Contractions only at night?

[Crazydiamond106]

I'm currently 39+4 and for the past two nights I've started to experience tightenings in my bump and wave-like pain around my back and lower pelvis. It starts like period cramps and seems to peak so I'm pretty sure it must be an early contraction? I wasn't sure as it isn't too painful yet but I timed them and they were 10 minutes apart and around 40-45 seconds long.

Both nights they have not been painful enough to prevent sleep and I figured better to rest before they do get painful...but then by morning they are totally gone! I've been going on long walks, exercise ball, squats etc to try start things up doing the day but there's nothing.

I've also been losing my plug for around a week now, small amounts a couple of times a day. Just getting so frustrated now as I keep getting really excited then everything stops. If it starts again tonight am I better off staying awake and keeping moving to get things started properly or could this start/stop last days/weeks!?

It'd be great to hear from anyone who experienced something similar. This is my first baby so have nothing to base it on

In my experience, when labour starts nothing will stop it. So I wouldn't purposefully wait up. And my friend had a very similar experience then her actual labour was 2hrs long as she dilated very quickly. Hopefully it won't be too much longer for you! She complained about it for a few days if I remember.

Is this your first child?

It's not usual to have early stage contractions for 5 or 6 days before giving birth. I could name upwards of 10 people I know who this was the case for.

So while yes, this may be markers for labour being a few days away, I would focus soley on rest and relaxation above anything else.

Try to sleep as much as possibly, don't stay up because you could end up with 3 or 4 more days without any/enough sleep. Actively try to sleep, even daytime naps if needs be.

I had light contractions in the evenings for about three days before I went into labour with DD. I know it’s really exciting but would really suggest trying to get as much sleep as possible. I didn’t sleep for 2.5 days by the time my DD arrived and the exhaustion really affected me during the labour. I had no energy to push effectively when the time came.

My first labour started that way. I had two whole nights of irregular contractions that I couldn't sleep through, but which stopped completely in the morning. On the third evening they started again and ramped up quickly so that I gave birth in the early hours.

My second time around my contractions started in the evening, that time I gave birth in the early hours of the next morning.

I have never had a contraction in the daytime!

My advice is to sleep in the daytime if you can, to save your energy for when things really get going.

Thanks for the replies, fingers crossed it means things will start soon! I’ll try and sleep again if it kicks in this evening. I had a growth scan the other day and they think I have a baby in the 95th percentile so want to induce at 41 weeks, hoping I can beat the clock and kick things off naturally and asap!