How Did You Know? - Omaha,NE

My water broke after a long day of running errands. I finally laid-down on the couch and heard a "pop". My mom had gone back to my grandparents' for the night b/c I wasn't due for another couple of days, so it was just the hubs and me. The best part was that he ran to the kitchen and came back with a dish towel. Really? Clearly he had no concept of how much fluid was in there!

The day before I went into labor I was absolutely exhausted. I had ZERO energy. It had taken me all day just to get ready for the day. We had got to a store when a couple of ladies commented to me, "wow, when are you due? You look really low!". I was still a little over a week away from my due date so I didn't know labor was impending. That night I started to get a little nauseous but I was hungry. I also was extremely sleepy for some reason. My sister told my husband (which I found out later) that she thought I was in labor and that I'd be at the hospital by morning. Yep, she was right. Contractions started around 2am and I had a baby at 11am.

There was this funny white bird that kept knocking on my door. He didn't appear to be selling anything but still wouldn't go away....

I had four, no one wants to read anything that long because all four were different.

I knew when I was at the point that I was ready to drive to the hospital and refuse to leave without a baby in my arms. I was mad, irritable and huge! I scrubbed the floors on hands and knees, washed the walls, bathtub etc. I walked and walked and walked---got my labor started and I called my ob who i told that i was going into labor TODAY and I was not going to stall out or go home without a baby. My contractions really got going and so I made sure my husband and I had everything ready and we had sex in between contractions to help me dialate more. Worked well and went to the hospital and experienced hard back labor for 14 hours and then finally gave birth!!!!

M

I didn't! I'd been so miserable for so long, that by the time I went in, I was almost in transition. Shoulda been speedy gonzales... but a goof got me stuck in transition for most of the day (no one needs contractions every 10-30 seconds for most of a day).

I called because I was feeling extra lousy, and my CNM wanted to go ahead and check how dilated I was (I'd been 3cm for about a month), and do a fetal check (I'm high risk... they brought me in whenever anything felt weird... and usually caught something headed south). So this time it was my son headed south! Didn't have a bag, anything (just my husband calling HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of people...okay, slight exaggeration, but not by much there were over 40 people in my room at one point, and over a hundred outside.). I was just schlepping to another afterhours / before hours "look-see" appointment.

"Sounds like braxton hicks, you're probably gearing up for later this week" she told me on the phone
"Let's get you admitted, cause baby's coming now!" after she saw me

With my 1st daughter I didn't know I was pregnant. Just thought I was having stomach issues like gas or something. Then she just popped out when I was at the hospital at 5 in the morning. My second daughter I knew because I couldn't breath from the pain in my back. It was so overwhelming so you have to breath. My 3rd baby, it was 10 at night and I could feel my stomach just really heavy and some pressure down there. At 12 midnight, the pain was every five minutes and a lot of pressure. I got up and took a warm shower and put on my favorite dress that I would wear when not pregnant just to make myself feel better and went to the hospital to have my baby. All 3 deliveries were awesome now that I think back because of the 3 beautiful angels that I get to love every day of my life. Thanks for taking me back. Take care and good luck! O yea and remember to breath because it helps so much.

I remember waking up at about 5 or 6am and feeling crampy but nothing major. I got up to go pee and then climbed back into bed. But the cramps seemed to be too much to allow me to go back to sleep. Keep in mind I was 5 days past due and I had had a membrane sweep the day before. I told my husband to stay in bed and that I was just going to get up and hang out downstairs. I came down and started walking up and down the hallway and all of a sudden I got a contraction that stopped me dead in my tracks and had me kneal to the floor. So I got out my computer and started up a contraction counter and after about 4 or 5 consistent contractions I went and got my husband up and told him that this was it - she is coming. I was in labour for 20 long hours from start to finish. Im due with baby number 2 in Feb and I hope its not as long
Good Luck and Congrats

Having a really soft poop for the first time in 9 months :) Really though, with my first, I just said, "I'm not going to work tomorrow no matter what happens." And I went into labor that night. With my second, it all happened much faster. We were car shopping all day. I started thinking my contractions were coming on strong right around the time that Saturday Night Live was on Weekend Update, and went to the hospital around midnight already dilated to 8 cm. I had not clue all that day of what was happening. I never have vaginal exams in my pregnancies, so there were no clues there (not that exams really tell you anything because anything can happen at any time!).

