How did your first labour start?

[JackJack84]

If you went into labour naturally, how did it start?

Waters breaking?

Contractions/cramping?

Also was there anything different you noticed in the days leading up to labour starting?

I'm being induced next Tuesday but hoping things will start naturally before then. Unlikely I know as I'm only 37+3 but I can hope 😁

Passed the show the day before then i started bleeding clots the next day- went into hospital for observation, then 12hrs later contractions started normally. Waters went in the birthing pool.

With a really big contraction, totally unmistakable for anything else. Next one followed about 30 seconds later, after about an hour the waters, then a baby about half an hour after that.

Good luck!

@OnlyFoolsnMothers - hey, what do you mean "passed the show the day before"? Sorry if it's stupid question

Baby was about 2 weeks overdue (although by my dates it was less than that). Parents were staying and we'd been out for a meal.

I woke up to go to the toilet about 6am, and realised my waters had broken. Rang the hospital, they said to go in. Got there about 8am. DD born around 4pm.

Absolutely knackered on the Friday (37+5) - as in taking a nap after breakfast exhausted but no other labour signs so thought it was just late pregnancy exhaustion. Then Sat am a big gush of waters breaking Hollywood style! Went into triage to be checked out and BP was extremely high. Admitted and told I would be induced 24hrs later but contractions started late Sat eve and DD born Sun lunchtime.

I had been doing colostrum harvesting on the Thurs night and I'm convinced that is what got things going!

hey, what do you mean "passed the show the day before"? Sorry if it's stupid question my mucus plug came out, like a blood/ mucus composition in the toilet.

40+1 in the evening about 9, thought I had trapped wind but it came and went. Contractions got stronger and closer together, went in to hospital 1am. Waters broke as DS came out at 5am!

A weird popping sensation which I thought was my waters but wasn't followed by very mild but regular contractions.

The day before labour my stomach felt really tight and hard. That was the only sign.
Waters didn’t break and didn’t lose the mucus blood until midwife helped during labour.

Waters broke completely out of the blue. Nothing different, no changes. I was eating dinner and WHOOSH!

Period like pains for a few hours and slowly trickling waters.

I was hoovering and my waters broke! Went to hospital at 11pm was 2cm dilated lil man came at 4am it all happened very quickly 😂

I just had lower back pain on and off for 12 hours which it turns out were contractions.
My waters were broken when I'd been contracting for nearly 24 hours and mucus plug followed this.
No signs that labour was imminent that I noticed unfortunately

Horrendous back pain on and off for 48hrs, nothing like the descriptions on the internet as baby was back to back. No obvious waters breaking or loss of mucus plug either. Got to fully dilated after 3 and a bit days but ended with an EMCS for various reasons.

My 3 all began dramatically with waters bursting over the floor for each of them and contractions started pretty much straight away. Luckily I was at home.

Started when walking home from lunch out, the day before my due date.
Wasn’t painful, just felt different to braxton hicks. They got really really close together really quickly, but still weren’t painful, so I wasn’t sure what was going on. Then they slowed right down, then did more what I was expecting - got more frequent and more painful.

Mine started with what felt like period pains and I had no idea were contractions. Was a week overdue so you’d think I’d have guessed that’s what contractions can feel like!

Contractions at 3am.

I was 39 weeks, I had a sweep exactly 24 hours before labour started. I was crouching down to plug in a tv aerial to the back of the tv (we had just moved house) and I got up and sat heavily on the sofa and my waters just went pop and there was a huge gush all over my sofa (just like you see in the movies) I had no pain/contractions but we phoned the hospital and they advised I come in to be checked out and to check if my waters had actually broken
They of course had but because I wasn’t continually leaking them onto a pad when I arrived at the hospital the nurse said they hadn’t (of course they had )
By this point the babies movements had slowed down so they kept me in for a few hours to check that they were ok.
I was left on a bed in a side room hooked up to monitors, and 5 hours after my waters broke all of a sudden my contractions came on thick and fast and from then on it was fairly straightforward and reasonably quick.
From waters breaking to having my baby in my arms it was maybe 15 hours I think.

Waters broke at 37+5. Contractions started a couple of hours later and baby born within 6 hours. No prior warning signs.

An unmistakable contraction woke me up during the night. No signs before that.

Can you start doing antenatal expressing at the end of this week OP to try and start things off naturally?
You could even collect some colostrum if any starts coming after a day or 2

I had I think a "textbook" birth in that I had no issues or concerns. She just came when ready!

39+6.
2am waters broke in bed - slight pop and just a constant trickle for hours.
5am light contractions started
3-5pm contractions quickly ramped up
7pm in hospital and was 9cm (though the midwife didn't believe how much I was contracting and they tried to get me to stay at home as long as possible!)
Baby girl arrived just before 11pm in the pool with no intervention. Very very lucky!

Nothing really happened with me in the days leading up, I felt as normal as a pregnant woman could be ha. The night before I had a bath and did pass a big bit of "plug" but didn't really think a lot of it.

First was classed as a quick birth - im due again next April so worried how quick this one will be

Thank you all for sharing your stories! Very interesting how much variety there is.

@SouthwestSis I've been colostrum harvesting since 36 weeks as I have gestational diabetes. It took me 8 days to get 0.5mls then last night I tried a different technique & something just clicked! I got a whole syringe in one sitting so I was really pleased. I do tend to get BH after harvesting but baby still seems very comfy in there 😁

3 days before due date I got up out of bed in the morning and a little trickle of water came out. Went to triage where they tested the waters and it was negative. The rest of the day and the following day I had tightenings every few mins (no pain just tightenings). Then the following night, got into bed and I couldn't feel baby move so gently nudged my bump a little until I felt him move. Then around 10 mins later, heard and felt a loud pop aaaand then it was like Niagara falls. EVERY. WHERE.
27 hours later he arrived. The day before his due date