Does labor just "happen"?

[covertlycrunchy]

This is a question for all of you who have had their babies already or at least gone into labor on their own: How exactly did it start and when did you know it was the "real thing"?

I just keep having round after round of "false labor" and at 41 +4 weeks it's driving me nuts. I really didn't think I'd still be pg today after what I went through yesterday. I just keep thinking I'm doing something "wrong" because labor won't establish. Like last night I'd been having really regular contractions and lots of pelvic pressure until I decided to lay down and read a couple of bedtime stories to DD. Had a few more overnight that were pretty strong but by morning it all went away.

[PassionateWriter]

w/ ds3, i had prodomal labor for over a week. one morning i woke up and the contrax just didnt stop and started getting stronger and stronger.

i usually have long labors though. they build up gradually.

i had serious contrax for over 2 weeks this time and all of a sudden, on thursday, they just stopped. ive had a few BH since then but nothing like before. im still waiting.

w/ ds1 and ds2, i didnt have all the prodoma stuff.....just started having contrax that came on and off for around 2-3 days until my OB's at the time got impatient and cut both ds1 and ds2 out of me.

i prefer ds3 and this birth. believe me.

i hope you have your baby soon.

[lwuertz]

I had a lot of false labor on and off the last few weeks. When I started having real contractions though I think they felt a little different than the other stuff. Still, even when they continued to last through the night I was a little skeptical and didn't want to get my hopes up. Somewhat irregular contractions started around 8pm the night before I had my baby, continued through the night and into the next day. However, I'd say "real" labor started around 4-4:30pm, because that's when they became more regular and took more concentration to get through. I was 3cm at 7pm, my water broke at 8pm and I had Jillian at 11:28pm.

[mommathea]

I was having small contractions off and on, sometimes a patern for a while.
then one night I woke up and with just 1 contraction I knew that this was going to be the real thing. Sure enough 6min later another stronger contraction.

[treehugginhippie]

Just throwing this out there as an idea...mabye there's some emotional or mental blockage preventing your labor from starting? I've heard of this happening sometimes...I know a woman who had emotional issues to overcome w/ her husband and once that was worked out her labor picked back up. Ina May has some birth stories that talk about it in her Spiritual Midwifery book.