I’m wondering what everyone experienced in the days before labor?
Did your baby drop visibly or noticeably?
Did symptoms like heartburn or anything change?
Nausea/vomiting/diarrhea that came on before later but wasn’t generally a 3rd tri symptom for you?
Increased braxton hicks or irregular contractions?
Mood swings? Extreme tiredness, irritability, or bursts of energy?
Anything else?
Did you realize you were in labor before your water broke or you lost your mucus plug (which I realize doesn’t always occur right before labor)?
(I’m talking about symptoms that appeared a week or a few days before labor that weren’t there before).
I had a few twinges and aches for maybe a week or 10 days before it really got started. I didn’t notice the baby dropping or getting lower, i actually carried very high right up until the last minute i think. I did notice a difference in her movements though, they slowed down a bit, which freaked me out a bit, but the midwife reassured me that was normal. The plug came out about 4 days before it all started. Then i woke up one night with contractions, but they were irregular and, although they were more painful and insistent then b.hicks, they weren’t unbearable. So after a call to the midwife and a few deep breaths, i just took some paracetamol and got a hot water bottle and managed to get a bit more sleep. This actually went on for a couple of days, i was just at home having baths and trying to stay calm! It all worked out fine in the end though.
[name]How[/name] are you feeling, leadmythoughts? I see your due date is quite close now!
My son was born on a [name]Monday[/name], and I had diarrhea and a feeling of general “peakiness” the weekend before. I felt much better on [name]Monday[/name], the actual day I gave birth, though. Throughout the day, while at work, I had intermittent cramps that I thought might be contractions, but when I tried to keep track of them, there was no pattern. My first unmistakable contraction occurred that night about 5 minutes after a visit to the bathroom where I discovered I was bleeding lightly. ([name]Even[/name] then I didn’t believe it. I kept insisting it was just gas pains–gas pains following a predictable every-four-minutes pattern, but whatever. For some reason, it just never occurred to me he would come before my due date. I was on the phone with my boss, telling him I was going in to get checked, but I was sure it was nothing and I’d be in the office tomorrow, when my water mid-sentence. No more denial after that!)
There was no change to my heartburn or mood before the big day, and I never experienced much in the way of [name]Braxton[/name] Hicks.
Did your baby drop visibly or noticeably?
My baby visibly dropped at around 30 weeks. A friend even said, “Oh, [name]Honey[/name]. [name]Don[/name]'t go into labor yet.” …a few days later, I was in the ER in pre-term labor. Thankfully, after a couple of days, I was sent home with very strict instructions to park it for the next 7 weeks.
Did symptoms like heartburn or anything change?
I was really lucky in that I never had heartburn throughout my pregnancy. I was less hungry the last couple of days though.
Nausea/vomiting/diarrhea that came on before later but wasn’t generally a 3rd tri symptom for you?
My morning sickness subsided at about 16 weeks and never came back. Again, I was lucky on this one.
Increased braxton hicks or irregular contractions?
I had contractions every 2-4 minutes apart for the last 7 weeks, even with strong meds. The contractions continued steadily and finally my water just broke.
Mood swings? Extreme tiredness, irritability, or bursts of energy?
I would have these bursts of energy the last week or so. Of course, I couldn’t do anything. So, I called my mom. She would come over and organize, and I would fuss and boss
Did you realize you were in labor before your water broke or you lost your mucus plug (which I realize doesn’t always occur right before labor)?
It was when my water broke. I was allowed to get off of bed rest the afternoon before. I wanted to visit my work, since I had not seen anyone in several weeks. My water broke right in the reception area…
Did your baby drop visibly or noticeably?
He dropped about a week before I went into labour. And he dropped very noticeably. I was stretch mark free all throughout my pregnancy and then surprise, he dropped and my belly was covered in them. Oh well …
Did symptoms like heartburn or anything change?
I was very lucky that I never had any heartburn throughout my entire pregnancy.
Nausea/vomiting/diarrhea that came on before later but wasn’t generally a 3rd tri symptom for you?
Again, I was lucky that I never had any morning sickness or nausea. I did have increased sensitivity to food smells and didn’t really have much of an appetite the week before I went into labour.
Increased braxton hicks or irregular contractions?
I never had a [name]Braxton[/name] hicks or contractions until I was in labour.
Mood swings? Extreme tiredness, irritability, or bursts of energy?
I was usually very tired with extreme bursts of energy. The day I went into labour, I ran 8 miles and then slept five hours straight. This pretty much described my entire pregnancy.
Did you realize you were in labor before your water broke or you lost your mucus plug (which I realize doesn’t always occur right before labor)?
Oh yes! I woke up at 11:30 at night with contractions about a minute apart. We went straight to the hospital and I was 4 cm dilated when we got there (about a 15 minute drive). The nurses had not even had a chance to put in IV in me before I felt like it was time to push. By the time they hooked me all up, I had passed my mucus plug and my water had broke. I got my epidural when I was 8 cm dilated and labored down for about an hour and then pushed for another. DS was born at 3:00 am so I was only in labor for 3 and 1/2 hours. I guess my situation was pretty abnormal given that this was my first child.
I hope your labour passes quickly and easily for you!
Did your baby drop visibly or noticeably? – Yes. I was carrying very high, now you can clearly see she’s down a lot further. Did symptoms like heartburn or anything change? – My heartburn is worse unknown reasons. [name]Even[/name] bread give me heart burn. Nausea/vomiting/diarrhea that came on before later but wasn’t generally a 3rd tri symptom for you? – Yes to bathroom problems. Sigh. It’s terrible but at least I haven’t gotten hemorrhoids Increased braxton hicks or irregular contractions? – I’m not noticing very many BH at all. [name]Every[/name] now and then I’ll have a few contractions, sometimes I have very regular contractions for an hour-hour and a half and then they’ll just go away. The other night I had regular contractions every 10 minutes no matter what I did for over an hour, stayed up until 1:00 in the morning, then they got irregular and just stopped. Huff! It’s annoying. Mood swings? Extreme tiredness, irritability, or bursts of energy? – I’m sure I’ve been more irritable and I know I’ve been horribly tired. I think my body’s trying to store energy Anything else? – [name]Every[/name] time she moves I feel it in my crouch and that’s weird and painful. I can breath better but have to pee every 15 minutes, and now my hips hurt so bad I can’t walk some days (which is all due to the stretching and whatnot) Did you realize you were in labor before your water broke or you lost your mucus plug (which I realize doesn’t always occur right before labor)? – I haven’t gone into labor yet, but I will tell you I lost my mucus plus like 2 weeks ago. It was extremely noticeable and gross and it’s still been 2 weeks and I haven’t gone into labor.
I had none of those signs at all…one morning I slept in later than usual and a few hrs after waking up my water broke. I was 2.5 weeks early so I didn’t expect it at all.
