39.3 weeks, had a show, irregular painful contractions - is this labour?

[mum2be1980]

hi..I am new to this world of pregnancy (first baby), i find myself extremely confused..

i am 39.3 weeks pregnant (EDD 10.12.08), had a brown colored show (mucous plug) yesterday morning. i have been having painful contractions lasting alost 70-90 seconds irregularly (started 3 days ago with frequence varying between 6 minutes to 20 minutes). could this be labour? can anyone from their experience suggest how long will it take for me to go into established labour please...

i am really tired and confused, havent slept for last 2 nights and need some answers, which my MW would never give!!!!!

thanks a lot..

Yes that does sound like the start of something.

How long this is going to take really is the original "how long is a piece of string" question. I had a very long latent phase of labour, I had a start of a show on the Wednesday, more over next couple of days every few hours. The Saturday morning I started the kind of contractions you describe. By the Saturday evening I was having a 50-60 second contraction every 5 minutes so went to delivery suite. They examined me, told me I was not dilated and sent me home. Cue lots of tears.

Next day more of same, but by 6pm it was very much stronger, to the point where I was having trouble speaking through a contraction because the pain was too distracting - not too much to handle, but just demanded my attention. Went back to delivery suite, told I was 4 cm and so I could stay. DS was eventually born at 3.32am on the Monday morning.

The fact is no one can tell you, but you need to be aware that if you feel you want medical attention, even just to reassure you, you should not feel silly or embarrassed to seek it (and by that I mean go to the delivery suite - ring first - not just call your MW), and when you get to the stage where the intensity of the contractions is strong enough to really demand your attention, you are getting somewhere.

Good luck - this could take 2 hours or 2 more days, basically!

could be - don't get over excited though, I got over excited stayed up drinking tea and sitting on my bouncy ball, my labour went on for 50 hours, by the time I was ready to push I was absolutely knackered, wish I'd gone to bed for two days! Still haven't had any sleep ten months later!

thanks a lot georgimama and Kalo12. for how long should I onitor the contractions for... if they are 5 minutes apart, how long should i montior them for before contacting labour suite?

I would wait for them to be consistently 5 minutes apart or less for at least an hour (if not getting more frequent or more painful). If they are getting faster and stronger over that period I would phone sooner.

If in any doubt, or just wanting reassurance that you are OK to stay put at home I would ring. We rang several times before going in the second time, and they couldn't have been nicer or more patient. I was basically upset because I was starting to feel like I wanted to be near some medical professionals (!!) but was worried about being sent away again. They told me if I needed that reassurance I was to come in as soon as I liked - they often do send women in first labour away two or three times before the real event because you just don't know - you know you are in pain, you know you are in labour but as you have no knowledge of how intense it gets you can't estimate for yourself. They expect this.

Definitely try and rest as Kalo says. Don't worry though, you will sleep - I fell asleep while pushing! Was told to wake up again.

thanks a lot.... its much appreciated....

No problem, DH is at work, DS is asleep for now, I will be MNing for the next couple of hours!

I've only done it the once so I am no guru but anything I can help with (it was relatively recently and burned on my memory) just shout...

Please post a birth announcement when it is all over, I will look out for it!

agree phone your hospital / midwife as many times as you want. You won't be the first mother to be that has phoned and asked about this and that and been worried.
i phoned my hospital oads and went to the clinic about 4 times to check just in case over the two days. Better safe than sorry, the lady in the bed next to me had her baby in the taxi outside the hospital!

thanks.. i almost thought i was there today, with ctx every 5 minutes for about 50 min, just thought of waiting for 10 more mins b4 calling labour suite - and guess wat - ctx become irregular again - 9-10 mins apart... i am soo fed up... is this so common?

That's what happened to me, I was in labour for about 75 hours or more, and every time it looked as though contractions were getting regular, they'd disappear for fifteen minutes, or something.

You'll know when it's really getting going, I expect... I did. Things just suddenly speeded up, and within about four or five hours it was over. Suspect it was just the natural course of things, outside chance I speeded it up with a drop of Clary sage in the shower an hour or so before things really kicked off...

If I were you I would just ask to be looked at if you honestly feel the pain is getting so bad something has to be going on becauce my contractions never got regular. I was told by hospital after 16 hours of very irregular but increasingly painful contractions that i was in pre labour but when i insisted on going in they found I was 9.5 cms! They never did become regular for the entire labour. Good luck.....

Good luck. It probably won't be very long now. Here's a hint: have a fiddle with your nipples (no, really. It can stimulate things.)
The rest of MN will be on here soon, knitting away.

Any news OP? Everything OK?