Yet another "am I in labour?" thread. Please HELP, I'm so confused!!!

[nezelette]

I had two hours of regular (every 5 min) contractions yesterday night, short ones but painful and not - I thought - BH.
DD was born in 3h45 so I thought I'd better be quickly organised for this one and got my parents in law up from Sussex in the middle of the night, as well as the neighbours on standby. Then it all faded away and, although I have mild belly pain, some almighty BH several times an hour and an upset tummy, nothing seems to be progressing... I ended up falling asleep and all the big symptoms were gone when I woke up
I'm not used to all this as for DD my waters went and then I had massive contractions straight away, no time for build up...
Anyone has any clue what's going on???
I'm due in 10 days. DD was 9 days late.
What do I do with my parents in law who are patiently waiting in the living room to see if they need to stay or go home???
WILL IT HAPPEN SOON??? Can an upset tummy cause regular contractions Or the opposite??

Tummy upset can often be the body having a clear out before kicking things off..

if your inlaws are still around and could stay perhaps all go out for a walk this morning (weather permitting) and see how you feel?

can they hang around till lunchtime and see how you feel..
FWIW My contractions stopped when I sat down and relaxed so in the end I danced the baby out to MTV.

Yes I think they'll stay for the day to see what happens. A walk sounds good, it's a lovely day here
Dancing it out sounds good!

good luck! sounds like things are heading in the right direction!

Am keeping fingers crossed for you but thought I'd say have had upset tummy for a while now and it does seem to trigger BH or possibly that the BH trigger it...hope that's not the cae for you!!

Hey nezelette I was just about to post almost the exact same thing!!!

I had exactly what you are talking about a few nights back and was SOOO convinced things were about to happen. I went to bed to try and get some sleep. Next thing it was morning and everything had completely COMPLETELY stopped.

I am told by every mum who has had natural birth "you will KNOW when it is the real thing"... Yeh - thanks... If the "braxton hicks" I was having the other night weren't contractions then I am terrified of how painful the "real thing" is going to be!! I think we have both maybe had things kick off but then stop so I don't think it will be long now.

Sorry - as you can tell from my name I am a 1st timer so I have no previous experience and my best friend had the same as you with her first where she was going about her business as usual and suddenly her waters broke, she had a show and the baby was born 4 hours later!!! No stiches, nothing. Lucky thing!!!

Anyway, she just thinks I am exaggerating my "contractions" but honestly, I couldn't speak, was crawling about on the floor trying to escape somehow from the pain. For some reason I thought maybe crawling out of the front door of the house would help.... OH was just following me around asking if I wanted a cup of tea!?!?? Poor guy - he was totally freaked out!

I think everyone now thinks I am a completely weak drama queen but I am sooo disappointed.

I had a very upset stomach suddenly last night too and have had period pain like cramp building up all night and all day today but no contractions or any development so if THIS is the real thing now I think I can handle it and WTF were those excruciating, pulsating waves of agony the other night?!?!

Anyway, here's hoping we're not in for too many more false alarms otherwise I will still be at home when the baby comes out cos people are telling me it can't be real labour!!! I guess I will only head in if I pass out from the pain or if my waters break...

GOOD LUCK!!!!

m on my 3rd baby and still cant quite decide if im going into labour or just very niggly. the only way i know is when there really painful there the real thing.

at the min ive had a case of the runs and been crampy all day with lots of bhs. still got 2 weeks to go though so i think its prob just niggles.

Things might have stopped because of the stress of people arriving -n othing like pressure to change baby's mind!

I hope it kicks off again soon for you xx

i had cx for 48 hours. coming and going, kept being told was a false alarm. cx went with paracetamol, but finally had a cx lasting 3 mins, went to hospital cos i think i went into a bit of shock, then cx went again, nurse said they were gonna send me home cos nothing for three hours then suddenly i wanted tp push, So... i think it could be possible and just rest and bounce on your birth ball, and rest rest rest and eat mars bars

Hope you two have gone into labour by now.

Sounds like you are both on your way.
BH arnt usually THAT painful so maybe you are having real contractions but they just arnt regular enough to kick start proper labour.
I had bad cramping pains with DS3 and contractions came and went all night then I fell asleep and they stopped, I was gutted when I got up in the morning but I just walked around alot and they started up again and I had baby by 8 oclock that night.

I know it is dissapointing when things start and stop but try to get some rest while you can. You will need all your energy for labour (which hopefully will be quick) and then for the neverending sleepless nights!! Good Luck

Thanks everyone for messages! Obviously it HAS to happen at some point!!
Same thing happened again yesterday night, I was ok all day, then after dinner I got quite bad cramps and contractions, not too regular but some really quite painful (I had to breathe and couldn't talk).
What a weird thing! Night labour only!
Anyway, the in-laws are gone now and I'll only call them when I'm sure next!
Problem is, as DD was so quick I'm totally paranoid and in many ways loads worse than a first-timer!

