Could labour be imminent?

[MummaDaisy]

Hi all,

I am currently 38+5 with my first and had a sweep yesterday at 12.45pm. Since then I had very minor cramps which went away and baby was very active after.

This morning at 9am I noticed bloody mucus so think I may have lost my mucus plug and had some more slight cramps and back pain. However this hasn’t really progressed. I also noticed I hadn’t felt baby move as much so we called triage and went in for CTG monitoring at 6pm this evening.

it was there I noticed that I am having some tightenings and the TOCO was going up to 33% so im wondering could I be in early labour now?

My cervix yesterday was anterior, 1cm dilated, fully effaced and soft and baby was 1/5 engaged so midwife was hopeful the sweep would work or baby is ready to come but I feel disheartened that I haven’t started getting any pains yet.

im just wondering is there still the possibility that this sweep may work and does it sound like early labour with the tightening/back pain. Also if anyone had any of their own experiences to share that would be great!

Thanks :)

Sounds very promising! Cervix being effaced I believe is a very good sign.

Try to get as much rest as you can now in preparation for labour (easier said than done at 38 weeks I know).

Well it's impossible to tell really! The mucus plug could have been dislodged by the sweep rather than being a sign in itself iyswim.
It could be the first twinges of labour, or it could just be aches and pains typical in the past few weeks. You will have to wait and see if it develops (and keep getting movement changes checked in the meantime). Good luck!

I had a long period of pretty much painless contractions - had a sweep around 10-11 am (although I was 41+2, so a very different situation possibly), started having some tightenings in the early afternoon (maybe around 3 pm?) and then they were fairly consistent but completely painless until around 9 pm. Then went from zero to loads on the pain scale within half an hour. Baby arrived around 5 am. So painless contractions can be part of the process.