Due Date Day! Did you have any signs of labour & When did your First babies arrive?

[Anonymousm]

Ive woken up on my due date still pregnant of course! Please to me your labour and delivery stories, what were your signs, did you have any & what made you go to the hospital? How long was your labour for your first baby & how far along were you when going into labour? Really want to avoid an induction if I can and only have a sweep as a last resort hoping for a spontaneous labour!

@FrostyFlo Haha, I could do some colostrum harvesting that gave me some period ache a couple of weeks ago, their constantly leaking any pressure on them at all and they just leak down me 😂 I think body is probably ready but the mind is over thinking!

Induced with a pessary at 9am.
Twinges started at 8pm ish
Waters broke about 4am
Moved to Labour room after that
Emergency section at 4pm as baby's heart rate was dropping

@WeeSleekitCowrinTimrousBeastie I think if I end up in a situation of induction, I’ll try and fight for section - I know inductions aren’t always bad but I feel like I’m more prepared for it if I go straight for it! How are you coping after the section?

Good for you having a glass of wine! A wee glass at this stage of pregnancy won’t do any harm. I had one when I was in early labour 😬

That section was fine but the recovery was dreadful, painful and lengthy.

I had a second section (planned for medical reasons) which again was fine but recovery even worse unfortunately.

Dd1 I was in labour for 4h15m and she came. Waters were broken at hospital. She came at 38+5
Dd2 I was in labour with her for 6h8m and then she popped along. Again waters were broken at hospital.
Ds well he came at 38+1 waters broke at home naturally at 6am went hospital ASAP as I progress really fast. Was induced at 10am and had him by 2pm. Had a traumatic birth with.

Currently pregnant with baby no 4. 37+3 been having contractions for 3 weeks. Today I've got period like pains and just get comfortable. I have my c section booked for Friday. Don't think I'm gonna last that long.

@Waitingfordoggo I don’t blame you! 😆 might get some champagne if there’s a baby no 2 at some point 😂

Three weeks before due date. Feeling good fairly energetic despite big baby and heatwave. Watched news and stood up for bed when whoa waters broke like Niagra falls! No warning. Off to hospital (I already had a medically advised section scheduled for nine days later at 38 weeks). Did not go into active labour and had section the next morning baby weighed 10lbs 4oz - he was ready to come out!

@WeeSleekitCowrinTimrousBeastie

fingers crossed the recovery isn’t too long!

@jadey1991 Good luck with what ever happens! I’m currently 40+3, felt sick this morning for abit almost hangover like sickly - surely the glass of wine wouldn’t have done it 😆😂! Barely slept though so I think that contributed, I’ve had on off Niggles I’d say but I’m not sure whether it’s anything or not, back aches, tingling/tightenings, no rhythms or anything just sporadic here and there for the past 2/3 weeks! I’m not expecting them to have been productive, I can only hope when the time comes it’s not a lengthy labour after all this time 😂

@mondaytosunday Wow!! First baby? It’s a good job he was coming earlier haha, my little fella was estimated 7 pounds around 8 weeks so I’m hoping no bigger than 8.5 really they kept saying he might be small because I had notching in the cord! I don’t think he’s going to be small though! See if tomorrow brings anything, I’ll have a shandy tonight I think incase it was the wine that made me feel ill 😂

Awww OP, the time really does drag at the end. It messed with my head- I began to think I might be pg forever. Hopefully your time will come soon. Have some naps while you’re waiting as sleep might be in short supply for a while once baby is here!

@Waitingfordoggo

Im still waiting had a bit more period pain/back tingles for a couple of hours but it’s vanished! Other than that no more signs 😬! Managed to sleep abit better my nose just seems to be blocked constantly which is a nightmare and spoiling the sleep I get, I’m SO ready to be in pain now just to get him out 😂

With my first everything went quite textbook - had show a couple of days before, then waters broke at my midwife appointment 8 days overdue. Naturally went into labour that night and had a water birth with just gas and air the next morning.

