Pregnancy Info HOME

Call the L&D ward for advice on what to do. They are trained to do this very thing. When I started going into labour with my 1st it was menstral-like cramping and not BH-type contractions. If the BH's have a pattern to them (ie. you can time them) and they won't go away when you lay down or drink water then it very well might be the beginning of labour for you. Good luck!

Since you are past your due date this could very well be it. It never hurts to call L&D but chances are they will tell you not to come in until they are closer together and more intense. My water broke spontanously and my labor started off as braxton hick like contractions and then they began to intensfy but my baby was breech and i needed a c-section so that is my only experence with labor.

Well, the contractions have been catching my attention steadily every 15 minutes, so I definitely can wait before heading to the hospital! I haven't lost my mucous plug though (as far as I know, anyway), so I'm just kind of confused. Thanks for the responses. I'm going to try to eat something, and then I'll probably head off to bed. I've always said that I'll know it's real labour when it wakes me up! lol.

Don't wait for you r mucous plug to come out as a sure sign of labor. Some women don't lose it until much later into labor. Pay attention to how your body FEELS in repsonse to the contractions. Contractions that are lasting for 45 seconds+ and 5-7 min. apart warrant a trip to l&d or at the very least a call to your OB. GL to you!

Hi Jenice, I agree with the other ladies.......just because you haven't lost your plug yet doesn't mean it isn't labour......I am due in 5 1/2 weeks for my 2nd one. With my first, i hadn't lost mine and the dr. had to break my water just before i started pushing. He even said with this one not to wait for that to happen because i tough membranes. I started having minor contractions at 32 weeks......it does sound like you could be in labour...one way of helping the contractions come early is having a really warm bath....since you have past your due date you can work on bringing them on.....GL and let us know

Thanks ladies. I went to bed last night to get some rest, but when I woke up this morning the contractions had stopped. I had an appointment with my OB today though, and he's happy with how things are going...he says my body's definitely getting ready (just taking it's time!). He did an internal (first one he's done) and said he could fit one finger in. So that would probably be around 1-2 cm dilated, right? He's pretty confident I'll be going into labour in the next few days, which is good. I just wish this was something that was exactly the same for every woman, so I knew exactly what to expect! lol. (Can you tell I like to be in control??) I am glad to hear that I shouldn't rely on seeing my mucous plug to identify labour though. Thanks again ladies. I really appreciate hearing some of the more "unusual" labour symptoms. It gets kind of tiring reading the same things over and over again...it's like those pregnancy books only focus on one woman's labour! I like to be reminded that we're all different, and things can happen differently for each of us.

That's what was happening to me two days before I went into labour. I was about a fingertip dialated and started having BH about 10 minutes apart. I also lost my mucous plus 2 days before labour, so it should happen soon...good luck!

YEAH, Jenice!! Hopefully soon you get to welcome your lo!! How exciting! Let us know how things go when you get a chance.