expecting first and going insane?????

yesterday from 7 i had what i thought might have been the beggining of labour as they where more painful than my normal b/h then the died of in pain at about 11 then at 12 i had about 7 or 8 tightening sessions which i have been having for ages and ive been calling them b/h???? i had them all day yesterday not getting any stronger until about 8 then i had 2 real painful ones then all night i had once again tightening on and off for hours then i wake up this morning and ive only had like 5 tightening sessions????? i have absolutly no idea what is going on could someone please help i rang the hosp and they said ohh yes it could be the early stages of labour but ive had next to nothing all morning. i havnt even lost my mucous plug my waters havent broken nothing!

sorry its soo long i just dont no what to do??
Thanks in advance to all who reply.

I know it's hard and does your head in doesn't it?!
Really the best thing you can do is try to relax a bit and just see what happens. This sort of thing can literally go on for weeks before real labour starts...I worked with a lady who had her baby on Sunday at nearly 42 weeks and she'd been having all this daily since 38 weeks! That's not really unusual. Prelabour often starts up at night and stops in teh morning because we're more sensitive to oxytocin at night time.

Your body can take a lot of time to warm up and at the time it's really frustrating..but trust me it's preparing itself to make your labour easier and more efficient. If it's labour you will know soon enough - the contractions will keep getting stronger or something else will happen, like waters going or whatever. Until then it's easier on your mental health to assume it's prelabour and just deal with it that way. Try to ignore it or use it as an opportunity to practice some of your coping techniques for the real thing (visualisation or whatever else you think you might use). If you get really wound up about it and can't switch off to it, and does go on for days or weeks you'll end up buggered when the real deal starts and that could make things really tough.
Hang in there, hopefully not long now ;)

For what its worth, I am in much the same boat, with random tightenings and menstrual like pains waking me in the middle of the night....the nothing. I too have no sign of my mucus plug, no waters, no nothing!

Yep, its starting to drive me crazy too.

Good advice from Tobily, I try to just keep dismissing it as my body preparing and not get too excited- but that's really hard!!! As Tobily said, I figure when we are in full on labour, we will know it! Im just trying to keep busy till then...

Good luck and hope it all goes well for you! Sending labour vibes.

Hi Hayden_Sam_Adam
Unfortunately Tobily is right. This sort of thing can go on for weeks. Personally I think what you are experiencing is BH contractions. However don’t get disheartened the painful ones are a good sign that your body is starting to get ready to go into labour. Also not every woman will lose her plug before going into labour, and some women do not even notice their plug come away. Also your waters do not always break before going into labour. A few years ago I attended a birth where the baby was born still in the membranes.

Just an update for you all, Hayden_Sam_Adam was 4cm dialated at 1am this morning.

treelo

I didn't even realise I was in labour until about 2 hours before bubs was born...lol. I never lost my plug (or didn't notice it) and my waters didn't break, hossy did that... Alan, my DS 1 has a friend who was born still in membranes and has pics which he said look really cool...lol.

Ooooh treelo hopefully she will be having her bub soon :)