Labour signs -what were yours?

I guess I'm getting quite impatient now! I know I still have a week to go but I really want to have this baby! I hear so many different things and while I think I have dropped and have got quite big and tight, plenty of people have said I don't look anywhere ready.

Any signs to show that it's starting soon? I'll grasp on to anything!

Hi Jordie

I went into labout at 35 1/2 weeks. The first sign was when my water broke in the middle of the night! I had had no symptoms until then and hadn't even dropped (well, I didn't think I had)...

I suppose that what I'm trying to say is that you never know when your labour will start and you may not get any "signs".

Good luck with the birth of your baby. :)

Hehehe I remember the impatience :lol: Oh how I wish I could shove him back in sometimes so I could get a decent nights sleep...

Nesting is a good sign, I went on a cleaning frenzy just before, I sugar soaped all the walls :rolleyes:
I never had BH or I don't think I did, so I knew I was in labour when I started feeling the contractions.
My waters broke a few hours after contractions started so I really knew things were on their way then.
As for dropping, you can drop and then the bub will go right back up again and down and up. Some babies never drop until labour is established.
I lost my plug 3 weeks before labour so it is not an effective predictor either.
Some people get bloody show, I got mine after the waters broke.

I guess the easiest thing to say is that every womans signs are different, and it is probably best not to listen to other people too much, if I had listened to people and their size comments Noah would have been born at 20 weeks gestation :lol:

I hope you get your sign soon hun, best of luck with the birth!

For me it was the excrutiating pain :) I had a sore back for most of my third trimester as Ella was big and i'm kinda small. So the start of labour went unnoticed until the were 3mins apart.

Lots of people by looking at me that i was ready to pop (at 27 weeeks!)

The anticipation is grueling - it took so much out of me, so i put it out of my mind. Take the phone off the hook and dont listen to ILs asking "are you in labour yet?". You'll know when it starts because you cant talk... haha.

Good luck. Not long now.

Ann

With my first pg the only sign I had was that I was restless - but that could have just been impatience! I had absolutely no other sign until my contractions started at 8 minutes apart. So on the plus side, no signs doesn't mean it's a way off you - it could still happen any time for you! I do hope your wait is nearly over, I know how slow those last weeks go!!

I agree with Sarah - those old wive's tales about nesting are really true. My labour started about 6pm and the whole preceding day I was full of energy - cleaning, cooking, running errands. I seemed to just *know* that it was about to happen.

GL - you'll have your little one before you know it and - mad as it might sound now - you'll end up missing your big ole' belly!!

Personally I didn't have any specific signs other than my water breaking the day before my due date (Flynn was born the next day on his EDD, clever lamb). There's still time Jordie, don't worry hun :)

did anyone feel absolute exhaustion? the last three days i have been so tired, i feel like i can't cope. just sitting on the couch watching tv exhausts me.

With my first I lost my mucus plug, then my waters broke the following day (37 weeks), and with my second it was spontaneous PROM.

With my first one I had all those textbook things you read about - I had the runs all day, and I was nesting like a loon for about three days before...then the day my water broke I had this insane urge to go shopping so I walked around a shopping centre for 5 hours...water broke that night LOL.

Gracie - that was so me. I would wish the day away so I could go back to bed. If you are feeling exhaustion like I was, you may find that you are very tired after the birth. Make sure if you are too tired that you tell DP to ask people not to visit so that you and bub can rest.
My sign was that my waters broke. 5.5 hours later, I got to meet James.

None!

I didn't even realise I was in labour until about 8 hours later when I thought I should probably time what I thought were BHs at the time (I'd had a S&S that day) - by then they were 3-4 mins apart! :lol:

I lost my mucus plug on tuesday. Then woke up on friday morning to little pains in my back every few minutes, which I thought were just braxton hicks. The continued for the next 22hrs. My waters broke in bed the next morning at 1:30am and I began to get contractions 3 minutes apart straight away, and was at hospital being told I was 4cm dialated within about 30-45 mins of waters breaking.

I had no signs at all. No increase in bh contractions or anything like that. I hadn't 'dropped'. I got up to go to the loo friday morning, got back into bed and labour started!! Don't worry about whether anyone says you look ready or not. No body knows when you will go into labour, it is just when your baby is ready!!

Hey Jordie

first time round I got nothing...and hello induction...yuck!
2nd time...very emotional, lots of tears...and then a show...went into labor about 20hrs later

xx yogababy

Gracie - i feel exactly the same!! I'm starting to find it hard to stay awake i'm so exhausted all the time even after sleep! I don't get to have naps thru the day tho, my 3yr old makes sure of that...

Jordie - with my DS i had period cramps from 1130am on the sunday, went into hosp for the gel that night but was already 4cm dilated and was awake thru the night with irregular contractions and induced in the morning.. I'm so over it too and questioning everything im feeling and doing hoping it means im going into labour! Good luck :)

well, just got back from ob and apparantely i'm not close to giving birth at all!! bubs is no where near engaged and has turned posterior. great..

Hi JordieC - I was wondering if you'd gone into labour after our chat on the baby name thread! Hope it's all going well for you, I still love your choice of boys name :).

