Symptoms and Signs?

[Celeste Ann]

Symptoms & Signs..

Does anyone really believe in early labor signs or symptoms that may occur before labor begins?

I'm 37 weeks tomorrow and I lost my mucus plug Monday and found out that I was dilated 1 cm on Tuesday.

I've been experiencing:

-Cramps on and off (more on than off!! But irregular)
-Nausea
-Lower back pain
-Sharp pains when I walk for a little while (about a mile or so)
-Lots of discharge
-Weird sharp pains in my belly, but it's something tolerable. (towards the left more, is that weird?)

Has anyone else ever gotten any of these signs before they went into labor? I feel it's gonna be another week or so before I actually go into labor though. But opinions are always lovely to hear!

 

[purplecupcake]

It's different for every woman and every pregnancy. For me, I just didn't feel very good. I had some lower back discomfort and then increasing pelvic pressure a couple hours before contractions started and my water broke but that was it.

 

[Literati_Love]

I got all those symptoms for weeks before I went into labour. For me the symptoms 24-48 hours before labour were an extreme Nesting urge (I did not nest for my ENTIRE pregnancy), bloody show, a few "real" contractions that just faded after a few hours...and that's about it! The next day I woke up in labour.

 

[fides]

I agree that it's different for every one. I think it's kind of like how some women have pregnancy signs before they can even test and get a BFP, whereas other women don't feel any different for several weeks.

I had my first bloody show about 3 weeks before labor began, and in the interim had all the stuff you mentioned plus some other "signs", including stop & go contractions. I would LOVE to just "go into labor" before the due date, but my body doesn't seem to work that way.

Oh, and the sharp pains in the side of your belly might be round ligament pains - at least that's what my OB was telling me - just overstretched at this point, so she suggested a maternity band.

 

[MindUtopia]

I didn't think I had any at all and had no idea I was about to go into labour. In retrospect, I did probably have some signs, but had no idea they were anything special. I had a couple hours of period like cramps about 5 days before, not like contractions, more just constant, but very mild. The only reason they were even notable is because I'd had no cramps or even BH all pregnancy, so it was unusual for me. The day before I had a lot of discharge. It wasn't my mucus plug, it was more like excessive amounts of clear ECWM. It was so much, it actually was kinda itchy and I thought I was getting thrush or something. I also got really, really emotional a few hours before. Again, only notable because I had been really calm and not been overly emotional during my whole pregnancy. I cried the whole way home that night about how I was going to make a terrible mother! Went to bed and woke up to my waters breaking at about 2:20am and conrtactions started after that. My daughter arrived at 2pm that day when I was 37+5. I do think a lot of early labour signs are similar to late pregnancy symptoms, so it's not always obvious if it's the start of something. For me, the discharge probably was the biggest sign. It was just A LOT and really noticeable that something funny was going on, which is why I thought it might be an infection. But I was still so early that I just wasn't even thinking about going into labour yet. I thought I had another 3-4 weeks!

 

[Tigermom]

Any news, Celeste?

It is such a tough question!

To me, all of those sound positive (they sound like your body is heading towards labor), but like everyone said, each person is different. Some women can be dilated for a month before, and some women don't dilate until the last minute.

With my ds: I was one of those that didn't know they were in labor until it was fully FULLY labor That was... great

I was having regular Braxton Hicks contractions 24 hours before I had any real contractions. I thought "I was told I would know if they were real because they would hurt" and the previous day, they weren't painful, just regular. They started random, as they normally do... only really happening with a full bladder, just peed, changed positions, etc. Then around 1pm they went to every 7 minutes, then 5 minutes, then they stopped. I figured that was it. The next day at 9 pm, I was in bed and BAM! I had to go have diarrhea in the middle of my first real contraction. There was no mistaking it. My second contraction was exactly 5 minutes later, and we were at the hospital 9cm dilated. I had been walking around in labor and didn't know?!?!? I never lost my plug that I saw. My only real thing was that I had Braxton Hicks contractions for about a month building up to that point. I do remember vaguely being 2cm dilated about a week before at a visit, but even my doctor said that most women do that.

Now this time, I'm am 37 weeks tomorrow, and for the last 4 days or so, I've been having terribly loose stools/diarrhea/urgent BMs (one or the other at least 5 times/day). I see my doctor tomorrow, and I'll have to let you know if she suspects anything. I've read that your body *can* go through a sort of natural bowel cleanse for the week or so building up to labor, but this would be early for me. Our first born was 5 days early, so 3 weeks early is a bit of a jump.

I know this wasn't helpful, but I did want to give an example of two different pregnancies already showing totally different signs.

Basically, everything you wrote sounds perfect! It sounds like things are going to be soon for you. I'm not sure how soon before labor you can lose your plug. To me, that would be the biggest indication!! Keep us posted!!!!!