I planned on working up until I went into labor with #2. On a Thursday (two days before I was due) I just felt like I needed to get my office organized, tidied, and have everything set up for the person who would be taking over my duties while I was on maternity leave. I am not generally organized or tidy! I had absolutely no physical signs of going into labor, but just had a feeling that I wouldn't be coming in to work the next day. I turned around to look at my office when I left for the day, just sensing I wouldn't be back there for a while. Sure enough, I started labor overnight.

I had been dilated to 3 since week 36, so every time I left my dr. appointment my dr would always say something like "I bet I'll see you before your next appointment"... Well at week 40 (Which was a Wednesday) we scheduled an induction for the following Monday.

On Thursday morning, I thought that my water had broken so I went in to get checked. It wasn't my water. Went home, very disappointed. Then my doctor calls and tells me that when she was making the arrangements for the induction, she was looking at the results from the first ultrasound and according to the first ultrasound I was only 38 weeks pregnant. I told her that I was positive on my lmp date and on the date of conception, so the ultrasound was wrong. She ignored me and said that even though I was only 38 weeks she would go ahead and do the induction if I really wanted it. Since I was POSITIVE on my dates, I said that we would go ahead with the Monday induction.

Well the next morning (Friday), I woke up at 5am having to pee. I got up, went pee, and went back to bed. I realized that my bed was soaked, and I realized that I was leaking. I texted my mom (Who was in the next room) and said that my bed was soaked and that I knew it wasn't urine, but I didn't want to go in for another false alarm since I had just went in the day before. A few minutes later she opened my bedroom door and told me to get my butt out of bed and call the hospital to tell them that we were on our way. I called the hospital. They were completely full (Remember last October, when there were all those pressure changes going on and the local news teams were warning pregnant woman to make sure their bags were packed... Ya...). So then I started freaking out because my hospital was full. The doctor that I had grown to love over the past 9 months wasn't going to be my doctor for the delivery or the babies doctor right after he was born. I didn't know if another hospital would follow my "birth plan" (I was willing to be flexible with the plan if things didn't go smoothly, but if things went perfectly there were certain things I wanted). What if the doctor at a different hospital was a man? That was something I just wasn't comfortable with. My mom called another hospital and they said that we should get there while they still had a room available. I jumped in the shower and shaved as fast as humanly possible while pregnant (I really hate body hair and I really really hate people examining me "down there" while I'm all hairy). My mom grabbed my bags and called my boyfriend. She told him that he should still go to work and that she would call him when we knew if we were going to be staying at the hospital or not (I was still convinced that it was another false alarm). On the way to the hospital, I could tell that I was having contractions but they weren't painful. We got to the hospital at around 7. By this time my pants were soaked down to my socks. We had to go in through the ER entrance since it was so early. They made me do a ton of paperwork, even though I really just wanted to go up get checked out. After we were done, the lady said "Wow, you really don't seem to be in much pain". I replied "Ya, but your nice cloth chair is now soaked in my amniotic fluid... But at least we got that paperwork done!" So I got wheeled up to the maternity floor. They brought me into the examination room. The nurse came in, took one look at my soaked pants, and wheeled me into the room I was going to be in for the rest of my stay. She got me into my gown and had me get into bed.

Even though the monitor showed that I was having some pretty strong contractions, I didn't feel pain till around 1:30 that afternoon and had my son at 3:47 that same afternoon. No medications, and my birth plan was followed as best they could... But I did have a male doctor.

Good luck :)

I just had my baby (still in hospital actually!). I'd been having a lot of contractions, some painful, for several weeks before. The night before labor, I got a sore throat. I did this another time right before labor too. I ate, then went to bed. I woke up around midnight starving. So, I went to eat. From the moment I got up, to making my food, and quickly going back to bed, I had a contraction that lasted about 5-6 minutes. I laid back down to go to sleep and I kept waking up and not being able to sleep. Finally around 3am, I decided to time them. They were coming 2-10 minutes apart, most lasting 45-60 seconds, and most were quite painful...but not the super painful ones.

I had been not dilated at all, but I went in early in the morning and was checked. I was dilated to 3cm. So, I had the baby (beautiful c-section). So, pretty much I got a sore throat, was ravenous (I forgot to mention that I ate three times that night) can't sleep, and then, of course, labor pains. Nesting didn't have anything to do with labor for me. That came months prior:-)

I hope I've made sense. I"m a little scatterbrained right now!

