38 weeks and spotting signs of labour approaching - who wants to join me?

[theborrower]

I'm 38 weeks tomorrow and the symptom spotting has begun! Who wants to join me?

Have been having lots of Braxton Hicks for weeks now, and I've been practising my breathing when they've come recently. I get period type tummy cramps every day, sometimes with the BH. Yesterday I was in the mood to dust the house / batch cook etc but today I'm quite happy to do as little as possible. And I'm constantly googling things like "signs labour is imminent".

Last time I went into labour on my due date. I remember waking up with period cramps that morning, and in hindsight I realise I had been a bit mad cleaning and baking in the week beforehand, but otherwise I don't remember any signs that labour was approaching.

I know it could still be a few weeks away, but I guess I'm just anxious for spontaneous labour (aiming for VBAC) so humour me - if you're nearly full term too, come and join me for the 2 week wait!

Marking place at 38w 4d. Baby just gone back to back so I've got the rage as last b2b labour was agony in my lower back! Been feeling really great all the way through, finished work on Tuesday & carried on running until 32 weeks. Now I'm just impatient! 4/5th engaged so not hopeful it'll be on time & no signs of anything happening!

At my last check up (last week) I was 3/5 (palpable I think) so at least baby is headed in the right direction.
I'm impatient too! Well, not too impatient as I do want some rest bloody impossible with a nearly 4 year old but it's the not knowing when it's going to kick off that's the annoying bit, isn't it?

How do you know baby has gone back to back? Is it quite obvious from feeling your bump?

I had a dip down the middle of my bump yesterday morning & she confirmed my suspicions at my appt without me saying anything. I am getting pains in my lower back & bottom today that I haven't had up to now & feet coming out the front :(

Im 36+1 and so wanting him out now! Mainly because i cant get comfy and im loosing sleep due to only being able to sleep in two positions! I will cope better with my. Nephrostomy once hes out....for the past week ive been cleaning mad and wanted to bake cakes(lots of them) and have had shit loads bh with period pains and loadsa bad backache(feels different to the normal) ive already had a taster of what labour feels like as when i had my neph. Fitted itset things off and i wasnt aloud to push else i would have broken my waters and theywere in the middle of doing the op, so i know the difference in these pains now and they do feel alot different :s have the consultants on wensday and im going to beg to get him out!

Im also massive wich doesnt help :(

I was 38 weeks yesterday and reckon I've got at least another 3 weeks to go. I'm enjoying it as much as I can, spending as much time with my oldest as I can before baby comes. Fingers crossed for your vbac borrower!

I'm 38 weeks today and starting to feel a little impatient now... Keep trying to remind myself to enjoy the resting whilst I can but the not knowing when/fear of induction and being really late & uncomfortable has been upsetting me today. Signs I've had so far is extreme nesting in the last few weeks which has slowed & been replaced by tiredness now. Baby is engaged and head down. Dull period type aches & lots of braxton hicks only at night in bed, gone by morning. Been (accidentally) eating loads of hot spicy foods ! Craving pineapple, feeling really horny all of a sudden ! drinking raspberry leaf tea, eating dates & taking homeopathic arnica & caullophyllum. Plus still doing gentle yoga, some walking & tiny bit of birth ball bouncing. My 38 week midwife appointment today was really lame as she just kept giggling when I said is been having period type aches and braxton hicks at night and saying 'you're a first time mum you probably will be late' etc... I found her quite annoying. Then the bloody cleaner in the hospital lift was like "ooh are you having twins??" ..."..... No." .... " oh well then it is a very big boy!?" ....".....No." .... It's a girl and I've been measuring bang on my dates every appointment - I'm not abnormally huge I'm just 9 months pregnant FFS ! Then I went and cried in the toilets & made my face go all red. And felt like I just totally did not want to be out in public/ around all these annoying people & felt very vulnerable and then felt sad because I felt like do I even want to give birth in this hospital anymore ?? No !
Anyway.... Let's hope I labour like my Mum.. She went into labour with me on my due date & took only 8 hours on just gas & air. All completely textbook and 'manageable' she said. We have the same body shape - v wide hips - and I'm a tiny bit younger than she was when she had me. Who knows if that is an old wives take that you labour like your mum, but in my case I hope it's true!

