Do you just know when you are in labour

[mankycat]

I am currently 40 weeks with DC2 with DC1 my waters went 6 weeks early and went into spontainous labour and DC was born 6 weeks early. Ive made it to term this time and so confused as I know my waters wont necessarily go. I am looking out for every twinge pain/cramp but will I just know when its going to happen and when to go to hospital should I just trust my instincts?

Yes, definitely trust yourself! There is no distinct One Thing that signals that labour has started.... There will be lots of little things and eventually at some point it will become obvious.... your waters will go or you will start feeling noticeable regular sensations that get stronger, longer and closer together. Or a baby's head will start coming out of you, but that is quite rare, you usually get a bit more warning than that ;)

After the baby is here, you will probably look back and remember having back ache, or mild cramps or just feeling "off" just beforehand, and you will think, oh! I was probably in labour and had no idea!

Here is the thing: some women walk around at 4cm for several days without feeling a single twinge... I remember going to hospital for monitoring and I was surprised after to see "contractions" (braxton hicks) on the printout.... There had been six of them, apparently, in half an hour and I hadn't felt a dicky bird. Your body is working all the time, without you knowing about it or doing anything about it... I found that pretty cool to think about in the last weeks of pregnancy :)

Obviously its different for every woman every time, but I think 9/10 do know. For me it started with mild and infrequent back ache and period pains, I was term and so looking out for everything and gradually they got worse and more frequent untill I was left in no doubt that it was labour. My waters went on my 2nd push along with my DD .

I'm purely going on what my friends have said as I only have one DD, but they all say that they knew they were in labour earlier with their second child - their bodies recognised some early feeling that they had subconsciously remembered from last time. Either way I think you will know! Good luck

And yes you will know when to go to hospital, and they will probably make you wait even longer! but you body will lead you!