Signs of Labour

Every ache, every pain, every time I have to empty my bowel at a moments notice I’m wondering if these are signs of labour.  Anyway, it got me thinking about my previous labours; what were the signs of impending delivery? I wonder if they will be similar this time around.

The day before Logan was born I was still blissfully unaware of how close I was to giving birth. It was a normal day; we had pasta for dinner and I stayed up unusually late watching TV.  Around 2/3 hours after going to bed I was woken up by the need to use the toilet.  I didn’t know at the time but my body had just decided to have a ‘clear out’.  Thank goodness it did as contractions followed minutes after and the rest is history.  Logan was delivered naturally around 15 hours later at 5:35pm, three days overdue.

Florence came five days early.  I had been losing my mucus plug for around two weeks already at this stage and so I knew something was happening but I just didn’t know when.  I’d spent the morning of the 5th July shopping at Tesco. I humped it all into the house and had some lunch.  I spent the next hour or so on the laptop and generally passing the time when I had some tightenings. These weren’t braxton hicks, they were regular and were slowly, but surely getting more painful. After an hour of increasing intensity I text Matt and asked him to come home as he had a 30 minute journey ahead of him.  So, with Florence, losing my plug was the first real sign of labour being just around the corner.

I asked some of my blogging mummy chummies on Facebook what their first signs of labour were and this is what they said…..

“I got a really bad cold a week before I had both kids. Then I had nothing until my waters went!”
– Emily from Emily and Indiana

“I woke up with mild contractions around 4:30am. As i was 3 days late I timed them and realised they were pretty regular so called hubby to come home (he worked nights) by 7am I was in the bath as the pain was increasing. I emptied my bowels and by 12pm went to hospital. But my waters didn’t break and I didn’t lose my plug! So it was hard to say I was definitely in labour. In fact, the hospital tried to see home as I was only 1cm. Turns out I was as 2 hours later I was 7cm! Lamb was born at 7:57pm the same day.”
– Alex from Lamb and Bear

“I had false labour two weeks earlier. I was convinced that it was all starting. But after some sleep it eased. Over the next two weeks I had intermittent cramps, an upset stomach and back pain. Then two days overdue my waters broke at 6 am with a huge gush. At 08.30 I had my first contraction. At 10.30 I started projectile vomiting so we went to the hospital. By the time they examined me at 11.00 I was 9cm. Little Miss was born at 12.24 after being stuck and constantly crowning (ouch) for 45 minutes!”
– Lucy from Mrs H’s Favourite Things

“Being very emotional the day before. More than normal hormonal pregnancy.”
– Eilidh from Mummy and Monkeys

“I was bed bound the day before I had H-Bear with a full on streaming cold, awful cough, no energy, headache, but woke up the next day absolutely fine… He arrived at 2.30 that afternoon!”
– Hannah from Make Do and Push

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