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?

Right then - just off to bung a pork casserole in the oven for tea.

Chat again later!

Apparently gin helps. For some stupid reason I didn't try it. Given that I'd spent the past nine months thinking about gin.

It's awful, isn't it.

Oooooh! G&T, with ice and lemon. Skiingmummy, enjoy your wine - I'm going to join BP and MI with a gin.

Oooooooh I luuuurve gin. Excellent suggestion.
Mind you I've just had my small glass of wine so maybe the gin will have to wait till tomorrow night. Wouldn't want to go into labour tonight and arrive at the mat unit smelling of alcohol!

Before you all start thinking I'm an alky - I've gone the 9 months without any alcohol so I don't suppose 2 small glasses of wine at 38+ weeks can be classed as too naughty can it?

Def will try gin if I've not popped by 30th Jan tho.

5 days of on off prelabour pains with no 2, (none with no 1) mainly in the early hours or the middle of the night. When labour atarted for real it was v. quick - just less than 2 hrs - I did feel like my body had done a fair bit of the work already during those bursts of contractions. Best of luck bp.

Oh my gish!! less than 2 hrs?!?!
Did you give birth at home? in the car? in the street????

Pls don't start me off with nightmares like that!!!

really fed up today. i should have had that gin (i've put some tonic into the fridge and filled up the icetray for tonight). last night DD up sporadically coughing and sicking up phlegm, plus i got woken by great surge of heartburn at 3am, AND my hips have gone back to being painful and achy so getting up in a hurry or rolling over in bed necessitates lots of loud groaning.
i just rang the MW in despair and she says it's possible that the baby has disengaged but fairly unlikely unless i've been doing headstands. but this is what it feels like it to me. it feels like it's floating around high up again.
feeling bleak and very sorry for myself.

Sweetheart. Remember that you're BOUND to interpret any possible gloom as definite gloom at the moment - the MW is probably right, you know, it is her job to know these things.

And I'm quite impressed with any second baby which engages at all. I'm quite sure DD2 didn't.

At least you don't have to do a complicated interview on something you know bugger-all about (despite being bombarded with complex policy documents on said subject - I've even read them) later on this afternoon...

thanks for that, MI. You're a kindly soul.
Sniff
Good luck with the interview
Really must get out of my pyjamas.

bp, have you got one of those exercise ball things, or a beanbag you can take the weight off your hips with? poor you...do have that gin tonight, hope it's bombay sapphire...xxxx

hi bundle. i know i'm lucky, the hips are fine when i'm sitting or upright. it's just getting out of bed/rolling over. and last night, what with DD's wailing and being sick, and then all my loo trips... well, i did a lot of getting up. it's divine retribuition for all my earlier indolence.

dd1 used to vomit if i refused to bring her into our bed, remember it well. i developed a taste for some of the more obscure programmes on world service towards the end of my 2nd pregnancy..
can dh help with dd? horrible to have to drag yourself out of bed in your condition

DD was up more than me, he is a prince.

(i listen to LBC a lot through earpiece but it's not so good now clive bull stops at midnight)

they were talking about 'happy slaps' last night. have you heard about this? it's horrible.

is that taking photos of people with your phone who are being slapped about?
my friend who moved to manchester was in mourning for months over missing clive...

yes. it was chilling. i'm never leaving the house again. which is the reason why I'm STILL in my jimjams and running a bath

bakedpotato, you deserve it, don't fret about jimjams at this tardy hour...that's the joy of mumsnet - the anonymity, and you can keep your curlers in/disgusting slippers on...

Jimjams are a form of nesting, it's well-known. And anyway you've probably got nothing to wear, so you might as well stay within the comfort of your own drawstring.

Oh bp I'm really sorry you had a bad time of it yesterday. Hows things today? I'm sure the baby won't have disengaged - if its any sort of consolation, my friend whos now a week overdue still has really bad heartburn and her babys engaged and its her second!

Well I fully intended going to the pickies yesterday afternoon but fell asleep on the sofa and by the time I'd woken up it was too late. Oops!

I think you should go for the record today bp and not bother getting out of your jammies at all!! At the mo the temptation for me to crawl back into bed is v v strong.

hello SM, maybe you'll make the cinema today. i haven't been for months, sooo uncomfy, not because of seat size or anything but because of the excited pummelling i get from within when the dolby surround sound fires up. ouch. what were you going to see?

feeling much better today. had the longed-for G&T last night and will definitely return to that medicinal green bottle again at 7.15pm (not that i'm clockwatching or anything). it really took the edge off DD's cough and 2am temp spike.

are you still getting your cramps, by the way?

Bakedpotato how about a drop of mother's ruin in the afternoon?

MI shame on you for inciting us to drink! (D'you think we need any encouragement being 9mths gone fat and fed up?!?! ) Def going to have a glass of baileys this evening...yummy! Wouldn't mind a g&t but think the baileys might be kinder to the heartburn!!

BP as far as cramps go - no actual cramps today just loads of braxton hicks and I feel like someone is jabbing me with pins down below iykwim! Sorry if tmi!! I'm kinda hoping it means the baby has decided to start engaging sos the wicked heartburn will start to go away. I'm on my 8th extra strength gaviscon tablet today already. Hows your cramps going? Any more activity? Any more cleaning?!?!

Was going to go and see Bridget Jones Edge of Reason however don't think I'll bother now. The nearest cinema still showing it is 1/2 hour away and I really can't be bothered to drive there, sit still for 2 hours then drive back. Sad I know but there you go.

i was beginning to be suspicious about your absence. glad/sorry you're still around. no more cramps. but in stinking mood, could this be a sign do you think.

DD's cold has moved on (to me, I'm suspecting) but she now has gummy eyes. so i was up twice last night to administer Obtrex. she lies there in state bellowing, 'My eyes are stuck'

FFS

Nah nothing more exciting to explain my absence other than feeling crappy and crabby

DH has decided to come down with a cold so is feeling v sorry for himself and DS decided to wake up at 6am this morning and was an absolute monster from about 11am onwards till after his afternoon nap.

Spent the last hour feeling v sorry for myself crying on and off into a small glass of baileys coz my spd is really playing up today and I just feel really fed up. On the positive side my Mum and little sis are gonna come and help entertain DS tomorrow morning. I feel so guilty that I'm not full of beans to play with him and getting onto and off the floor is agony. Also my bump is now just about too big for him to sit on my knee for stories. DS is 2 btw! Feel like I've turned into a manic depressive this pg. Mind you, it helps to hear someone else is going thro a similar experience. Oh well, maybe it'll soon be over??!!