pre-labour pains: how far in advance did they start?

[bakedpotato]

i'm due in 16 days. for the last 3 days i've been having longish bursts of what MW calls pre-labour pains: 3 hrs in the middle of the night, 5 hours yesterday afternoon. they basically feel like pretty bad abdominal stomach cramps/period pains. I never had this with my first child so wasn't expecting it. am doing the rest/paracetamol thing when they hit.
[I am hoping they may have something to do with baby (which was posterior) swivelling around and down into pelvis, as very suddenly i'm no longer suffering so badly from aching hips/heartburn.]
so wanted to ask those who had pre-labour like this how much longer they had to wait?

[skiingmummy]

Hmm - think I got off lightly with the morning sickness tbh but natures revenge is heartburn thats almost unbearable.

Just want 1 more week of time on my own...then I'll be ready for the baby I reckon!

[Lonelymum]

Yep, I had heartburn. It started earlier and earlier with each successive pregnancy. First time round, I suffered in silence would you believe? It wasn't until I was pg with No2 that I mentioned it to the GP and he was really amused that I had suffered in silence with No1. Can't believe I did as Gaviscon became my constant companion in later pregnancies.

[bakedpotato]

nothing crampy since thurs night... just unbelievably tired all the time.

just came back from another session with batty reflexologist so who knows.

skiiingmummy, i have a good feeling about you and all these aches and pains. i'm not sure whether you're going to last another week, let alone two.

[bubble99]

Skiingmummy, I agree with BP, something's stirring. Kitchen cupboards do count, but as a mere taster- you'll be at the 'fridge before you know it

[skiingmummy]

La la la - tummy ache free today. Tee hee! Gonna have my hair chopped tomorrow and hopefully watch Bridget Jones at the pickies on Wednesday!

Been shopping this morning to stock the fridge up so sadly its now too full to clean out

Also been to aquanatal this morning - saw my friend there who is 4 days overdue with her second. Shes going for a sweep this afternoon - ooooh exciting!!! I didn't have a sweep with ds as the aptmt when they would have done this was on Christmas Eve so I begged them not to. Does it hurt? My friend also has never had one before as she gave birth bang on her due date last time. Pah!

Hows tricks today with everyone else then? Any obsessive cleaning or pains to report?!?!

[bakedpotato]

cramp-free still...

that's OK though as DH and DD have produced stinking colds and DD is very grumbly and needs lots of cuddles. imagine her response would be to tell new addition to bog off smartish, if it knocked on the door at the moment.

superstitiously, just picked up repeat presciption for heartburn remedy as i was down to last 2 tablets. i have 30 days' worth. please god, no.

[bubble99]

very attractive swollen ankles at the moment, vague crampiness but nothing major. Half-arsed attempt at cleaning today, not of the 'nesting' type though.

[dizzymama]

Cramps still only really happening at night, pelvis feels like jellied mush though!! I have absolutely no nesting urges at all, I must be a bad mummy in the making!!!

[bakedpotato]

heartburn seems to be returning. is it possible that baby has disengaged? and is planning on another 4 wks in utero? slight cramps again yesterday afternoon but i think they were totally related to slight exertion of getting off sofa and going to get some milk and KitKats from the corner shop. i am being really disgustingly indolent.
and for those who are still not nesting, i reckon it's a marketing ploy put about by the cleaning-product industry to squeeze cash out of expectant mothers who want to do things 'right'.

[motherinferior]

I think you have entered the Mad Obssessed phase, to be honest, when every possible twinge triggers a surge of tremulous hope.

DP told me that if I started nesting he'd bypass the maternity ward and just have me sectioned.

Stay on that sofa. Actually I stayed on the sofa for the first seven hours of my labour too, and very nearly gave birth on it.

[bakedpotato]

it's quite possible, MI. [mad obsessed emoticon]

there is such a thing as anti-nesting. it involves hours of heavy sofa work with bad thrillers, a refusal to empty dishwasher ('I can't bend down that far'), a refusal to cook ('too tired'), a refusal to set foot in nursery/dumping ground ('simply can't get a foot in there, what with all the towering piles of babygros/baby blankets that need sorting out').

hey, DH can do it! we have many loooong discussions about how lucky he is not to have to give birth/breastfeed and so how it's only fair that he should do lots of boring extra housemaidy stuff for the next 8 mths or so. bless him, he accepts this , and is being quite humble at present.

however, to make him feel better, i have admitted that opening all the post/sorting bills/filing for the pair of us for the last 7 yrs is ALMOST as bad as childbirth. (top secret but, given the choice, i'd definitely go for childbirth.)

[motherinferior]

Sadly, my DP was so bloody hopeless at sorting out the baby's stuff that I ended up posting on MN about it. Then I did a very cursory tidy-up and returned to the sofa.

Look on the bright side, at the very longest it's only - ooops - er - four weeks.

[bakedpotato]

[thin smile]

[skiingmummy]

Hello today girls and what a windy day today - gale force outside and lots of gentle burping and trumping inside!

Glad to say I've been of the anti-nesting persuasion today - at the dentists this morning sos he could stick my crown back in - (it popped out while eating a caramel keg yesterday, oops!) and have just watched calendar girls video this afternoon.

BP theres no way you're gonna go another 4 weeks. As I've just said to my friend who is 3cm dilated but having no contractions of any sort after her sweep yesterday....get going with the curry sex and pineapple.

[bakedpotato]

i had pineapple for breakfast. but it's a hearty NOOOOO to the other two things. i'd rather wait 4 wks, frankly.

[bundle]

not even a korma ??

[bakedpotato]

not now the heartburn is back

[bez]

Sorry, but you could still be here in a months time, I had six weeks of prelabour pain, baby was over 3 weeks late

[bakedpotato]

O
M
G

[skiingmummy]

How about a nice chilli sarnie with gaviscon coulis and for pudding? Gaviscon pineapple crumble? Yum.

Actually I have a confession I bought a 25cl bottle of wine and had 1/2 last night.
Does that make me a bad pregnant mummy? I need to know coz I've still got the other 1/2 left?!

[bundle]

obviously i've blanked out of most of it, but reckon i had a bit of hb with dd2, plus a dash of sciatic pain in my left hip, but not many pre-labour pains, maybe a bit period painy during the last week (as you may remember i was 2 weeks overdue hehe)

[bundle]

(if you're feeling crap, why not look at the maternity nurse thread...someone's having a 2nd set of twins...)

[skiingmummy]

[bakedpotato]

yes, i did note that, bundle, and i give thanks. skiingmummy, enjoy your wine. after bez's contribution i'm going to need a very stiff gin.

[skiingmummy]

Nah nah nah - you won't go 3 weeks over - relax baby. Got a feeling in my bones about it seeing as we're having similar experiences.

Bagsie you go first though coz I've still not got my hair cut given my dash to the dentists today instead.