Good luck everyone and let's hope we're not still here waiting in 3 weeks time !

eepie unfortunately I don't think the labouring like your mother thing is true, but it would be nice. My mum had 3 fairly easy labours on gas and air, each getting progressively quicker (including delivering me vaginally, even though I was breech). Mind you, the downside of that is that when I was talking about the possibility of me having a mobile epidural, she said something like "why will you want or need an epidural? I didn't need one".

Anyway, 38 weeks today and still no baby, despite having strong BH all evening last night, and one right now. Oooof!

39 weeks tomorrow & no signs. I'm paying close attention as you can imagine! DD was 10 days late though so not convinced this one will actually arrive in June :(

A busy day cleaning (and making DH scrub the kitchen when he got home too) and an evening of strong BHs what seems like every 5 minutes or so (with low crampy pain) for me! I want to know when they're going to become the real thing and not just annoying super-tightenings!!

My lower back is aching like mad tonight, oooof!

Good luck, hope the cleaning gets it all going!

I went into labour on my due date with my first, it does happen.

35+1 today, so no hurry. Besides, I know what I'm in for now, so frankly, he can stay in there as long as he likes. Yes I'm hot and uncomfortable, but he's a damn sight easier to look after in there!

37+ 4 days and still haven't had a letter about the local ante natal day and tour of labour ward Midwife told me to wait for the letter. Will ask tomorrow but have a suspicion I have once again been overlooked

Keep being told I have a very boring pregnancy which I think is good in medical terms. But man, I'm bored.

38+4 and just back from midwife appointment - baby's head is still down and is engaged! Woo hoo!

I'm feeling knackered today - had to have a nap this morning, felt queasy and tired and bit head achey, also bit of a funny tummy. Signs or not?? Maybe just an off day. Have got to fetch the wee one from nursery soon, then I'm looking forward to a quiet night.

hi all

i feel like i can officially join in now, i'm 37+5 today with dc5.

realistically i'll probably go at least a week over so im mentally prepared for that but yesterday pregnancy hit me like a ton of bricks and i was exhausted.

Didnt help that i didnt sleep well last night. I was up nearly every hour with heartburn, leg cramps, back ache, wriggly bump, was too hot and kept needing the loo. I gave up at 4am and got up and showered and have been on mn ever since.

what's everyone got planned for the day? i need to get through some of my big to do's, get the cat from the garage and cut the grass (and put the rest of yesterday's tesco shop away )

Hello mamachelle

I'm a bit tired too, but that was because some decking car alarm was going off for ages right outside our window at 3am. It took me a while to get to sleep though, tummy just feeling a bit uncomfortable. I have a bit more energy than yesterday though, but I'm still going to be relatively lazy. Have dropped DD at nursery, been to Boots and the bank, and am now bouncing on my ball while uploading stuff to iTunes

I'm feeling the pressure in my pelvis again today - it feels like I'm constipated, even though I'm not. I didn't have this with DD (breech!) so not sure how long this feeling lasts before things get started. I've read that second babies often engage closer to labour than first time around, but given DD was breech so didn't engage (although I still went into labour) does anyone know if that makes a difference?

Ha, that should be feckin, not decking car alarm!

mamachelle When I have bad nights they are exactly as you describe !! Arg. I feel your pain. Also it's so difficult to turn over in bed (I keep having to though when my hips/legs go dead) as we have memory foam topper and I have what feels like a lead watermelon in my body !!! Sometimes I feel trapped in my own body at night time arrrrg can't wait to get my body back (kind of) and feel lighter !

