[MommytoTwo]

Did your water break? Contractions? Were they intense right away or mild? Bloody show? Diarrhea? Did you know right away or were you wondering for hours?<br><br><br>
Do tell.

 

[dany]

I lost my plug a week before, and had the (TMI!) loose-bowel-thing happening all day, after a week or so of fairly regular and sometimes strong contractions. I woke up at two a.m to a strong contraction (after going to bed at midnight - DS was born the next afternoon at 4:00; holy tired, batman!), and just KNEW that I should get up and take a shower... and with the next contraction, my water broke. Thankfully I had a chux pad on the bed already "just in case" <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol"> .<br><br>
Contractions started in earnest about two hours later, but didn't get TOO bad until that last hour before I started growling and realised that I was pushing with them.<br><br><br>
Man, now I want to do it again. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol">

 

[2Sweeties1Angel]

I woke up one morning with strong, regular contractions. That was pretty much a dead giveaway.

 

[ecoteat]

I was having waves of pain in my hips all day, I lost my mucus plug in the afternoon, and I could barely stand through the waves of pain that were coming every 5 minutes around dinnertime, but I didn't figure out I was in labor until dh suggested I call the midwives and they told me they were on their way. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/duh.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="duh">

 

[Martha_2sons]

With ds1 I woke up feeling like I was coming down with something. I felt crampy, tired and yucky. With ds2 I woke up from a dream about labor and just felt "different" and knew that something was starting to happen in my body.<br><br>
Some good advice I got from my midwife was to ignore early labor, go about with your usual routines, sleep if you can, because you'll have plenty of time to focus on your labor when it's active.

 

[mikayla's mama]

Labr #1, lost the mucous plug over a two day period and had bloody show during the day, woke up at 3am with mild regular contractions and a leak. I had a small tear in the amniotic sac. OB freaked out about the PROM which led to a lot of interventions, 26 hour labor.<br><br>
Labor #2, felt like I was going into labor every day for about a week, lost the mucous plug, bloody show and woke up the next morning with extremely hard regular contractions that were about 5 minutes apart that went to two minutes apart upon standing up to get to the shower. My daughter was born 2 hour later.<br><br>
I never had loose bowels with either of my kids, when I lose the mucous plug/bloody show is the tell tale sign for me that labor is very close.

 

[DoomaYula]

With my twins, I was fairly clueless and suddenly I thought, "Wow, these funny cramp things are starting to get PAINFUL, are they supposed to feel painful? OMG I THINK I'M IN LABOR!" Babies were born about 4h later.<br><br>
With my dd, my water broke while I was sleeping. I didn't wake up when it broke. I woke up in a pool of water on my bed. I was like, darn it, now I have to change the damn sheets! Still, no ctx for about 8h. Finally I got on the breast pump and went from chatting happily with dh and the kids to laying on the floor trying to breathe in about 10 min.

 

[pinksprklybarefoot]

Bloody show. We went to IKEA and walked around, contractions started that evening and 24 hrs later, my little man appeared.

 

[Peony]

With both DD's I woke up in the early hours of the am with contractions. With DD1 I had bloody show a little later, and then just contractions all day, she was born at 10pm that night. I spent many an hour wondering if they were going to go away or not, it wasn't until 6pm or so that I realized a baby was really coming that day. I had no bloody show at all with DD2, just contractions, I wondered for an hour or so, then called my MW. DD2 was born at 11am.

 

[meggles]

contractions friday night at 11:30pm on and off, not too strong.<br>
went to bed, woke up at 2:00 am with stronger contractions, then my water broke at about 3:00 am and i had tons of bloody show and mucous plug going on.

 

[koru]

dd1 started with mild, menstrual type contractions which picked up quickly. the funny thing was, i knew from minute one what was going on.<br><br>
with dd2 i just felt "off" and then started having diarrhea. because she was a week overdue i went to see my midwife to get checked out & i was already 4cm dilated. she came 2 hrs later.

 

[wendyland]

I felt normal all day (actual day of my due date). We started putting together a puzzle in the evening & I kept having to stop and lay down because my back was hurting so bad. The lower back pressure was so bad that I was pretty certain that it was labor. I didn't have contractions I could time, just bad back ache. I went to the hospital and I was 4 cm and having active contractions. That was about 7pm. I had her around 4am.<br><br>
Second baby was induced.

