Labor - West Hills,CA

depends on how strong your contractions were... sounds like they were body priming for the real thing coming up. The body will allow for rest periods in between the stages - so you can keep up your strength, move around, etc. Make sure you keep up eating good stuff and hydrating yourself!

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Hi JR,
If it is not time, one piece of advice from experience. Sleep as much as you can before you go to the hospital. I made a mistake of keeping to my late bedtimes of midnite 1 am, and my water broke at 2 am. So i was so sleep deprived to begin with...which was OK for the first day or two, but then all the sleep deprivation from not sleeping before and during birth kicked in. It intensifies the hormonal reactions...
Best of luck to you.
Jilly

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sorry hon--that last week is the worst! I am sure you are so ready and tired of hearing, "Just relax, it will happen" but it will =) You could have these kind of contractions for a week or more before you actually go in to real labor. I would treasure this short time you have and enjoy your Christmas. When they are so strong you can't talk through them, are 1 minutes long, 3-5 minutes apart, for at least an hour or so--head to the hospital! Congrats =)

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my sister spent last thanksgiving thinking she had indigestion from eating too much, but by 5 am the next morning she had a baby instead. :-) Good luck, momma!

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Darn! You could have joined the ranks of my family (my mum, uncle, and grandmother were all born on christmas day). Then again, you still have time :) In our family it tends to be the MOMENT mom sits down to finally relax and labor hits/water breaks and off to the hospital for a christmas baby.

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it would be a wonderful christmas present to do it today. but yes I had contractions off and on before labor. or even have a new years baby even more cool. are you sure they werent false contractions??? merry chirstmas and happy delivery. :)

ps if you have him on chirstmas day or her whichever my grandfather was born on christmas day and they named him william starr. :) starr would be a beautiful girls name too. :)

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Ahhhhh.... the glory that is false labor. I'm right there with you! I've been having those days for two weeks now. To many family events to go too. Our poor pregnant bodies are tired and telling us to slow down. Hang in there!

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You could be having braxton hicks. True contractions when you are in true labor will remain consistent and will consistently get closer together. Having a few today for a couple hours is not true labor. Hang in there...

Make sure you're hydrated and your electrolyte levels are good. It could just be an irritable uterus. And don't forget that babies can come safely at 41, 42, and 43 weeks! Sometimes even longer. Its very important to just hang in there though. They are much easier to care for on the inside. And your dates could be off, so don't go inducing for no medical reason. Baby might not be cooked enough, despite how you feel. Babies come when they're ready and you wont be pregnant forever.

I had something similar, my midwife called it false labor. I had 10 hours of contractions, some as close as 5 minutes apart, not really painful, it's what I imagine early labor is like. The next day, my water broke and I started in with severe contractions and suddenly I was in active labor. Funny thing, they both started at exactly 5:00 am each day. I had no extra dilation or anything from the first day of contractions, but I was able to enjoy a wonderful dinner and walk that night (the night before my labor), that felt just like a date. You're probably very close to having this baby, so enjoy the time alone while you can.

Congratulations!
Your body is preparing, exercising, getting ready.
Remember to keep drinking water, do some stretching.
Practice your Lamaze or whatever technique you have been preparing.
When you have regular contractions more frequently than 8 minutes apart and they keep on going longer than a few hours, you might be almost ready to go to the hospital. Did anyone explain Braxton-Hicks contractions to you in your classes, or in your reading?
Good luck and wishing you a healthy beautiful baby!

I agree with the rest, sounds like pre-labor. I had it for two solid days; first day was every 30 min then much closer together but hospital sent us home. Then after 24 hours of nothing but painful contractions (close together, less than 5 min but irregular) we went back. I hadn't progressed at all, they said it was pre-labor (non-productive contractions) so I was induced on day 3 of it.
Great delivery and everything went well, but contractions with no progress were frutrasting at the least. Trust your body and you can always go the hospital and get checked, but they might send you home.
Good luck to you!

I'm probably not the best person to ask...lol....with one of mine I dilated to a 3-4 and stayed their for almost a month...the one after that...I dilated to a 2...stayed their for 2 weeks...then a 3...stayed their for a week or so...I would have contractions getting up to 2-3 minutes apart...lasting about a minute...for about 3 hours...then they'd fade away...but, I'm weird like that ;). Best of luck!

I was the same way! 2 days before I went into full labor I had little contraction about 10 minutes apart off and on all day. Then nada when I laid down for the night. The next day not even a twinge! Then around dinner time on the third day I bent down to fill my kitty's food bowl and my water broke!

Trust me you will know when you are in full labor!!! There is nothing like it in the world! But it is so worth it when you hold your precious baby in your arms.
Good luck!

Congratulations on your upcoming birth :)

This is very typical of impending labor, but you could continue to have intermittent contractions like this for days until you go into labor. Sleep whenever you can so you'll be well rested when the real thing happens. It's not labor until your contractions begin to get stronger, longer (a minute or more) and closer together. When they're 4 minutes apart and a minute long and they've been that way for a full hour, you'll know your baby will be coming within a day or so :)

Happy Birthing (if it hasn't already happened!)