It's so frustrating isn't it?? The days are just dragging for me too..no labour for me yet either, and no signs at all.

Gracie - my ob has just told me that the baby has also turned posterior and is nowhere near engaged either! I had all this back pain the other day and thought it was labour, but no it was just bub deciding to recline on my spine!!

Good luck JordieC - if you beat me to labour, you'll have to tell me what your signs were as I'm on the look out for any sign too!!

hi sally- when is your due date? yeah i had a terrible nights sleep on friday and i think it was bubs turning on me..

gracie - sorry to hear that bubs has turned posterior :(
i think mine is posterior too (after spending MONTHS perfectly positioned at the front on the left!). my OB told me not to bother worrying about it though because babies can (and often do) turn at the last minute to the best birthing position at the onset of labour... i'm not sure whether he was just trying to make me feel better or not, but have decided not to worry about it anyway!!

I'm in the same boat Jordie...waiting IMpatiently for something definite to begin.
I thought i was going on Sunday...was up at 5.30am with a real need to go for a long walk...so i went up to the local shops and bought the newspaper. On the way, i was giving the 'bump' a good talking-to and by the time i got back home i started having some contractions. These lasted all day...i had a few hours of regular, moderately strong ones, 4-5 mins apart, then they'd get irregular and weaker...then strong and regular again. By late afternoon i was laying down resting when i had a strong urge to go to the toilet...not quite sure whether i wanted number 1 or 2 or both, so i just sat hehehe. I felt like i had a bubble inside me that was literally going to POP at any moment, and everytime i got up off the toilet, i quickly raced back to sit down again, such was the strangeness of the feeling. I ended up getting in the shower for a few minutes and experienced a very weird emotional release...i just burst into tears and was completely irrational and off the planet. Poor hubby was staring at me in disbelief as it is waaaay out of character for me to be like that!! After calming myself down getting dressed again, i phoned the hospital and they said to come in and get checked out. I had these funny mental images of me being in labour all day without realising it and now all of a sudden being in transition and expected to be pushing at any second!!
After being examined, they said that i hadn't even dilated and that i was clearly just "getting ready"....:doh: no kidding!!! I had another 3 hrs of strong contractions at home and then nothing! Everything completely stopped....and ironically i had the best night sleep for months!! The baby's head has well and truly engaged deep down into my pelvis.
But since then...not much action i'm afraid. Just the usual BH, with a stringy show the past 2 days. I'm extremely frustrated but trying not to get stressed about it, that'll just make things worse i think. So i'm just trying to keep busy and hope that it all happens soon. I have to go back to Dr's on Thursday if nothing has progressed and we'll talk induction.
This is my 3rd pregnancy, and i have to say, that they've all been completely different. Which can make you feel a bit silly, because when you speak to people, especially some midwives, they automatically assume that you should know what is happening, or what to expect etc....but you don't and it can be annoying when they look at you like you're a fruit loop! :p

Let's hope that we get some action soon huh....or there's gonna be a whole lotta crazy over-due preg women going beserk out there!!! :lol:

Oops....i wrote the wrong name....was meant to write Gracie...sorry matey :)

ella- i'm glad to hear you're the same as me cos we're due around the same time. i've been really worried about it all night cos everything was going perfectly up until then. then i find out the baby's head is nowhere near engaged, i've got crippling back pain and the ob says to me 'be prepared to have an october baby'. i'm so upset now. do you think it's nothing to worry about?

Ella & Gracie,
having had several posterior bubs :) it is worth doing everything you can to make them turn. Yes, they may OR MAY NOT turn at some point during labour, but there are other factors too...their less than optimal position makes you more likely to go overdue, for example. If you do labour while they are posterior it is very tiring, because the back labour means you never get a proper rest. If they don't turn at some point during labour, persistent OP babies often don't come out easily. Typically stage 2 is prolonged; a forceps/ventouse delivery may be suggested or required.
My first was a posterior breech. I had a c/sec. My second delivered OP after I pushed for 4 hours. I had a birth centre delivery with a private midwife. Had I been in a hospital delivery suite, I'm sure I would have been sent for another c/sec. The baby was never in distress, but progress was very slow.
There is a great book, Optimal Foetal Positioning, which you can get from Capers bookstore online. I highly recommend it. I read this book while expecting my 3rd and did everything I could to get him to present OA. It worked and made a huge difference to my labour. One of the authors has written another book, along the same lines, but geared more towards mothers than midwives. I think it's called Sit Up and Take Notice! Either one would be very well worth reading.
Also--if bub is posterior--not surprising that the head is not engaged. It probably won't happen till labour starts in that case.
Every labour has been very different for me. The one thing I had in common with each labour, was lots of B-H in the week before delivery.

