Do you know if labour is about to start?

[MPuppykin]

Okay, silly question, but does your body kind of 'know' that labour is coming soon? I am asking because I suppose I could go into labour any time from now, but I really do not feel 'ripe' yet, if you know what I mean. (It sounds a crass way of putting it, but I cannot think of a better way.) I was just thinking that if labour started now, or my waters broke, I would be amazed .

With my second I reckon I knew, but not quite in the way I expected to know.

The day before I gave birth I had an incredibly strong image in my mind of a cat going round and round making a nest in which to give birth. It was such a strong image I sent my dh out to the shops to get everything we needed for our homebirth. Ten hours later it all kicked off.

With my third, I didn't have the same premonition but I sort of felt ready. We were having the outside of the house painted and for weeks I'd been joking that the painter would finish and I'd go immediately into labour. And that was exactly what happened.

Good luck!

I'm sure that part of going in to labour is linked to your mental state. When you are tense worrying about when it will happen that tension can stop your body triggering labour. So try your hardest to relax about it. Have reflexology, a special pregnancy body massage, lots of lunches out, reading, tv. Anything that makes you feel relaxed and takes your mind of when the baby is going to come.
Hope you don't go too overdue.

Mine certainly didn't. With number 1 I was convinced I'd be pretty late and was indeed amazed when my waters went at 40+3! In fact I remember telling the midwife that I was having some pains but that they 'couldn't be contractions'. I was totally in denial!

With number 2 I was convinced I was going to go early and was like a cat on a hot tin roof from 36 weeks onwards. He arrived at 40+1.

I am about to pop number 3 and was convinced I'd have her in 1/2 term (this week). Nothing doing yet and by my previous form it will happen when I least expect it!

The nesting thing is so true. 2 of my 3 labours were preceded by sudden strange impulses to cook weird things. Rice pudding, of all things (I burnt it, and have never made it before or since) and some fancy Moroccan Chicken dish (which I later threw up while in established labour). At the time I thought "what am I doing, I should be putting my feet up at this stage in my pg?" but there you go.

With my first I had MW appointment on Christmas eve, I remember feeling odd.
I couldn't explain how I was feeling, just odd!
I went into labour early on christmas morning!

With Dd I was induced as I was ill, so didn't get any clue.

Ds2 I had a sweep on my due date, was still a surprise though when my water broke later the same day!

izzybiz a sweep on your due date- can you talk to me about it? my mw is all we dont do sweeps until your overdue 41 weeks i think she said.
Does anyone know if the mw will examine on my due date or that week i see her and if im ready will she do one if i ask?
I know babes come when their ready but I would like know if my cervix is ready and what not.
Really sorry for hijack I didnt know where to post it otherwise!

As you were...

thislittlesisterlola - is this your first baby?

Midwives generally only offer sweeps on your due date with subsequent babies as it's more likely to work. Sweeps generally don't work until you're overdue with your first.

thislittlesisterlola-

My MW said they don't routinely do sweeps till 41 weeks but I was 2 weeks early with my first two and really huge and upset by the time I got to 40 weeks wth Dc3.

I was also 100% sure of my dates too, (I knew whe I had concieved!) So I managed to convince her, she said we could try on my due date and it worked.

Like MrsGravy says though, sweeps only tend to work on subsequent babies, this was my 3rd so cervix never quite fully closes anyway.

Thanks all. I am only not-quite 37 weeks so may well be wishful thinking that it may happen any time soon! (Fed up). The nesting thing,... well, i have been cleaning the house for weeks it seems!

Good luck MrsGravy and thislittlesisterlola with yours too!

MPuppykin - just don't do any decorating. My nesting instinct MADE me redecorate whenever I was in late pg but my colour choices - ugh! Turquoise? Yellow??? Clearly my scrambled pg brain temporarily lost all its interior design skills. Each bad redocoration had to be put right at a later date....

I didn't know it at the time, but looking back it was pretty obvious! I had a full day doing the garden, then cooked a massive meal which I ate and had seconds (this was the first time in weeks I'd eaten a really large meal!) then got into bed and couldn't sleep.

at thenextmrsdepp I've already got pg decorating regrets - got the dh to paint upstairs hallway wedgewood blue and I hate it already, eek.

I'm intrigued by this too. I'm 39+6 today with DC#1. Last night had a bit of a back ache and tummy ache, but nothing came of it.... Bit disappointing really.

I think I've been nesting ish for weeks - I mean... do two people really need a baseline store cupboard of 24 loo rolls, half kilo of marmite and 96 weetabix?

Just been for a nice walk in the park with DH. Might try a bath next and see if DH wants to make the most of the time he has left before his enforced abstinence starts.

I've been clearing out our back yard today and yesterday (now 40+3). Not sure why because it's north facing, we never use it for anything other than putting clothes on the line and we're renting... but I suppose that could come under the category of irrational nesting!

Still nothing with baby except odd pains at top of bump though, so I'll be very surprised if anything happens in the next few days.

Oh dear, i HAVE been decorating!!!!! Dh told me that my idea to put mirrored wall panels all over the conservatory was a bad idea.... maybe he is right?

Well, good luck to all of you overdue ladies - it'll happen when it happens, and at the very least you'll all have clean houses and full fridges.

... and worn out carpets from pacing and over hoovering.

Well, I was convinced I'd be late, and as I'd been having braxton hicks from 30 weeks had no new signs of labour, no bloody show etc. So was rather surprised when my waters broke in a big gush at 37+4! I went in to labour 8 hours later and after a fast labour had DD 8 hours later. 36 hours before I'd been walking past lazy people on the escalators on the tube and offering my seat to elderly people!

At about 37 weeks I thought I was about to go into labour, and that was a continual thought... every morning I'd wake up with this weird "feeling" that "today is the day"... every morning until I went overdue to 41+2, and the first day I thought, "Nah, I give up, it won't be today" - that was the day! Starting having contractions three hours later

Simple answer.....no. Was`early with first two dc labour just started. Third one was a little over, but I had had such strong braxton hicks for about four weeks previous I didn't know it was the "real thing". It was my ds then 5 who announced over breakfast "better call Karen (the mw) because the baby is coming out today...." he was right...spooky!

Just look for something weird falling out of you that hasn't happened before, or pain (like period pain but regular). I had no mental images but red water leaking all over the carpet was a dead giveaway. Good luck!