Here I sit on my due date. Nothing going on at all, no progress at my last dr appt on Thursday - the little guy hasn't even dropped. So I'm feeling pretty confident that I'm going to be pregnant for the rest of my life. Yahoo! At the same time, I feel like I'm back in TTC mode again hyper aware of every phantom symptom possible.
this makes me curious - what was your very first clue that made you think labour was imminent? Contractions? Water breaks? Nausea? Overactive baby? Burst of energy? Insomnia? Any other old wives tales symptoms?
With #1, it took an hour before I realized I was in labor: I woke up at 2 AM thinking I reallllly had to use the bathroom, like every night. When that didn't help (and I was still having pain), I laid down in our guest room, thinking it was our mattress that was bothering my back. When THAT didn't help, I got in the bathtub and realized that I was having timeable contractions. (Derrrr...they were three minutes apart by then, lol.)
With #2, I hopped out of bed at 6:30 AM on a Monday, ready to start my first day of mat leave when my water broke. Contractions started an hour later, baby was born a little less than 4 h later.
I had no other clues (including zero progress at an internal exam less than 24 h. before DS was born!) that labor was imminent until I was in the throes of it.
ETA: Hang in there and good luck: I promise you won't be pg forever, but I can identify...DS hung in there until 41 w 3 d and I truly thought it'd be forever!
Post by karinothing on May 28, 2012 15:28:15 GMT -5
I woke up at 3am with mild tightening. I don't really think they ever felt like period cramps to me. But they had a rhythm. I didn't really believe I was in labor until 12 hours later (my contractions still weren't hurting yet, but I figured they had gone on long enough to mean something).
Post by welder'swife on May 28, 2012 15:37:01 GMT -5
I woke up at 3am two weeks before my due date to pee, and when I flung myself back on bed, my water broke I had some preterm labor at 35 weeks, and I had been dilated to 2 or 3 since then. No noticeable contractions until my MIL picked me up to go to L&D (DH worked third shift an hour away so he met us at the hospital).
Good luck and good thoughts for an easy and quick delivery!
Post by hannamarin on May 28, 2012 16:04:49 GMT -5
I thought I had to poo (that crampy feeling) and after I realized that feeling happened every 10 minutes like clockwork, I figured it was something else. I had not progressed at all at 40 weeks. I had an induction scheduled. The cramps started at 2 days overdue. I really think the 3 x 20 min walks I took every day starting at my due date helped move me. However, she never dropped (csection)
Post by curbsideprophet on May 28, 2012 16:31:15 GMT -5
I started having cramps/contractions that were consistent and I could not sleep through. Being up and moving around was more comfortable than being in bed.
Post by speckledfrog on May 28, 2012 16:44:38 GMT -5
My labor progressed super fast, the whole thing was 8 hours. "Cramping" started around 6 pm and I did not think they were contractions. They were really low (right above my pubic bone), concentrated (not wrapping from back to front - they never did), and fairly mild. After about an hour MH started timing them and they were about 40 seconds long everywhere from 3-8 minutes apart. I probably spent about 1/3 of that time in the bathroom - my system was definitely clearing itself out. After an hour of timing I called the doc and she told me to go on. Baby came 6 hours later.
I had absolutely no indications that I was going to go into labor when I did. I hadn't dropped, I hadn't had any painful BH, I had an OB appt that day and was between 1-2 cm where I had been for weeks.
Post by badtzmaru22 on May 28, 2012 17:19:19 GMT -5
I had cramps and bloody show in the afternoon at work. At the end of the day I said goodbye to my boss and started to drive home, but called the doctor and DH when the cramps became strong enough that I wasn't sure if I should pull over or keep driving. I went home to meet DH and still wasn't sure, even though the contractions were 4-5 min apart, but got to the hospital in massive pain and 4cm. Got there at 7pm, baby was born at 5am.
Really mild cramping in 10-15 minute intervals. That went on for like 18 hours and slowly got closer together (and more intense, but still not bad) until it was time to call the doc.
My water broke at 35w5d. No cramping or other symptoms other than what I figured out later was nesting.
It took being induced and 42 hours of labor for him to be born (c-section-/ I gave up when the doctor told me that I was still only at 4 cm 41 hours after my water broke).
