Labor Signs

I went to my midwife that afternoon. I should tell you, I was not very happy with her, and she was obviously not thrilled with me...I should have found another midwife, but I was foolish enought to try to stick it out. After having her do a deep internal exam for 25 minutes do dicern the position of the baby, with her just pulling out a few times and me finally telling her that I was cramping and it was enough; time to stop...I went home.

Nothing was out of the ordinary that afternoon, but later that evening I noted the mucous plug had come out. I really wanted to hear some 80s music and rock out. The radio show came on that evening and it took me over an hour to get the radio tuner just right on my touchy boombox. Once the music came on, I had to wait for some good tunes. Once they came on, I danced like crazy for a couple of songs, and then was incredibly exausted. I sat down to take a breather, but started falling asleep. I should mention I have never been much for dancing before.

I then started feeling some contractions, but I thought they were just braxtin hicks...so I went to bed. I remember looking at the clock and telling myself that if I had one more contraction before midnight (I had already had 3 since 11:00 and a few sporatically before that) that I would call the midwife. I remember a contraction waking me up around 12:14 that night, but was too sleepy to care.

At a little bit before 6:00am I woke up. I looked around the room, could not figure out what woke me out of such a sound sleep. And then my water broke. I called the midwife, she told me to have some one drive up to her place in the next city, even though I was only seen at the office in my city, and I did. She examined me, and told me to get back into my car, lay in the back seat, and go back down to the hospital in my town. She thought the baby was transverse.

Turned out the baby was breech, they took him by c-section a couple hours later and I never got to experience labour much past 2cm.

So, plug, energy burst, mild contractions, exaustion, sleep, water rupture.

Well, I had no labor "pains" until they were 5 minutes apart. Then my normally slow to react, ignoring me husband jumped up, threw me and my bag in the car, and raced to the hospital. I didn't really consider them pains--just work. But I had no warning, just the labor "pains".

Once there, the doc examined me, 3 cm dilated, and looked over my big belly and said, this is going to be a long labor. 4 hours later my son was born before the drugs could work. Crying and screaming. It happened so fast and easy I didn't remember that it was supposed to be work. I was so high I couldn't sleep.

When my daughter was born two years later it was slightly different. I had been in the hospital to pass a kidney stone three weeks prior, and once that started, I had Braxton Hicks contractions for three weeks. The labor "pains" started on Feb. 26, 1979. That was the eclipse day and they were having babies in the halls. Again the doc told me I was going to have a big baby and it was going to be a long labor. I told him no drugs at all and she was born 2 hours later. Kicking and screaming.

Oooh, good question! As a childbirth educator and doula I can never get enough of birth stories :)
With my first baby, I was six days past my due date when I started to get that crampy feeling, but the cramps were light and irregular. By 11 pm that night they were getting stronger, but I still wasn't sure they were labor. It was our midwife that clued us in that at nearly 41 weeks it could be the real thing. I labored through the night and she was born at 9:30 am.
My second baby came six days before my due date. I woke up with contractions at 2 am. They weren't painful, really, but there was something about the intensity that said, very definitively, that they were labor. My contractions were spaced very far apart and I continued to sleep (mostly) until I woke my husband at 5 and asked him to kindly not go into work that day. My contractions were still at least 15 or 20 minutes apart. We stayed in bed talking and cuddling until 7 when we got up for the day. In between contractions I felt completely normal and I kept thinking I had kidded myself (and everyone else that I was in labor) but then I'd get another contraction that said, again definitively, "this is labor." My contractions never got super close together, I felt completely normal in between contractions even in transition. I was at 8 cms at 12:20 in the afternoon and I had a baby at 12:45 pm. It was a beautiful labor and birth, but it never felt like labor unless I was in the middle of a contraction.
I'm glad it was a home birth because if I had waited until labor seemed like it was getting "serious" I would have had a baby in the car!
Good luck to you! It seems like you have easy labors!

My body had me guessing too! Everyone wondered how I could be in the medical field and not know I was in labor. I even drove myself to the hosp. I didn't know what I was feeling were contractions because they didn't hurt until I was pushing (and even then it wasn't bad). I got to the hosp. at 4:40am and had her at 5:24am. I was completely dilated when I got to the hosp. I remember every woman I knew telling me I would feel it in my back, my pelvis would feel like its detaching from my body, you can have radiating pains for hours before even dilating...I had none of that. Needless to say all my friends and coworkers gave me a hard time for having such an easy birth. LOL. Good Luck and I hope you have a safe delivery! =)

Hi K.,

Call your doctor and ask about what is going on with you. It could be that you are starting. With my daughter,my first, I didn't know much. I had been taken off work since my blood pressure was too high. The next day, I had two bouts of diarrhea and vomiting. I called my doctor's office and they said get to the hospital. I got there at noon on a Tuesday and had my daughter the next day at 2:01 p.m. My daughter is now 20.

Good luck.

