Pre labour symptoms? Can labour really just happen?

Ok, well I know no-one can predict it, but I guess just want to reasurrance that all is heading in the right direction. I never had any labour (nor prelabour that I am aware of) with DS, so this is all new for me.

Is it true that labour can just happen? Does it just turn up at any old time and then increase in intentsity?

I am just on 38 weeks.
The past 2 weeks I (TMI ahead) have noticed changes. I have been needing to pee often, I have had an increase of cm - of which I have had none through most of the pregnancy. I have had loose stools - and going 1 -3 times a day. I get sudden random moments where I think I am about to be sick. I have had a change in appetite - i am interested in healthier food now and not junk like I had been ;)
I have been quite nesty - needing to get all the house and everything organised and I am having bursts of energy, and then some days tired.
Oh, and my boobies have been starting to get moments of feeling tingly like back in the first trimester.
Im not really experiencing much in the way of BH, though I did have alot of them in 2nd trimester.
The osteopath told me that in the past few weeks since he last saw me, baby has moved down - so this correlates with the 'changes' I have been experiencing. M/w and Obs havent told me anything - I feel they almost just assume I`ll end up being in for another c.section :rolleyes:

Thats pretty much it, I think that all sounds good, but I could be still going on for weeks yet couldnt I?

Or you could go tomorrow...

The last 2 weeks SUCK most of all don't they?

I've said it before, I get no prelabour my cntx start at 5 mins apart...

Hi Salsa,
I am 39 weeks monday and still waiting for a sign of labour I havent had any real changes at all, I know bubs is down ready to go but I have not noticed any real changes in my body. I am starting to think that I will be pregnant for another month :o I realise people can just go into labour but I am starting to think that is never going to happen, I hate these last weeks of waiting. Good Luck with everything i hope it happens soon for you.

With my first, I didn't notice anything really different, except being achy and tired and weepy, until I woke up with regular contractions, 5 min apart. It can happen. :D
Those last few weeks can be SOOOOO long, I know. :hug: It'll come, don't worry. All the best!

I didn't have any labour 'signs' so to speak. The first two I was induced, so that was why but with the third, I woke up at about 2 am with contractions - they were not too strong, but strong enough that they woke me up and I couldn't get back to sleep.

I had absolutely no pre-labour: my waters broke at 38 +2 weeks and contrax started a few hours later 3 mins apart....

in retrospect there were some signs: i got very emotional in the week before. i didnt want to move anywhere and walking was the pits. then the day my waters broke i went a bit manic and tried to clean the house top to bottom and dig a new garden bed...

i hope that it happens soon for you and you can prove the ob wrong and get your vbac!! :lol:

I had no warning at all with DS1, just boom, ctx 8 mins apart. With DS2 I had been having painful BH for quite a few weeks, so if you don't count that as pre-labour I didn't have any signs with him either. And then he arrived quickly, labour was just 3 hours.

I had absolutely no signs of labour at all either. My waters broke as i got into bed one night. That's how I knew

No real signs for me either - just my waters breaking! I had been to the OB the day before and he said that I could have up to 3 weeks to go and he didn't think anything was happening :lol:

wow - that seems to be quite a few of you who just went straight into it!
Its exciting - but I wonder if I will still be feeling that way if Im still having pre labour stuff 2 -3 weeks from now? :rolleyes:
Im trying to relax and tell my body and baby that Im ready now ;)

It just seems such a strange thing to believe I might actually go into labour this time :pray:

I had nothing to prewarn me... well at least nothing that I'm aware of! First one was c/s - breech - so was before EDD. Second... thought I needed to pee, after getting in and out of bed about 5 times I asked DH if he wanted to get up with me cos I couldn't sleep. Turns out I was in labour...lol. I had NO clue and had no waters break (they did that at hossy) and no plug lost before. So, for me... it was straight into it! Good thing I reckon, no time to contemplate too much...lol.

I think I have been experiencing pre-labour for a week or so now.
- Random period type cramps that are getting more painful each day.
- Same time as the cramp is happening I get lower back pain and tightening like BH
- Need to empty my bladder and number 2's more often.
- Nesting like crazy.
- Very sooky and emotional.
- Last night the cramps I did have woke me up which was interesting.
- pressure in my pubic bone
- more discharge

Not sure if any of these are symptoms of pre- labour but if they are I have been having them for a couple of weeks now and I still have a few weeks to go so could go on for some time yet.

My first labour just started out of the blue. I had no show, no prelabour contractions (just the braxton hicks I'd been having for months), no pelvic pain, no nothing.

My husband commented about a week before that she had dropped, but I didn't notice any difference and couldn't see it.

I do think that most women have some signs, but whether they're aware of them or not certainly varies. But there are some like me who will just go out of the blue ;)

well I now have swollen numb heavy feel down 'there' ;)
Extra blood flow or baby pushing down I suppose?

I often wonder if i had pre-labour.

I never had a show, except after a stretch i had which didn't work anyway...

My waters broke at 3am and ctx began right away but 12-15mins apart and not very painful. DD wasn't born until 6.20pm, but i wonder how one could say when i was no longer in prelabour and now properly in labour...? At 9am ctx were 40seconds long, about 9 minutes apart. At midday they were about 60seconds long, 5mins apart. At 2.30pm ctx were 60seconds long, every 4 minutes, i was 2-3cm dilated and 50% effaced. At 5pm ctx were 3 in 10mins for 60seconds. At 6.15pm i lay down for my second VE and DD was crowning.

Best of luck hun, it can happen all of a sudden or it can go on a long time, but i don't know ANYONE who had a long pre-labour AND a long labour - the girls who pre-labour for weeks always seem to shoot the baby out after only a couple of hours of hard labour.

Bx

I had similar signs as you...
then at 38 weeks on the monday i got 12hrs of painless regualr contractions.. then nothing
at 39 weeks on the Monday i got 12 hours of irregular painless contractions... then nothing
at 40 weeks on the monday starting at 2am i went into labour - contractions 3 mins apart...

Tiny show (like the size of my pinky fingernail) that i so could have missed the Sunday before... nesting like crazy that evening (i decided to clean the whole computer desk and file everything i could find)

I would say that they last 2 weeks were a killer, just waiting... Someone told me that i will KNOW when i am in labour, but i had friends that didnt... i can tell you at 2am I KNEW i was in Labour and this was it...

Goodluck - not long now :) Enjoy your rest

My first 3 labours just happened...contractions 5 minutes apart then babies 4 to 6 hours later!! No loss of mucus plug, no water breaking...just straight into it, LOL.
My 4th baby I had a 16 hour pre-labour...slight loss of mucus plug, painful but sporadic contractions...again no water breaking. (the midwife had to break my waters all 4 labours...and babies came soon after). With my 4th they did a stretch and sweep when I got to the hospital and I had Jack 4 hours later.

My prelabour started the day I went into labour. Woke around 6am to AF type pain & a show - both of which got stronger as the day went on. Loose stools throughout the day. Contractions here and there. Actual labour started around 8pm that night and bubs was born 2.11pm the following day. The day before I went into labour I was convinced I was going to go 10 days over but I delivered at 38/4.