With all three, I've had many, many early contractions, some lasting for hours. For my first, I had a scare about 2 weeks before due date and had contractions for several hours at work--I was a high school teacher! Freaked out my kids! The contrax quit, I stayed at work, adn that day, i arranged all my maternity leave! With #2, I had contrax for a night, that quit the next day...same the nexgt night...and eventually I went in. With #3, I had horrible indigestion (she was born Christmas Eve) and assumed I'd just eaten something off--I kept pooping, which I hadn't done with the others. Like 20 times! But I'd eaten SO MUCH JUNK, I wasn't surprised. When I had contracted from 8 pm til 4 am, I was pretty sure I was having the baby soonish--my previous nighttime contrax had ended by about 2 am. So I woke up my mom, who had come to stay with our older kids, then told my oldest (who was bummed we wouldn't be together Christmas Eve), and around 6 I woke my husband. My labors have all been days long, but this time, we called our doula, who arrived around 10, got to the hospital at noon, and had a baby by 2:30!

I never knew until it felt like someone was stabbing me in the side!
Both my labors were quick - first was 2.5 hours, second was only 1.5 hours and I mean from first contraction until baby was born. Good thing we live close the the hospital! So my labors go from 0-60 in about 3 contractions.

My first was an emergency C section.

With my 2nd I was still 10 days prior and woke up peeing the bed. HA so I thought. I went to work, in a pre-K. Chased 4 year olds all day. Leaked all day. Called my doctor to complain, she said Honey your water broke at 4 this morning, GET YOUR BUTT IN HERE!!!

My 3rd and 4th were both induced, I did not go into labor on my own.

When I walked in for my induction! Hahahahahaha :)

Um, I couldn't even FEEL my uterus hardening, all I know is that it hurt and was uncomfortable all the time. I would ask my husband, "Does it feel like it's contracting to you?" He could tell me when it was.

For my 1st, I was 4 days overdue, and was getting induced the next day. I went home, showered, shaved my legs, went to the store to stock up on stuff. As soon as I went to bed, my water broke. THEN I felt those contractions, oh boy, was I shaking in pain until I got that epidural.

As for my second, I was induced. So... I guess I've never labored much at home.

How could I not know - it was a long slow burn! :) My contractions started on a Wednesday night about every hour through the night. They woke me up but it was no big deal. I didn't think much about it cause I had an early dr. appt the next morning. The next day they came about every 45 minutes for 30 seconds. I saw the doctor and was only 1CM dialated. At 2am early Friday the pain was too much so I went to the hospital. I was only 2CM. So disappointing. I had a c-section Friday at 5pm after no epidural all day!

Mine is a funny story---I never went into labor naturally with my 1st baby--I was induced, so I was wondering the same thing with my second--just born in July. I woke up that morning, feeling like I had gas cramps--since i had been constipated the whole pregnancy, I thought--if I can just have a BM I'll feel better---but the 'gas' cramps were causing what I felt were Braxton Hicks contractions.....this went on for a few hours where I really thought I had uncomfortable gas pains....but they got worse--and by the time I realized it was real---it was almost too late to make it to the hospital and I almost had the baby in the car! 20 min, after our wild ride to the hospital, the baby was born---without my plannned epidural---or ANY pain med. for that matter! It was crazy! So--if you think you may be in labor--you probably ARE :)

The first time my water broke so it was rather obvious. The second time I had no idea until a friend told me.

I woke up with a backache and it lasted all day. Nothing I did made it any better and it was slowly getting worse. Around 7 pm that night I was on the phone with a friend and when I mentioned it she said "I will call you back in 2 minutes" and hung up. Turned out she called her mom, who had been an OB nurse for 23 years. She called back to tell me I was in labor, she was on the way to pick me up and we were going to the hospital.

If she hadn't told me I don't know what would have happened. I never did have a "normal" contraction.

With my boys, never knew it was coming. With my girls, they were induced.

Got up early morning to use the bathroom, came back to my wonderful recliner. As soon as I layed down I heard a pop & thought "what the hell was that". Stood up & the flood gates opened. Ran to the bathroom where the river continued to flow. Told my hubby to give me the phone, that my water had broken. He said "are you sure" (had a false alarm earlier with some slight urine). Uhhhhh yeah, can't you hear it? Called some friends, no one believed us because it was on April Fools Day. No contractions so they had to give me the go go juice. 16hrs. of labor & our little miracle was born :0)

With my son, I went to bed and then woke up and was unable to get comfortable enough to even sit and watch tv.

With my daughter, I had been at a tournament all day on Saturday having constant but not consistent contractions. Still having them the next day and told my mom "your granddaughter might not wait until Wednesday" (when I was scheduled for an induction due to GD. That night/early next morning, I ended up at the hospital and back home. By lunchtime my water had broke so we went back.