Anyone else had this early labour nonsense for more than a day? also tmi/whinge

[Chrononaut]

am currently 39+5 and since monday evening have been getting random contractions now and then, on tuesday morning though my plug (im assuming it was my plug, as it was like slime) came away and it still is kinda, along with my body clearing itself out so to speak :0

to top it off the contractions were mega strong last night but they have faded away by this morning and now its just constant back-ache and random tightenings.oh and ive been leaking slightly now and then :( anyone else had to endure this? im bloody fed up of this supposed early labour and i cannot sleep at all because it hurts to lay down :( dose labour ever start soon after this or is this going to carry on for a few more days? please tell me theres others going through this or that theres not long to go, im miserable

I'm not sure that this is really all that helpful, but my first labour lasted about 4.5 days. The books lie!!! It was very frustrating as I had two shows on the Monday and got all excited about the prospect of holding my baby that night, but he kept me waiting until Friday.

Annoyingly, I'd have contractions all the way through the night and then everything stopped all day. Very frustrating and bloody tiring. Eventually, I went into hospital after 4 days of this on'off silliness not because I thought I was getting anywhere but because I just wanted answers and some company! I'd already spoken to midwives over the phone who told me it wasn't 'real' labour, but they changed their minds pretty sharpish when they measured me and I was 4cm dilated.

Turned out, I was in super slow labour and dilating about 1 cm a day. They still had to break my waters, but the fact that it sounds like you are losing amniotic fluid might suggest that things are on their way and you won't have to wait as long! Fingers crossed.

Sorry, but as Glitterybits said, I also started on the Monday like that and DS was finally born on the Friday, about 5.30pm.

It sucks dosnt it :( It was worse in the night for me, but maybe thats because I was up and doing stuff in the day whereas nothing to focus on but the discomfort during the night.

Mind you, my waters never broke so maybe you will be faster than I was. Good luck!

thanks for the replies, its really good to know that there is such thing as super slow labour :)

glitterybits l hope it is amniotic fluid! i honestly thought i had just suddenly become incontenent and had a leaky bladder i will be looking at my pants alot more carefully! i think if i somehow manage to waddle to the midwife tomorrow (thankgod for the 40 week appointment being a day early!) ill make sure to get measured

gothmummy i feel your pain :( i cant lay down at all to sleep for some reason, whenever i try its like i get super contractions, im shattered as a result!

Chrononaut, I really hope you can get some sleep because being sooo sleep deprived before active labour really started was hard for me. Does a TENS machine help you at all? It did help me (when I finally remembered to put it on). Hope it wont be long for you. I think going on a big long walk was what really kicked everything off into active labour for me. (I did have DH with me, not sure i would have wanted to wander for miles alone).

good luck...

Yes, me too with my first, started on Saturday morning, slow trickle of waters from Monday, on-off contractions the whole time and I ended up having to be induced as it was just taking too long - she was born late on Wednesday...

GothMummy is right, tiredness is really hard so try to sleep as much as you can (easier said than done). I'm 40+10 now and really finding it hard to sleep so I do know what you are feeling like.

I have had this for about 2 weeks now with 2 really long bouts of strongish contractions and then......... nothing.

Quite annoying.

Yep - I had this with ds1. Contractions every 5 minutes without much dilation for 2 days. He was back to back which I think was part of the problem

Me too - three days and nights of contractions before waters broke and things got moving properly. Exhausting due to lack of sleep! Kept phoning the midwives, but nothing they could do to speed things up. Hang in there, it'll be worth it in the end!

My cousin recently had this for over a week before the hospital finally put an end to it.

so on the same night as i posted this i ended up in the antenatal assesment center! as i had contractions in the evening. pleased to say i was 3 cm dilated when i got there and had been leaking the hind waters (which i was pleased to hear because the midwife on the phone told me it was just urine when i was convinced otherwise!)

however contractions stopped and didnt start the following morning, but was told because the hind waters had broke more than 24 hours ago that i would be induced! i thought brillant, however labour ward was rammed full so i was waiting 22 hours untill i was sent up.

waters popped by midwife at about 2am and then went into full blown labour so was given an epidural, which was brilliant, i felt myself again and enjoyed it far more, also i was lucky that i could feel the urge to push and pushed ds out in half an hour without the need for forceps or ventouse :D also i lucked out really because it was his DD when he was born

Hope all you ladies with slow labours know your not the only ones suffering the long drawn out labour, but it makes it even better when your labour starts and even more exciting :)

I need this thread at the moment! Am 39+1 with dc3, and been having random contractions (mainly round the back) since yesterday. My body has also been "clearing itself out", which makes me wonder if things are going to kick off soon.

Labours 1 and 2 were very different - 1 was an induction which lasted just under 24h. With 2, I had about 15h of contractions and went into hospital with them 4 minutes apart, to be sent home and told to call when my waters broke. Well, they fizzled out, started up again about 12h later, but I only had 3 in 90 mins before my waters broke and baby was born on the floor, caught by dh, 10 minutes later. So I'm terrified, to be honest :o.

I'm on my own today until early afternoon, when my Dad's coming over. Dh is 30 minutes away by car.

I honestly don't have a clue what's going on...

PS - congratulations chrono!!