I will always wonder and feel guilty at the possibility that I made my water break by moving a piece of furniture in the nursery.
With DD I woke up in the middle of the night, passed my mucus plug, and started having period like cramps that would come and go. With DS I woke up in the middle of the night with the same period like cramps. Hope your time is soon!
My water broke--It started to trickle for a moment, and then gushed a lot for hours on end. . .I never went into labor on my own, though. This was a week before my due date, so I was in disbelief!
Post by pierogigirl on May 28, 2012 19:35:28 GMT -5
DS1 - induced. Never felt "normal" cramps. Had a high does of pitocin for a long time. When my water broke at 4 cm the pain was immediately excruciating.
DS2 - started feeling something, decided to wait to tell DH. After an hour of feeling something every 7 minutes I called the dr. Got to the hospital about 1 1/2 hrs later and was 6 cm. An hour later was at 8 cm, still not painful. I think I could have waited too long if I had fallen asleep at home before they started, however I stalled at 9cm and the dr had to break my water, so who knows?
Post by hannamarin on May 28, 2012 19:56:55 GMT -5
Jinnifah, I dont expect you to update us while you are in labour, but maybe right before you go to the hospital, you could start a quick new post!? Do you have a back up induction scheduled?
Post by Ashley&Scott on May 28, 2012 19:58:21 GMT -5
Timeable contractions were my first clue, even then I waited 6+ hours to get checked because they didn't really hurt. After a few hours in L&D they sent me home calling it early labor. They said come back when I couldn't talk through contractions :/
I was back at L&D in active labor 36 hours later. At that point I was cussing during contractions so I knew it wad time to go in.
Post by Mrs.Syntax on May 28, 2012 20:00:18 GMT -5
I had blood-tinged mucusy discharge and stabbing cramps about 24 hours before DD was born. I went to L&D, they watched me for 6 hours, said I wasn't progressing and sent me home. I sat at home and had wildly varying contractions - some were 8 minutes apart and some were back to back. I couldn't take it anymore and went back to L&D. I was 9.5 cm dilated and just about ready to push when I arrived.
DS1: Hard core nesting all weekend. Tons of contractions on and off all day on Monday. Expected to wake up in labor on Tuesday, but felt disappointingly normal. Super productive at work on Tuesday (burst on energy?) and sure I would be pregnant forever. Woke up with a painful contraction at 4am Wednesday and knew I was definitely in labor a few hours later.
DS2: Felt off (kind of winded or something) all day Friday but made an effort to wrap up things at work b/c I had a feeling labor was imminent. Contracted on and off all day Saturday and even timed them a few times, but they never got regular. Was pretty sure I was in labor by late Saturday night. Tried to rest until 5am or so, when we decided to head to the hospital.
Both times I had a lot of contractions during the last few weeks of pregnancy, and the baby had visibly dropped a few weeks earlier.
The day I went into labor, I think I pooped 15 times, which was very abnormal at that point for me and I was hardcore nesting-I decided the sunporch needed to be cleaned, even though I couldn't bend over to do any of it. I got into the tub at 9 that night and started getting very intense back pain. It took about 3 hours for me to decide that the back pain was contractions and by that point they were about 5 minutes apart.
#1 - c/s for high-ish BP #2 - wasn't sure it was labor. Just felt tightening and didn't hurt. It seemed to be in a pattern, so I suspected it was. Made dinner (lasagna rolls), ate dinner with the family, helped my mom finish curtains for the nursery, put DD to bed. 5 hours later they were rhythmic enough that I was sure I was in labor and they started to make me pause what I was doing. This is when my mom noticed what was going on, completely flipped out and practically shoved me and DH into the car to hurry to the hospital. DS was born 24hr later, so the rush might have been overkill. Still wish I'd taken a walk around the park and a shower first.
My stomach was hard as a rock the night before my water broke. I thought I was from laughing too hard watching a movie. I was sleeping before my water broke so I don't remember any other signs leading up to that point.
I was scheduled for an induction the night I went into labor. So I just labored through it since they weren't that bad and they didn't warrant going in early. So I just went in with my scheduled induction time and ended up not needing the induction.