gracie - i think that we should both prepare ourselves to have to wait until Oct to have our babies simply because it's very common to go overdue with first babies in any case. however, that doesn't mean that we WILL have to wait that long (and i hope we don't - trust me, i want to have this baby ASAP!!)... the only thing that i seem to have learned with any certainty from reading people's experiences here on BB though, is that everyones pregnancy, labour and birth stories are TOTALLY different, and there is no way of accurately predicting what's going to happen to yourself.. at my appointment last Mon my Ob said "you could go into labour tonight or not for another 3-4 weeks"... he doesn't get hooked up on how many "stations" engaged the babies head is, or which way the baby is facing (front or back) because he says that they can keep changing right up until when labour starts (and can even swivel front back to front during labour). so, while i might end up having a posterior bub when i go into labour i've decided that there's no point worrying about it now because what's the point in being miserable for a few weeks when it could wriggle around at the last minute into the anterior position where she's been for the last few months in any case?
don't worry about the baby not being engaged either - mine seems to bob up and down in and out of my pelvis - a few days ago she was sitting REALLY low down and now she's higher up again... and although most first-time mothers usually have their babies engage a few weeks before the onset of labour, there are still plenty of exceptions to the rule!!

castle - thanks for your advice. i ave been onto Spinning Babies, and read other stuff on trying to turn posterior babies, and am doing a few things on a daily basis to try and encourage my baby back around to the anterior positon (doing a bit of crawling around on my hands an knees, etc!) as obviously i would PREFER to have a perfectly positioned baby if at all possible. but at the same time, i'm trying not to dwell on it too much because at the end of the day, i don't see the point in upsetting myself for weeks (potentially) when it all may work out fine anyway... and if it doesn't, i don't want to have built up the fact that my bubs is posterior as a huge failure in my mind either - then i'll just be feeling sorry for myself all the way through labour when i'll need the energy to overcome the extra challenge of a posterior bub. might check out the titles that you recommend in any case - thanks!

Hi there - no haven't had the baby yet SAlly06 though getting excited cause you never know. From all the diff stories I've heard it could be a few hours or a few days so just keep waiting! Definately had more mucus leakage so might go an check this arvo what it is exactly. Bags are ready to go and I straightened my hair! all the important things!! ha ha

JordieC - Hee hee I've been straightening my hair every day lately, just in case I go into labour, I thought I was the only one who did this?!! Pregnancy has definitely brought out my vanity...!!

Gracie - I'm due next week so just before you. I wonder if you're feeling extra tired because of the bubs position? I'm not sure if my bub has turned but I defintely was exceptionally tired when the ob said he was posterior on me the other day. I usually have heaps of energy and in those days when my back was aching and he was most definitely posterior, I was asleep by 8:30 every night and dragging myself through each day. I also felt really light headed with lots of nausea. I guess having a baby resting on all your nerves along your spine like that is going to be tiring, so we shouldn't be hard on ourselves! If it's any help, I've been paying more attention to my posture and sitting more upright, never leaning back and this seems to have helped. Apparently lots of leaning back can encourage ther baby to go/stay posterior. Also try leaning forward on all fours, ideally on a beanbag when you're watching the telly, stay like this for at least 30 mins if you can and you should notice a big improvement to your back pain. I'm quietly hopeful the baby has since turned, as since I've been doing these types of things my back pain has gone away...mmm...will wait and see what the next ob appointment reveals, all this waiting is so annoying!!

JordieC - Sorry to hijack your thread here! Good luck, it sounds like you may be getting close! Finegrs crossed very tightly for you!!

think i might have to invest in a beanbag- cos i always lean back- it's the only way that my back doesn't hurt. it sounds like i may be getting myself worked up over nothing. it's just hard when everything seems to be sailing along smoothly and now i'm completely exhausted and in pain and can't even do the supermarket shopping!
sorry to hijack your thread jordie- i'm sending you lots of labour vibes!!

Joridie C & Sally 06 - LOL at the hair straightening!! i won't be looking glamorous during labour (will want to use the shower so no point in using the straightener or mascara), but have already got the GHD packed in my hospital bags for post-birth, but pre-photos!! ha ha ha!! if i'm too tired to straighten my own hair one of my friends has offered to come in and do it for me - i wonder whether she does pedicures too... will pack the nail polish just in case!!

Gracie - had another OB appointment this afternoon. told him i was upset because i thought the baby was still posterior. he had a feel and said that it wasn't fully posterior, but wasn't anterior either (so maybe it's facing sideways?!).. anyway, i asked him about the techniques to get it to swing around to the front and he said that i was very welcome to try them, but he was not sure that any of them worked particularly well. he also repeated the same as last time, that the baby can still turn anytime from now up until going into labour, and can turn during labour itself.. or of course it's also possible that i might just be stuck with a posterior bub!! am going to try hanging out on my hands and knees when i can and leaning forward when possible just in case it does do some good (there seems to be a lot of literature on it!), but am also going to try and keep up the "don't worry, be happy" mantra seeing as it's not all doom and gloom just yet...

Just a question on labour signs, so hope you girls don't mind. When contractions, waters break etc all the starting signs of labour, do you still feel the baby moving, even just a little bit, or is bubs engaged, so unable to move? Hope this isn't a silly question.

thanks

Stillhoping - I've heard of women who can still feel their bub kicking away inside them while giving birth! I'm pretty sure your bub can continue to move regardless of pre labour, labour, braxton hicks etc. Though having not given birth myself I'm probably not best qualified to answer this!