With my 2nd I don’t remember having a show. Waters broke and was induced a few days later at 6 days late as no contractions. Speedy but very painful delivery on the drip. (No water birth unfortunately)

Now pregnant with 3rd and unfortunately have strep b. Expect with previous experience of waters breaking first I will likely be drip induced again and given antibiotics throughout 😭 Much preferred the water birth experience

@Vittoriosa My next appointment I’ll be 9 days over due (only willing to try a sweep then to try and avoid induction)!

I was awoken by windy/gripey pain at 4am and managed to get back to sleep around 6am not so much the same pain but feel like I’ve got period pain and back ache this morning. I haven’t had a plug come out to my knowledge anyway, I’ve had a couple of contraction like pains yesterday evening (what I imagine is what it feels like - wave of crunching sensation from the bottom of bump to the top along with what felt a throbbing/pulsating feeling) but that was it, nothing noticeable since apart from the periody achey shit sicky feeling now!

Period type pain is a good sign that things might start to happen!

Plug might not come out until just before birth so don’t worry about that. I lost a little bit of mine the morning before but realised when my waters broke (12 hrs after contractions) and the rest came out that it was just a tiny bit of it.

@DuploTrain I hope it is, it’ll do my head in if I get this discomfort and then nothing progresses 😆, just give me the agony I want it over and done with now!

I don’t know if I’d notice it tbf, I keep the lights off at night when I go for my toilet trips! Do you wear a pad incase it is labour? I’ve only been using normal period pads when I noticed discharge was getting thinner and felt like i was weeing myself!

I noticed discharge was getting thinner and felt like i was weeing myself!

This sounds like your waters might have broken? They can just trickle out. How long has it been going on?

I would phone maternity triage and ask for advice. They might want to check if your waters have gone. If labour doesn’t start by itself within a certain time frame of waters breaking you can be at risk of infection.

@DuploTrain It’s been happening for weeks, it’s not constant and doesn’t come out if I stand up. I had it checked at my last growth scan 38 nearly 39 weeks because they said amniotic fluid was abit lower than the last scan (still normal amount though), I question how accurate these scans are when I’ve had numerous different people doing them! She did a test and it came back negative and said not to worry it’s normal to get increased thinner discharge and more than likely a bit of wee with the baby being so low down!

Oh i really hope it’s not long for you! Come back and update us 😀

@Vittoriosa
Me too!! Realllyyyy wanted to avoid that stretch and sweep at 9.30am Friday morning 😬. He’s got tonight and tomorrow to do something encouraging but so far nothing else today! 😂 apart from me mopping the floors which is unusual in my current state!

Just saw you said that you're scared of vomiting. Me also.
You can put in your notes that the first thing you want to be given are anti-emetics and why. They were very good about sorting this for me, and topping them up when I felt sick later. Having that sorted made me so much better able to deal with the labour

I was woken up on my due date by a dull ache , went to the loo and my waters broke. I was told by the hospital to wait until the contractions were nearer together before going in . I did have pethidine but got away with no stitches.

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 I questioned my midwife if they had anti emetics on hand at the birth centre (It’s a stand alone small unit) she said yes so I’ll definitely ask for it if I feel sick, she knows I’m worried about throwing up though, I probably wouldn’t care if it’s the force of the contraction it’s actually the feeling of nausea but it’s worrying because I will refuse gas and air and other pethadine if I wasn’t given an anti emetic!

@Headband Thats good no stitches - I’ve been having this full back ache and period cramps for a while now atleast a couple of weeks god knows if I’ve slightly dilated as I’ve had no check or sweep to tell me 😆. Apparently waters breaking is pretty rare before labour it’s normally while your in full blown labour or while pushing!

Another Update - felt sick for a couple of hours at 10.30 last night and then it went again, this morning I feel sick again and needed to dash to the toilet a couple of times, I hope this shifts before labour starts 🤢 or is this early labour? No idea when to put a tens machine on either, are early labour contractions obvious - I know tens is best put on as early as possible!