LOL!! Your last baby sounds just how I was with my last baby!! In fact, I almost made my husband turn the car around because I just wasn't so sure this was it...With my first I had been having frequent ctxs since 26 wks and I was soooo worried I wouldn't be able to tell "when" the real show would began. With him I knew as soon as they became painful I was starting labor...I had severe back labor with him ...so there was no questioning it. I still checked in at 7cm so I was shocked at how far I was

Now with my second as I mentioned before I had no clue. I had minor braxton hicks from about 32 wks but nothing like with my first. They changed my due date twice (he also is/was a big boy) so I always felt heavy and pressure so I didn't know when he engaged like I did with my first...About from 37 weeks on I was like oh tonights gonna be the night and then as soon as I went to bed all the "regular" contractions would stop. I went in for my weekly check up at 38 weeks nothing nada, zero progression the Dr. said he finally engaged but was still high and maybe a finger tip :( By this point I was DONE...DONE..My first was delivered at 37 weeks so to go this that long was a disappointment. And being in the middle of Sept. last yr I was miserable. My OB said that by next week if I showed signs of progress and was "favorable for induction" we can talk about inducing!! At that point I said sure sign me up....So at 39 weeks I had my membranes stripped, she said if I was ready I should go into labor w/in the next day or so..If not I'd be in some discomfort and might even have some period like contractions. I'd know the real thing when they became more consistent and painful...Well 6 hrs later the ctxs started and they were period like, but way different and not even close to the painful ones I had with my son. It carried on like that for another 3-4hrs, but they were getting closer together. I really wasn't in THAT much pain so I kept asking my hubby should we go? He finally said let's just go they can send us home if need be...So we packed up about 12am and head out...1/2 way there I said this is not it, we should turn around I'd be way too embarrassed if they sent us home...My hubby said flat out "NO" we already on the road you are going. I didn't even call the hospital until we were in the parking lot, just in case we turned around. We checked in went through all the questions, and the nurse kept lookin' at me like she
"so not in labor". When they got ready to check me, I said "I have a funny feeling you are going to be sending me home". The nurse checked and said do you think its good news or bad news?...I said we're going home right? She said NOPE..you're 7.5cm...I was sooo shocked...really? ....When they we're rolling me in, every nurse said, "You're a 7 and still smiling" ...All I could think of was wow, this isn't really that bad...I still did the meds just in case it got unbearable..But I am really shocked at how much faster, easier and less painful everything was...BTW I never had any of the usual tell tale signs that labor was eminent. I never lost my plug, didn't get cranky, didn't really nest much, only difference was I was slight more tired, and I was all hypochondriac with the H1N1 thing and bringing the baby home with a toddler. But that could have just been the pregnancy in general, don't know!!

By all means just because you've done it before doesn't mean you will actually know..Everything is so different each time. Heck I was so nervous about delivering in my car, just because 2 of my friends did. Yes 2. The nurses said that's almost unheard of with subsequent pregnancy. She said usually subsequent pregnancies there's usually a lot more "false" labors and them sending mamas home :) Hang in there I hope this time around is a breeze for ya :)

It's it crazy how we can forget what we went threw before.
Don't worry it happens to the best of us.

My first child I went into labor with her at home and my first sign of labor was ALOT of lower back pain. Then the pain came around my back and went to my tummy.
My husband called the hospital and they said go for a walk and then when it gets to be too much then come in.
So at 1:30AM my husband, MIL, FIL, and I went for a short walk BECAUSE I COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE.
So we went to the hospital. They had to break my water.

My 2nd and 3rd ones were induced.
Now I am pregnant again = ) and this time I hope to be induced again.

I wish you the best and I hope everything goes well.

I always begin effacing and dilating at 31/32 weeks and I always have very strong braxton hicks contractions for at least two months before giving birth. Braxton hicks contractions that have a definite beginning, peak, and end and that are regular for several hours, no matter how I change my activities and relax, and then stop. I have never lost my mucus plug and the only reason I knew I was in labor with both of my children is that my water broke right before contractions began. I am very glad I broke my water especially with our daughter (2nd birth) or I wouldn't have known I was in labor until I was about to give birth. My braxton hicks contractions for two months prior were much more painful than the real contractions I had with her two hours prior to her popping out with two pushes. With her I was still grocery shopping right up to two hours before she came out, mainly because I thought it would be HOURS before I gave birth because the contractions were so mild. I was irritating my mother, husband, and midwife something awful because I kept refusing to go into the birthing center, kept refusing to call the babysitter for our son, and because I was being so casual about the whole thing. (As a side note: I have two children and gave birth to them naturally, with no pain medication, at the midwife's birthing center). Even though I never had any of the classic signs people say women usually always have a few days to two weeks prior (with either of my pregnancies because I have braxton hicks contractions for two months prior, my babies always are engaged for a good month prior, I have never lost my mucus plug, I have never had diarrhea the day before, my burst of energy always happens at 7 months, etc.) I always suspected I would be going into labor within the next 48 hours because I would become EXTREMELY cranky and the biggest give away for me is that I become EXTREMELY loopy. I can't think straight, I can't talk straight, I don't make sense, I slur my words, and people say I am worrying them. Also, my midwife says that your blood pressure usually increases the day before you go into labor. That was true with my daughter. Two of my friends who just recently gave birth within the last 7 months also got extremely cranky right before going into labor and started slurring and not making a whole lot of sense with speech.