How do I know if I’m in labour? #babydays

How do you know you are in labour? And what do contractions feel like?

Those are two of the big questions I get asked a lot, as an antenatal teacher.

You see it in the films…the big unexpected gush as the waters break, followed by an agonised howl and doubling over as everyone gathers around in concern; and then a short time later, red faced and groaning, legs in stirrups, the mum births her baby.

So is it really like that?

No, not really.

am i in labour contraction monitoring

First off, there are several signs that labour may be imminent.

Signs of labour

  • nesting – suddenly having a burst of energy, and cleaning or tidying or readying stuff, can be a sign that labour might be imminent. For me, it was the cupboard by the back door, which is crammed full of crafty bits, ironing boards, random crap and spiders. Never has it been so well organised and clean! And also, looking back on it, I wonder how I actually managed to haul all that stuff about and scrub so thoroughly with such a gigantic bump…
  • disrupted sleep – not always so obvious if your sleep has been a bit crap anyway
  • upset tummy, or diarrhea – this can be a sign that your body is cleaning itself out and things may start moving along soon
  • mucus plug, or ‘bloody show’ – this is an often slightly blood tinged mucusy discharge. It can sometimes signal the start of labour, or it might occur a week or two before anything else starts happening
  • persistent lower back pain or abdominal pain 
  • irregular tightenings, or cramps – once labour really gets going these will get more frequent, regular, and last longer, but to start with they usually come intermittently and stop and start as well.
  • waters breaking – sometimes this happens before labour starts, and it isn’t always a massive gush. It can just be a steady trickle, and it won’t always lead straight to contractions. If you do think your waters have broken it’s a good idea to call the labour ward anyway though, so they can advise you what to do if you don’t go into labour within a day or so. Quite often waters don’t break until just before your baby is born, and in rare cases some babies are even born still inside the amniotic sac! This is called being born ‘en caul’.

What do contractions feel like?

Often, people describe contractions as being a bit like cramps, or period pain. No two people are the same though – and so I asked some fellow bloggers to share their experiences of what contractions were like for them.

Emily said it didn’t feel like period pain at all:

‘Both of my labours have been in my back ?. I knew it was proper contractions when they came and went in ‘waves’. You can feel them coming, growing and then fading away – whereas I found Braxton hicks a constant pain!
Mine never really felt like period pains as they never came round to my front. Just thought my back was going to break ?. Oh and my waters went both times as well so I knew it was real too’

Whereas Petra describes it as different to period pain because it was pain that comes and goes, rather than being constant:

‘I’ve had two babies and for me it was a contracting sensation in the uterus that had a regular pattern. I never had Braxton Hicks so once a feeling like this came along, I assumed it was labour starting. Gradually the feelings got stronger and more noticeable and turned into proper labour. I would not describe them as period pains which to me are really bad but more dull and constant while contractions come and go’

Kerry describes it as a belt, getting tighter and looser:

I always describe it to people as imagining a belt around your belly and someone is pulling and pulling at it, to make it tighter. Then once the belt is together, you can unclasp it and the contraction has ended.’

And Jenna felt like she had really strong cramps:

‘My waters broke the night before I started getting any contractions so I knew that when they did start, what I was feeling was probably the real deal. My contractions felt like really strong cramps in my stomach… they became very intense and close together very quickly. At times it was hard to tell when one was ending and another was beginning’

Sabrinah gave some incredibly recent insight, saying that she felt like she might be in labour as she was writing, having had period pains for hours:

‘I think I’m in labour now, been having ‘period pains’ for hours! (Baby was due on sat) With my first baby, my mucus plug came out at 4am, and then I had period pain cramps every 10-15 mins which got worse throughout the day. I didn’t realise this was labour till my cousin told me at 1pm. By 6pm they felt more like really intense waves going through my body. At 11.39pm he was born’

(and she WAS in labour, congratulations on the birth of Honey Nut, Sabrinah!)

Whereas Lucy had a fairly quick labour with pretty constant pain:

‘My waters broke in a gush at 06.00. At 08.30 I had my first contraction and from then on the pain was pretty constant and I really couldn’t tell when one started and another finished. Little Miss H was born at 12.24. My labour was about 4 hours and that included her being stuck for 45 minutes’.

Katie talks about how she couldn’t speak through the pains:

‘My waters never broke but I woke at 3am and just ‘knew’. They started like very bad period pains but by 6am, I couldn’t speak through them. My daughter was back to back and face first, which apparently is a more intense pain. She was born at 5.52 the following morning!!’

When you are not expecting your baby, you may not even realise you are in labour at all, as Adelle found out when she was feeling twinges, and discovered she had gone into premature labour:

‘They were no more than 30 seconds long and coming between six and 12 minutes apart, so phoned the Maternity Assessment Unit and was advised to take a couple of paracetamol and take a bath.

When I couldn’t sleep, I timed the twinges and found they were now a minute or more and were coming between two and four minutes apart. I got back on the phone to the MAU and they told me to come in. It was 1am.

It still didn’t cross my mind I could be in labour. Yes, I was uncomfortable and the pains were gripping at times, but it wasn’t what I thought labour would be. I thought I’d be checked out and sent back home again. It was only when the doctor said “you’re fully dilated”, followed by a quick steroid injection (that they weren’t even sure would work) and a mad dash to the labour suite, that I realised my baby was on her way!’

(You can read more about her birth story here)

Finally, some people, like Chloe, feel it is really impossible to describe effectively at all!

I’ve never been able to describe it effectively. Early pains are a bit like period pain or the sort of cramps you’d get if you had a VERY dodgy tummy. Then in the later stages of established labour it’s a very concentrated pain (in the back with my first two, front with my 3rd) that builds up in a wave. I knew I was in labour when pains turned from a period type pain to something more regular and a little bit more intense’

So everyone describes it a bit differently, and a lot of it will depend on the position of your baby, and how you experience pain generally. One thing is for sure though – it’s a totally different type of pain to anything you’ve probably ever experienced before…and that’s why its so difficult to describe. It’s often hard to get your head around the fact that its good, helpful pain – when usually your body is using pain to tell you that something is wrong. Remembering that, and working with the pain rather than tensing up and fighting it can often lead to a much more relaxed and less painful experience.

How did you know you were in labour? What did contractions feel like for you?

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