Could I be in early labour?

[butterflylove16]

Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone could please help?

I'm 37&3 with my first, & wondering if I'm perhaps in early labour. This past few days my braxton hicks have been a lot stronger & more frequent, & my midwife told me the other day dd is very low & fully engaged. Anyway, I've not felt myself since this morning, & since about 2pm I have felt really crampy. About every 20 mins my belly goes really tight & the the cramping gets stronger, & it feels more intense than my previous braxton hicks. I've been like this for hours, but I don't know if I'm just being silly, especially as I don't think I've lost my mucus plug (sorry if tmi!), although I have generally been having some more discharge.

I understand that this isn't a substitute for a medical opinion, I was just wondering what people think as I don't want to waste the midwife's time.

Thank you :)

Lovely news and good luck!

Thank you so much for your replies everyone we are back home now to let my labour progress which I'm pleased about, as it's obviously more relaxing at home. They said if things haven't really got going by 6:30am tomorrow they'll induce me, but my contractions seem to be getting stronger so hopefully I will have had dd before that. & haha, yes I don't know why my waters couldn't have broken 1 minute before! But thanks to a mattress protector all is good! I actually feel really quite calm about everything, will update if anything else happens or once dd is born oh and we're calling her Evie xx

Lovely :)

Maybe stick a film on and some gentle bouncing on a birth ball.

Any news OP? hopefully progressing nicely

Hi everyone my beautiful dd was born at 1:25am this morning & is absolutely perfect. The love I feel for her is so.amazing & worth every moment!

For anyone who's interested, here is my crazy labour story! :

So we went back to the hospital late yesterday afternoon as my contractions were getting stronger & closer.together, but were disappointed I was only 1cm dialated. We were sent home & arrived back at about 9:50pm. By this point my contractions had become stronger & closer together, but as only a little while ago I was 1cm I assumed I was only 2 or 3. They got stronger & I felt the urge to push, I told my my dh & he thought I was just hoping that was the case & to come back to bed. I kept trying to go.back to bed but knew I needed to push as it felt.so natural. I got a mirror & saw some.of dds head crowning! I showed dh who on his half.asleep phase wasn't sure, but five minutes later you couldn't deny it!! He called the hospital & the.midwife told.him what to do over.the phone as he delivered our beautiful little.girl in our.bathroom at.home! The paramedics arrived shortly after her birth & we went to the hospital to deliver my placenta, have stitches, checks & establish breastfeeding. We came back home late this afternoon & are settling in at home

I am so immensely proud of dh who forgot about his fear of.blood in the moment & caught dd in a towel, before rubbing her chest so she could.breathe her first breaths. I am proud of.myself, someone with.a low.pain threshold who gave birth with only 2 paracetamols! And I'm so incredibly proud of.our dd who is so perfect & amazing.

It wasn't fun but not as.bad as I thought & I feel so empowered if.that makes sense. (contractions were harder than pushing, at least for me). My advice is to truly trust.your body, instinctively I knew dds birth was really coming, but I doubted myself as dh & I couldn't believe she could possibly come so quickly! But she did, with just me, her & dh

Thank you to all those who have helped & encouraged me.on this thread, you are all amazing & you.truly can do this xx

That's amazing!!! Well done you :) xx

Wonderful story! What a lovely thing that your DH delivered your baby! Congratulations!

Thank you so much x

Yay! Congrats OP

That's incredible! Well done to both of you and congratulations on your beautiful daughter xx

Absolutely amazing birth story! Well done all of you enjoy this time together

Thank you all so much I'm tired but on cloud 9! I feel so much joy & love & it's dh birthday today & the best present he's ever got xx

Yey! :) DD was born the day before her daddy's 40 th, it's the best!

What a lovely story!

Congratulations

Wow, well done to all 3 of you!