 

[MamaRabbit]

Baby #1 - went in overdue for a NST and was registering real contractions. I felt nothing so went home. I live far from the hospital, and rush hour was coming up and didn't want to be in a taxi for 2hr if contrax did become painful. Went back to hospital and walked all over the place for a long time. Still no painful contrax though more frequent. Laid down to take a nap (nice hospital... very pro-natural birth... nap was nurse's suggestion!) Water broke during nap, which immediately began super painful contrax, and she was born 4.5 hr later.<br><br>
Baby #2 - once again, had no clue I was in labor. I was in the grocery store and having to pause every few minutes to catch my breath... stupid "BH" contrax, which they weren't! Got home, unpacked groceries, laid down to watch TV and noticed those "BH" were getting closer together. At 3min. apart I <i>finally</i> realized it was the real thing, but still not painful. From that point it was 3.5 hours til DS was born. And that was what I consider a painless labor/birth.<br><br>
So, I guess I'm really not good at realizing when I'm in labor.

 

[HeatherB]

My first was weird so I won't comment on that one. With my 2nd (homebirth, so none of the fear involved with the first birth!), I woke up in the AM before I was supposed to get up, on a Thursday. I kept noticing that I was really uncomfortable in my sleeping position. Finally realized that I was uncomfortable only every 7-10 minutes or so! I had sporadic contractions throughout the day, and after a little "help" from DH that evening they got more regular. Despite some changes in pattern, they didn't stop until DS was born just after midnight that Sunday.

 

[lyttlewon]

My labor started with BH that were more frequent and just annoying. I was in the hospital for an induction any way and so I was super aware of what was going on. At about 6:00 am the nurses told me to go for a walk with my mom. When I got back from the walk my water broke at 7:00-ish am. Transition was very intense, I ended up vomiting, but otherwise the contractions were not too bad. Until you get into transition you pretty much have a couple minutes between to relax. I felt very lethargic and didn't want to move if I didn't have to. I started pushing at 10:00 am which for various reasons lasted until she was born at 12:05 am.

 

[Kritto]

My mom came to town the day before dd was born. I felt crampy and uncomfortable that night. Lost my mucous plug and had a bit of spotting. Went to bed, and woke up about every 15 minutes feeling uncomfortable, needing to change positions. Got up to pee, decided to lean on the birth ball to loosen my back, and realized that the "cramps" felt different. DD was born 5.5 hrs later.

 

[Sunstone]

It started on a Saturday- 4 hours of regular contractions and then stalled with a good walk. I had been seeing mucous when I wiped for a couple days- starting out tan and then looking pink, Sunday night the contractions returned but harder. I was 40 weeks and 5 days when Sunday came... so ready to give birth.<br><br>
11pm - Real labor starts. Every 10 minutes- good strong contractions.. then progressing to 3-5 minutes apart pretty quickly.<br><br>
2am - call the midwife to tell her contractions are coming about 1-2 minutes apart.. why is this going so fast??? We agree to leave the house at 5am for the BC.<br><br>
3am - get in a shower and realize that back labor is happening! OMG- PUSH ON MY LOWER BACK >>NOW<<. oh wow... a warm shower is the BOMB in labor. Endless position changes.. each one bringing on a contraction that feels a little different. Contractions coming every 30 seconds to two minutes.<br><br>
5am - Car Ride from HELL. Water bottle jammed between back and seat to simulate lower back counterpressure.<br><br>
5:45am - arrive at the center.<br><br>
10:25am - Baby arrives after much grunting and pushing!<br><br>
My membranes ruptured in labor and bloody show didn't happen until I was in the BC. I never saw the elusive mucous plug-<br><br>
Eleven'ish hours of labor for a first time mommy- I was very pleased. I had heard the stories of "36 hours of labor" and definately did not want that... I think my resolve to meet the pain head on and not fear it is what helped me through- that and the cooperation of my baby, the great support of DH and awesome CNM's. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/innocent.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="shy">

 

[annekevdbroek]

DS1 I never went into labor and was induced at 42 weeks. Ended up with c/s.<br><br>
Figured I'd go past-due with DS2. At 38 weeks, one day after seeing OB who said cervix was high and tight and I wouldn't be having baby anytime soon, I went into labor. I woke up and had twingy feelings all day. Went to gym, grocery shopping, etc. Had no idea I was in labor. I thought I had another month at least to get ready. At about 7 pm I called a friend and asked her what contractions felt like (because with pit they came on full-force right away). Thought it sounded like labor. Contractions gradually got stronger and closer together. Went to hospital at 3 am. Labored at hospital another 24 hours before developing a raging ingfection (105 temp, fetal heart racing) and having another c/s.<br><br>
Both with induction and natural labor never got past 2 cm with 30+ hours of labor.

 

[homebirthbaby]

Both of my labors started with my water breaking.<br>
With # 2, I had days of off and on (strong) contractions at night, but nothing with # 1.

 

[Eaglevoice]

All of the sudden I couldn't stop thinking about my bh contractions and how annoying they were. Then I realized they were coming pretty rhythmically and started timing them. A couple hours later, they hadn't let up and I couldn't talk through them. That's when I called the mw and she came over and confirmed I was indeed in labor. I never saw my mucous plug. And my water didn't break until I started pushing. I had blood on the TP when I was in active labor.