First pregnancy - how did labour start for you?

[Katylou3684]

Hi, today I am 39+3 with my first baby and am having no signs of impending labour at all, I was having a few Braxton hicks contractions up until last week but they seem to have stopped completely, and I keep getting asked if I'm having any twinges but I'm not sure what people mean by that! I'm getting bored of waiting now, my bump is huge and am also a bit anxious as I had a growth scan at 35 weeks and the baby was already predicted to weigh 6lb's 8, so I'd like him to come out sooner rather than later! I am booked in for a stretch and sweep on Wednesday.
So I was just wondering if there are any signs I should be looking out for, how did labour start for you? Did you have any 'twinges' at first? Did your waters break first or did you just start with contractions? Also did a stretch and sweep work for you?
Thanks! x

Mild contractions first. Didn't know what it was, just felt like period cramp. Then plug went so I had 'a show' (40+3)

Hi KatyLou,

With my first I went 10 days over (I did have some twinges from 36 weeks or so but looking back it was braxton hicks) - my waters broke unexpectedly on the Friday afternoon whilst getting out bath tub (I remember i was in tub as was having mild twinges) - I rang labour ward and went in, in the car twinges turned into painful contractions and I had DD the following day at 2pm. I was impatiently waiting for labour, I hated going over I just seemed to get bigger and bigger every day, in the end DD weighed only 6.4lb :c)

Good Luck

It didn't! I went 12 days over and was induced. Hope something happens for you soon x

At 39+6 I had my 40w mw appointment. I had zero signs of labour and ds was barely engaged so MW booked me in for a sweep the following week.

At about 2am the next day (due date) I woke up for a wee, and heard a plop in the toilet. It was dark and I didn't have my glasses on but I assume this was my mucous plug but was too tired to care.

Went back to bed and asleep until 6am when I woke with lower back pain. Put on a hot water bottle and ate weetabix. The lower back ache swiftly moved to on and off aches every 2.5 minutes. Had a bath. Aches went away but could still feel a pulsing/tightening sensation. At 10am I had a nap. 11am called the mw (planned homebirth) - I was having "tightenings" every 2 mins. MW arrived at 12pm-ish, I was a good 6cm dliated (she was surprised to see me!). Transition started at 3.02pm, waters broke at 3.10pm, ds arrived at 3.22pm.

In the morning, I was googling contractions and because it said that they started infrequently (every 10-15mins) and built up to 5mins, 3 mins etc... I assumed either I was not in labour or I was timing wrong as mine went straight to 2.5 mins. As such, I sent dh to a meeting the other side of the country thinking that even if I was in labour, nothing would happen until the night or next day anyway.....

The night before I was fiddling away with acupressure between my thumbs. No idea if this kick started things or not....

A few days of what I'd describe as period pains - they definitely weren't BH and they definitely weren't contractions, but I had a sense of something thinking about happening. Had a show at 40+4, then started contractions at 40+6. I think it took about an hour to work out that they were definitely contractions, as they didn't hurt much but were very regular.

My waters never broke at all. I had a sweep at 40+2 which I think started my show and I was already 1-2cm, but I'm not convinced it did anything. I'd still have a sweep another time as they do work for some women, and I didn't find it particularly invasive or painful so it's probably worth it.

I went 11 days over and had a couple of sweeps.

The first sweep resulted in a bit of blood in my knickers - made me think something was happening. But no.

The second sweep was in the morning of the day I went into labour. I had what I thought were Braxton Hicks that afternoon, and by the evening they were getting quite painful and more regular than normal. It took my DH to point out that I was probably in labour! I just kept thinking, 'these Braxton Hicks feel weird'. In hindsight (knowing what I was like in labour) another sign was that I went 'into myself' more and more as the evening went on. I just stopped communicating with DH - didn't want to talk.

Actually all that day I felt a bit swimmy and dreamy.

Had contractions on and off from 41+1 until 42+2 when I was induced. Grrrrrrrr.

Signs for me that it was all getting a bit closer was when the xontractions went into my back more.

in my first pregnancy my labour started with very tiny twinges at the bottom of my stomach - very 5 or ten mins, nothing painful and i drove to the hospital fine and they confirmed i was in labour after testing my wee for something...this continued most of the day, labour lasted 26 hrs from that very first twinge.
My second baby, they sent me for an extra scan at a bigger hospital as they thought she was measuring big - estimated her to be around 9-10lbs. she was 8lb7 when she was born, turned out to be a lot of water in there so dont worry too much about that. you will be fine

good luck!