L&D: what was your first clue?

[hilwithonelary]

With DS, my water broke while I was sleeping. I was 37w3d.

With DD, I started out having period like cramps that were coming every 5 minutes. They picked up in intensity after a couple hours. I was 41w exactly.

With both, I had no signs of impending labor. I thought I was never going to go into labor with DD. I was actually scheduled for a 7 pm induction the day I went into labor.

[jinnifah]

May 28, 2012 19:56:55 GMT -5 @hannamarin said:

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?

Will do

As for induction, I suspect if I haven't had LO ny my next scheduled appt (Thurs), that my dr will book me in sometime next week. As I recall my hospital doesn't like to let you go beyond 10days overdue

[divajane]

#1 Woke up at 3am to go pee (40W5D) and when I rolled over in the bed I felt a gush. Wasn't sure if I had peed the bed or my water had broke, but when I went to the bathroom there was more gushing, so we went to the hospital. I never had any contractions on my own, and had to get pitocin to start them, but then DS was born at 11:46am.

#2 Woke up at 5:30am (39W5D) feeling like I had diarrhea cramps, and when I was (TMI) on the toilet, my water broke in a huge gush all over the floor. After I cleaned up the bathroom I woke DH up and we started packing our bags, and called my FIL to come watch DS. We left for the hospital at 6:15, and I was having pretty regular/strong contractions by then. About halfway to the hospital (a 50 min drive), I realized I was pushing and made DH call 911. They told us to drive as fast as we felt safe and they would alert the hospital we were coming. We made it to the hospital at 6:49, the on-call OB got there at 6:53, and DD was born at 6:57am.

Oh, and I had sex with DH about 2-3 hours prior to my water breaking both times. So my recommendation is to get busy

[thedash]

I woke up at 6 am on my due date feeling very mild contractions. They went all day long but never got extremely painful. Around dinner time they were consistently 4-5 minutes apart so I called the doctor.

We went to the hospital that night and they didn't start to get really painful and productive until the middle of the night. He was born the next afternoon.

[lmdbww]

I had contractions that went away and when they came back, I also passed a huge clot larger than a golf ball. I wasn't sure if I was in labor but knew something wasn't right, and it turned out that I had a placental abruption and was admitted immediately.

I just generally felt like shit, couldn't get comfortable, couldn't sleep. I wasn't in pain (or the contractions didn't hurt like I thought they should)...

[mie]

#1 - contractions started at 2:30 am and I wasn't sure if it was real contractions. I tried going back to sleep and was sort of successful, but contraptions woke me up. I tried walking and drinking water to see if they'd stop, but the contractions only got more intense.

#2- I was a few days past my due date and had scheduled an induction for later that week. I was at work and felt like I had to use the bathroom, but that didn't work. It took me a little while to realize that I didn't have to use the bathroom, I was having contractions.

#3 - I started losing my MP a few days before I went into labor.

[ECB]

My water broke.

[lishie]

With my second child, I was a full week late, and had absolutely no clue labor was coming other than 1 random contraction in the afternoon.

That evening, DH and I watched a movie and then went upstairs to get ready for bed. I had just laid down and contractions started, and started coming every minute.

We called the doctor and drove to the hospital. Immediately upon getting to my L&D room I had the baby.

Labor for the second start to finish was less than 75 minutes. I don't know how I was so clueless as to the signs of labor, as I'd been through it before, but nothing was the same with that one.

Had it not been late at night, I would have been the crazy woman giving birth on the side of the road.

[kaiene]

May 28, 2012 15:25:33 GMT -5 @246baje said:

My water broke in a huge gush and kept flowing and flowing.

Same here. DH and I were out at an event downtown and I had 5 contractions in less than an hour. At the time, I thought they were just BH, but now I think they were the real deal.

We decided to leave and go home so I could rest and drink water, because that usually made my BH go away. We had literally just gotten back into his car when my water broke.


It was a huge gush.

ETA: DH and I had sex that morning. Not sure if that played a part or not, but since we knew it was a possibility, we had a 10 minute conversation about whether or not we were ok with that being a possible outcome. I was 37w5d, so not early enough where it would be an issue, but I was starting to dilate at my 37 week appointment and was 70% effaced.

[octwed07]

My water broke -- it was in the middle of the night, i had gone to use the restroom and thought.. hmm.. i stopped peeing but there's still fluid coming out.. odd. LOL. I didn't have really any strong contractions, so i tool my time -- showered, packed, took care of the dogs, etc etc. Anyway, i was probably a few days early from my due date. Before that, i didn't really experience anything out of the ordinary. I believe i lost my mucous plug the week before that. Otherwise, i wasn't experiencing anything other unusual pain, etc.

[partiallysunny]

Woke up cranky, lost my mucus plug. I wasn't sure what was going on at first, thought it might actually be my water breaking. It finally dawned on me, and I wasn't concerned any more. I knew it didn't mean much in regards to labor. I went about my normal Saturday routine, which included cleaning the house. By 10am, I figured I was in labor. The back pain was constant and time-able. I was in the hospital by noon.

I had to finish cleaning before we left, lol.

Edit: Water didn't break until I was in the hospital, I think I was 7cm or so. It was a gush.

[trissie18]

With DS1 I was exactly like you (no progress, dropping, etc.) and ended up being induced four days later due to extremely low fluid with still no progress.

With DS2 I remember going to bed three weeks before my scheduled c/s with some very mild cramping in my upper thighs and thinking "hmmm, maybe this is the early labor I've read about." I woke up at midnight with contractions and called the dr after a couple hours. He told me to wait an hour and if I was still contracting to head in so when DH woke up to go to work I told him to call his mother and we were heading to the hospital instead. The dr. was pretty sure I was just dehydrated but two bags of fluid later and my contractions were getting closer together and stronger. DS2 was delivered via c/s two hours later.

[Deleted]

May 28, 2012 15:19:17 GMT -5 oregonpachey said:

My water had broken but I didn't know it - it was a slow leak not a huge gush. I went to L&D and they checked me and confirmed my water had broken.

This happened to me with #1. I actually thought maybe I had peed my pants until I realized what it was

With #2 I just started getting contractions that gradually became more regular and painful.