Could this be latent labour?

[Noodles1702]

Hi all,

For context I’m 37+5 weeks pregnant with my first baby and due to be induced next week at 39 weeks due to persistent reduced movements throughout my pregnancy if baby hasn’t made his own appearance by then.

I had a sweep on Saturday (37+3) around 8pm as per my consultation advice to start them from 37 weeks. The sweep itself wasn’t uncomfortable for me but I’ve had plenty of cervical examinations so had a feeling of what to expect. They also told me I’m already 2cm dilated and they felt baby’s head so told me my body is already gearing up for labour.

I had two intense pains at 12am Sunday morning and then had more period like cramps throughout the day. I had a ‘bloody show’ around 8am yesterday and generally felt very achy and had tightenings around my belly throughout the day (which felt different to BH) but nothing overly sore.

Last night I was having really strong cramping sensations from 11:30-1:30am averaging around 40 seconds every 5-10 minutes apart but I eventually fell asleep. Woken up this morning and haven’t had any twinges.

I know latent labour can be stop/start and can go on for day/weeks but I just wanted to know if it is likely this is what is actually happening and if there is anything I can do to kick start it again?

I had this with dd2 and dd. With dd1 I had my show on the Monday, pains started next day and they would ramp up all day, then once I slept and woke up they were gone, then they would kick in again and on it went! This went on until I had her about 4.00am the Thursday morning !
From my experience if you've had your show it won't be long now. So excited for you !! Good luck !

Oh btw the maternity unit were really not believing me when I said I was in a lot of pain because my contractions wasn't regular, but they were so intense ! I knew what was happening

The truth is, prodromal labour isn't real labour and there's no real way to tell and no real value in adding a label to it unless you're consistently making progress with contractions.

Sometimes you lose your mucus plug and it grows back, sometimes labour is imminent. I had five days of it with my second and when it was time for labour it kicked in fast and she was here within an hour and 10 minutes of pushing on the living room floor. No rhyme or reason or kicking it back off for me, nothing really worked. It just kind of happened.

If you're concerned about a fast labour, go in and ask for a cervical check. You may be further along and if you're 4cm or more they may decide to induce early.

Sounds like a normal enough build up to labour. Your body begins to release small amounts of oxytocin and thinks that's enough. The body never needs to make as much oxytocin in any other scenario as it does for labour, so it's very common to experience stop start until it realises it needs to keep going with the oxytocin production. The sweep has likely spurred this on but
don't be disheartened if it all stops again.

The latent phase of labour is the first stage of labour that every single woman will experience so it's not the same as prodromal labour. With first babies the latent stage of labour is about 12-24 hours, and continues on to active labour from there. I'd say yours is more your body trying to figure it all out. Good luck and hope baby makes an appearance soon!

I had a prodromal labour with both of mine. A week or more of contractions ramping up each evening and tailing off overnight. I think position of baby was a problem and so I’d recommend getting on your hands and knees and scrubbing the floor. I adopted this position in my second labour and it really got things going.

Thanks guys!! Just feeling sorry for myself that not a lot seems to be happening! Guess he’ll come when he wants to

I did a few big walks when I had my show and also tried to stimulate colostrum, seemed to work for me

This happened to me! I had them checked at the assessment unit and they were contractions.

But they came and went for weeks. I was told it’s your womb getting irritated and fed up and saying ok let’s start this. Then saying nope can’t be bothered yet 😅

So it’s not practice like braxton. It is a kind of stop start latent and can go on for days, weeks, sometimes even stop entirely!