So it turned out to be early labour... By 2am on Wednesday I was in the hospital, and dd was born shortly after ten in the morning.

wow! sounds like its all happening! hope you are all organised, and make the most of your last minutes of peace! good luck and keep us posted.

Hate to tell you but sex will really help things along...

On the other hand - you could just put your feet up and watch Wimbledon... like I'm doing! All the best - baby will be here soon regardless of what you do.

Wooo Wooooo, it sounds like your off, I'm so excited for you.

I was 41+1 when I had a sweep and labour started straight away. Next morning I had my beautiful dd after a waterbirth and no drugs.

Your doing the right things, try and get some rest and eat some energy food.

Good Luck and keep us posted over the next few days.

ooooooooooooooooooohhhh I really am excited for you, it'll be me again soon in a few weeks.

Braxton Hicks don't hurt - they just feel tight. These sounds like early contractions but things like this can go on for days before real labour kicks in (well, they did for me - both times!). Get loads of rest and drink and eat well. Do not do what I did and sit up night after night timing the "contractions" convinced the baby would be here within hours. God I still regret missing those last few nights of sleep!

How exciting! - and sympathies to you, had to have a sweep too - yuk yuk yuk!

Sounds like baby on the way, but only time will tell.

Raspberry leaf tea !! bah hum bug! does it really work??

Sitting with your pelvis back and your top half forward on the gym ball, encouraging the downward descent angle for your baby is supposed to be good.

good luck to your soon to be MUM!

As the title says, I'm 41 weeks today (first baby) and had a sweep yesterday. The midwife said that the cervix was soft, about 1cm thick and about 1cm dilated, but that it could still be a few days before things get moving.

This morning I had a show (not unexpected, after a sweep) and have been having pains low down in my bump all day. They feel like period cramps and keep coming and going. They were every 5-10 minutes for two hours this morning, then passed off. They've come back again this afternoon and are roughly every 15 minutes. As well as the period pain type cramping I occasionally have lower backache at the same time.

So my question is - is this very early labour? Or the cervix thinning further? Or is it just Braxton Hicks, cos I haven't had any of those up to this point?

And if anyone has good suggestions for how to encourage things along naturally I'd be glad to hear them...(I'm drinking raspberry leaf tea, sitting on a gym ball, really don't fancy sex and nipple stimulation just made my boobs sore and even more leaky!).