a VBAC w/ a MW but same thing...very long labor (over 36 hours). I will say that MOST long labors are much easier than very short "OMG stop me in my tracks" labor, but there are always exceptions to the rule.

w/ my ds3, i had BH contrax's for over a week. he was born at 40 weeks 6 days. w/ this one, i think this is day 13 of BH contrax..some of which i thought were really going somewhere (esp. this weekend) but now i just do not know. i am 41 weeks today.

the thing is....baby's know when they are ready to come and even though i am uncomfortable, and bored, and really want to get this show on the road and experience the beautiful home birth that i have planned, well....baby has his own agenda. there is SOME reason he did not chose this last weekend as his birthday. I don't know what the reason is, and neither does anyone else. I'm willing to walk, have sex, allow my toddler to nurse (most of the time!! lol!) for nipple stimulation, do the EPO thing and eat spicey foods and take EPO both vaginally and orally but Im not willing to resort to any other induction absent a real medical reason. He moves, my bp is good, i have no swelling, etc. etc. My mood S*CKS though....I am having a really hard time controlling that but I am just trying to keep myself busy.

I do hope my baby comes soon but really, this isn't the worst it can be. Recovering from 2 c/s's was much harder than sitting at home w/ my biggest issue being whether i go apple picking or knit, or get on the floor and scrub my floors again on my hands and knees (which is what i may do again today).

[myrmom]

with both boys I was woken up to strong contractions having none before that...Ewan was born 30 hours after my first contraction, Rufus was born 11 hours after my first contraction.

[MommaSomeday]

This is my first, so I can only tell you what's happening so far with me.

Throughout pregnancy, I haven't noticed any BH. Every once in a while I would feel my stomach and realize it was hard so I must be contracting, but never felt them myself. On the 1st, I woke up in the middle of the night with contractions every 10 then every 5 minutes that I timed for about 2 hours and then finally went back to sleep. My contractions haven't stopped once since. They have gotten as close as 2 minutes apart and my unable to speak and walk through some of them, and as far apart as 15 minutes. Ever since day 2 I have had a constant menstrual cramp like feeling low in my uterus with the actual contractions tightening down the top of my uterus and usually around my back, then fading back into that constant pain. Today I'm going on day 6 of this. I don;t know whether it would be considered early labor since it has never stopped or prodromal labor because it has changed in frequency and intensity. I can tell you it is mega exhausting. When I was checked on Friday afternoon, I was high, soft and about 2 cm dilated. After some of the pain and intensity this weekend, I'd love to know where I am now, but I can't reach to check.

[MAdams]

hey.. dropping in from the Sept ddc. As we speak Im going through the ongoing mild labor. Been happening since around 9pm last night. Its extremely tolerable... I can easily sleep through it, so its not like its something horrible to cope with.. As for my last son.. I had 3 days of prodromal labor. Im hopeful that wont happen this go around, but who knows.

Im currently 41 weeks 1 day pregnant, and working on transitioning this little boy out into the world!

[caro113]

I had BH for a while and then they stopped .. i was uncomfortable for a while because I was so big and couldnt get myself to sleep at night since moving around was so damn annoying .. and I woke up in the morning after finally get a good nights' sleep and BOOM .. I was in labour .. so I would say "YES" to your question but every woman is different (-:

Yay .. I got to answer to a labour question (-: .. now to make a birth announcement

Good Luck!!!