39 weeks today and still nothing ... braxton hicks continuing....lots of loose BM's at night time and had ONE BH which was coupled with period-y pain this morning. Just the ONE.
Extreme nesting has come back in force this afternoon though and have been organising the house and cleaning again. Although it is coupled with extreme tiredness and the urge to EAT EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME.

borrower- how did the ball bouncing go? are you having any other labour signs? im not sure if not engaging first time would make a difference. it was a long time since i had dd2 but i remember she engaged the week before i had her because she was back to back. i feel like i have forgotten all the little pregnancy things but the heavy pelvis certainly sounds positive!

eepie- any more signs? hope u slept ok. i actually managed to get a really good sleep last night. only woke up twice. once for dd3 and once for dh's alarm so all in all im feeling quite good so far.

yesterday was such an effort to do anything. i collected the car from the garage, painted a fence and booked dd1 and 2's joint birthday party. that may have bèen slightly daft since its booked for my due date ..... but that was the only time i could do it so i have rallied my friends and they will come and hold the fort so to speak should i not be there at the time

enjoy your day all, im off to the midwife after school to do my birth plan then onto dd1's class assembly this afternoon so a nice relaxing day today.

Morning mamachelle - just more of the same, really! Lots of BH, pressure, and achey (and limbs poking out my abdomen quite uncomfortably!). Woke up in the night to go and pee, and was really sore, but I think that was more a pulled muscle type pain that period cramps. It did make me think "ooooh" though, but I don't know how much of this is wishful thinking!

So much for marking my place, turns out if you don't contribute the thread disappears from "I'm on", took me a few tries to find it!

Anyway 39 + 4 now and not a sausage or a sign. Checking back in but I see we're all the same!

Still, been enjoying the lovely weather as luckily no swelling & also catching Wimbledon rather than covertly checking at work like I normally do!

How is everyone else now?

theborrower - doh was hoping it was true ! That sounds like a super annoying thing for your Mum to say.... everyone has an opinion don't they on how they view labour/motherhood etc and just have to get used to trusting your own instincts and letting everything else just wash over you and not get to you. Like how upset I got with the hospital cleaner telling me she thought I was having twins ?! Why did I let that make me cry...?! She's a cleaner not a medical professional ! haha. I also get that pulled muscle type of pains/ + v. achey when I get up in the middle of the night - and have to walk on my balloon feet to the bathroom then open my legs into a sumo squat to be able to get low enough to sit on the loo for a pee !! Haha...Oh dear.

mamachelle - sounds like you've been really busy well done !! Also - should I be worried that no-one has asked to go through my birth plan with me?? I'm booked in at Queen Charlotte's birthing centre and at my 38 week appointment they just did BP, urine, felt baby and heard heartbeat....that was it. Next appointment scheduled for next week, the day after my due date. Not one person has asked me about my birth plan except to ask did I want to use the birthing pool maybe (yes). ....

I had a bit of a show this morning....def some of the mucus plug coming away....not a bloody show or anything though. And then an hour or two later had sudden urge to go to the toilet IYKWIM ! which I know is a sign of pre-labour and not something I'd eaten as all I had eaten was porridge at that point. Since then I've been feeling really HUNGRY again and feel quite excited for some reason....

Have a good day everyone.... :-)

princessdave - so jealous of you having had no swelling !! That's the one thing that's making me really sad/uncomfortable ... I miss my ankles. I have painful swollen troll feet and sometimes very painful to walk ! Means I am kind of house-bound but actually been really enjoying chilling out like you said being able to watch Wimbledon and relax as not at work...so nice just being able to potter about the house, eat something, have a cup of raspberry leaf tea....do some yoga/birth ball bouncing...nothing in particular to do...making the most of it before I have my little bundle needing all my attention 24/7 ! (which of course I can't wait for either)

Yeh I've not tried this raspberry leaf tea malarkey, anyone convinced it works?! It's probably a bit late for me now...

Took DD out this afternoon, definitely don't want to do much more driving but sometimes needs must! Been doing lots of walking but main concern is not being too far away from a toilet as I seem to need a pee every time I'm upright!!

Can't believe due date in Sunday, seems surreal. Not sure what I'll do this wknd to take my mind off it but I can't see it starting!