Paranoid what's up now?? Sounds to me like it was a bit more serious than a false alarm! Definitely some sort of pre-labour going on! When are you due?? Keep me posted!!

Cosima my cx went with paracetamol too! So I didn't take any yesterday so I could be more aware of them, but it still all went when I fell asleep.

spugs I think you're right there's definitely a link with the upset tummy. How are things for you? Any progress?? The trouble is, you DO get upset tummy when labour starts, don't you? (I did last time) So it's hard to tell what's causing what...

Another symptom: I'M SOOO HUNGRY!!!

not much else going on here apart from mor eof the same, had mw check today though and baby is 4/5s engaged so hopefully things will get a shift on soon

nezelette Welllll the painful - need to breathe, can't speak - cx have yet to come back at all but I have constant cramping which intensifies slightly. Cramping the night before last intensified all day then OH phoned to say his car was sitting in the car park at work when a big truck just smashed right into it and wrote off the front end of our lovely little car.

Needless to say, this must have stopped everything - I thought it would cause the baby to come early for sure since we now have no car to take us to the hospital!!! ARGH!

Anyway, nothing AT ALL. Was beginning to wonder if there is a baby in there at all until today - cramping has started up again but no cx or major pains. Really upset tummy again and booked in for a sweep tomorrow so hopefully......

Is wanting to eat everything in site a symptom too??? Cos I have been ravenous the past 2 days but still have major acid reflux so I am eating everything in sight, eating ice and drinking Gaviscon, being sick then really starving again!!!

COME ON BABIES!!!!!! I don't wanna be induced

How are you now? Keep us posted!!!

spugs and Paranoid Yes! Let's get those babies out! Three for the price of one!!

spugs 4/5 engaged sounds very good to me. Jump up and down!!

Paranoid Sorry about the car. About the reflux/heartburn I've been in complete misery all the time until I went to the GP last week who gave me something stronger (just one-a-day pill) and now it's totally GONE
It's great to be able to sleep. It was really awful and I cannot bear the sight of a bottle of Gaviscon anymore. I must have spent £50 on the stuff for this pregnancy alone...
By the way I had a sweep the first time and baby was born super quickly the next morning, although she wasn't engaged at all to start with and MW was very dubious it would do anything.

I spent the day at the playpark with DD and everyone was looking at me: weird 9 months pregnant lady jumping up and down on swings and slides to get things going (I'm usually a very lazy boring mummy at the playpark but today I was incredibly zealous )

Hope the night contractions get stronger for everyone and we can announce a baby here soon!!

Good luck!!

got my hopes up last night as was having strong bhs every 5 mins for about 2 hours but they stopped. shall bounce on space hopper today and see if it helps!

Go go go spugs!! When are you due again?

Not much for me yesterday night despite mad playground afternoon

I had promised myself I wouldn't get my hopes high this time as DD was late and this one will probably be too, but it's so hard to stay calm with all this pre-labour stuff goign on!

ARGH!!!! Back from MW appt and she says my contractions and everything stopped because the baby has managed to go from being 4/5ths engaged to being 1/5th engaged and must have wriggled out of there at some point recently cos it feels like it is only just settling back into the pelvis!!!

What is THAT all about?!?! How frustrating. Induction looms now but she says not to get "disheartened" as it may start up again just as quickly and to keep an eye on the baby's movements to make sure it is ok...

Mind you, this is not my usual midwife - she was called away today so I had to see this one and the last time I saw her she was really rude and offhand with me saying my SPD was just "hormones" so basically "get on with it" and when I told her today I was booked in for a sweep she said there was no point if the baby wasn't engaged anymore... Boo hoo!!! How long is this going to take?!?!?

Anyways, rant over. I'm off to make some more raspberry leaf T yum yum

Hope you are all progressing and not regressing like me!!!!!!!!!

nez - im due on 24th not much happening though apart from bhs which i seem to be having runs of every night. its the same as dd2 was and i went to 40+1 with her so expecting this one will do the same (not even trying to think about going over )

parinoid - bugger on the disengagement, baby will get back in there soon hopefully. apparently bouncing on a birthing ball (or space hopper) helps to get the baby to engage.

Still no progress on my side, expect that the baby feels so low that it feels like it's going to fall off when I walk, and even short walks are hard. I'm soooooo bored. Still stuffing my face with raspberry leaf tea. I'm thinking of acupuncture if I go over. Any idea if it works??

spugs you're due three days after me1 You're not in London by any chance? All that night stuff is weird, isn't it? It's supposed to help have a quicker birth, was it the case with your DD2??

paranoid That baby of yours is teasing. But I have to say DD wasn't at all engaged 24 hours before shooting out, so I wouldn't worry too much about it, it doesn't always mean anything. Baby can get engaged again with a few good contractions. When would you be induced?