Contractions every 5 minutes, lasts between 20-60 seconds

[sasscass]

Im 40+3, woke up with a lot of pressure and I had gas. Thought I just needed a poo. It was very painful, I went to the toilet and had a poo but the pain is continuing but to a lesser extent.

i feel it across my belly, it’s tight and it feels like period cramps.
i had one at 5:40 and it lasted about a minute, then another one at 5:45 but this one only lasted about 20 seconds, then I had another painful tightening about 5:48 and it lasted about 20 seconds too.
could it be time? I’ve had too many false alarms for this not to be it lol

I think it is! Exciting. What are your timings now? Are you going into hospital? Hope it’s not too far away..

Can you breathe and talk through them?

Also squeeeeeeeee

This could definitely be it! Keep timing them, perhaps have a nice shower and get ready to go in to the hospital if that is where you plan to have your baby. You have time so keep everything calm and relaxed, phone the hospital to see when they’d like you to come in.

@MrsTerryPratchett i can talk through them for now, they feel like nasty period pains but they are bearable. They sometimes radiate into my hips and back area but it’s mostly at the front!

Still very irregular, every 3-5 minutes and the duration ranges from as little as 10 seconds to as much as a minute. It’s hard to track them at the moment

I’ll probably leave it a bit longer to make sure and I’ll phone them, thank you me too! I hope it’ll be over quick but I know that’s just my high hopes lol

It might be. They are still very short and far apart and many women have these type of mild contractions for an hour or few before they disappear. Keep tracking them, they should get longer and closer together if it’s the big event. Try to rest now as well as you could be in for a very long day/night if it is labour.

@sasscass could very well be, the time between them is short but I thought they are around 45seconds to a minute - so I would have a warm bath/shower get all your bits ready so that if you do have to go, your not stressing

Keep us updated x

@strawberrysummer19 they are lasting a bit longer now, still irregular, some are less painful and only last 15 seconds but some are excruciating and last 45 seconds.

i lost part of my mucus plug half an hour ago so it’s definitely the real deal 😫

@sasscass oh wow how exciting!!! Yes it definitely sounds like it x

Yay, sounds more like it’s really underway. I second the long shower. I did that with my births (homebirths) and it really helps with the pain. Standing up also helps the cervix dilate too.

Exciting. Good luck. If it's not your first baby, this one could arrive quickly even if you don't think you're in established labour so be ready to go.

My second arrived 10 mins after I got to the hospital after hours of contractions like these... x

@LightSpeeds that's my fear because my first was very quick! X

@sasscass good luck!! Hope everything goes speedily and smoothly for you!

@Discovereads @Flederjo @LightSpeeds @MrsTerryPratchett @VioletPickles @strawberrysummer19 @tealandteal
she was born 12 hours after I posted this!
my contractions weren’t regular or taking my breath, extremely painful however. But I went up to hospital as a precaution at midday and I was 5cm dilated!
tricky birth, forceps had to be used, she pooped in the womb, her heart dropped to 50 beats per minute then raced up to 200, they had to manually break my waters, I had to be cut down below and stitched and now almost a week later I have a uterine infection … never ends does it lol

thank you all for your replies

She's trouble already!!!

Congratulations.

Awwww, congratulations!

Congratulations!