A lot of brown discharge 38 weeks? What is it?

[Don35]

Hi, this is my 4th pregnancy, so you would have thought I would be clued up by now, unfortunately not. I've just been to the toilet and I know it's TMI, but I wiped and what I can only describe as a lot of old period blood. You know when you get to the tail end of your period and it's only brown blood coming out. Well I phoned the midwife, who wasn't very helpful. She asked if I've got any pain. I haven't. She asked if I've had sex recently, I haven't. Then she asked if it was fresh blood. Well it isn't. It's just a lot of brown old blood, with a bit of string like mucus in it. The midwife didn't seem to have a clue. I was just told to put a pad on and keep an eye on it. I was kind of hoping she would tell me it is the beginning of labour. I was wondering if anyone has had similar. I was induced with my previous 3 children, so I am unaware of what bloody shows and plugs look like.

I had this with my first - it was labour. But I was contracting heavily at the same time, so it was obvious!

I’d ring the ward up and get them to check you over. it sounds like your mucous plug. It as it’s your 4th pregnancy things will happen a lot faster than your last 3 especially if they were induction.

Mucus plug?

It sounds so obviously like the mucus plug. I can't believe midwife didn't suggest that and it's one if the first things I heard about when reading up on signs of labour with my first. It can take up to a week to come out so labour may not be imminent

Thanks ladies, you've put my mind at rest. I've been googling, but not really found anything that sounds exactly the same. Most say it has pink blood in it, but this didn't and as for the midwife on the phone, well I might as well have been talking gibberish to her, as she really didn't seem to have a clue. I told her I was worried that something was wrong, but all she said was if baby is moving then he's fine. Put a pad on and keep an eye on it. It didn't really put my mind at ease.