Your due date is calculated by adding 280 days (40 weeks) to the first day of your last menstrual period (assuming a 28 day cycle). If you feel unsure about any of these signs of labour during your pregnancy, make sure you talk to your doctor or midwife.Pregnancy induced hypertension How is my due date calculated? But once contractions are five minutes apart it’s time to get to hospital to prepare to meet your gorgeous baby!
Others have lower back pain that comes and goes. Some women feel early contractions as period pain. If you’ve never experienced labour contractions it’s tricky to know what to expect. However, if they become regular, intense and frequent (about 20–30 minutes apart) there’s a good chance these are the true contractions of labour. They can start in the second trimester so are not a sign of early labour by themselves. Sometimes this happens in the early stages of labour, or it may happen during labour itself.īraxton Hicks or ‘practice contractions’ feel like a tightening of your abdominal muscles and can be painful for some women and unnoticeable for others. The body naturally empties the bowels to create space for bub to move downwards. If you’re feeling irritable, have a headache, or you’re more tired than usual, rest up and take it easy as this could be a sign of labour soon to come. Many women report mood swings prior to going into labour. Try to resist the temptation to clean the bathroom-you’ll need to save that energy for later! The nesting instinct can be strong, and the closer to labour you get, the more restless and busy you’re likely to become. If you find yourself on your knees scrubbing the kitchen floor, this could be a sign you’re in the early stages of labour. Your nesting instinct goes into overdrive
With bub down in your pelvis, there’s less room for your bladder, which means more trips to the bathroom!Ĥ. One of the more pleasant symptoms of labour is that your baby will move lower or ‘drop’, giving you a little more room to breathe. In the late stages of pregnancy, with your baby snuggled under your diaphragm, you may find it harder to breathe. If you notice a fluid that doesn’t smell like urine and you have no control over its flow, this is probably your waters breaking. In fact, amniotic fluid can trickle out over several days and could be mistaken for a bladder leak. The ‘show’ can happen several days before you go into labour, or might not happen until labour itself.Īlthough Hollywood would have us believe this is a regular occurrence, only a small percentage of women experience their waters breaking in a mad gush in early labour. If you see a blood-stained stringy or sticky discharge, which can be pink, red or brown, this might be your mucus plug releasing to open your cervix which is often an early sign of labour. Many of us have heard of the early symptoms of labour, such as waters breaking, and a “show”, however if you don’t know your Braxton Hicks contractions from your “lightening” during pregnancy, this list might give you an idea of what to expect when you’re about to say hello to your baby.ĭuring pregnancy your cervix is sealed by a mucus plug. But how do you know that the moment you’re waiting for isn’t far off? Here are seven signs of labour that could indicate you’re about to meet your little one very soon. It’s late into your pregnancy and you’re keen to meet the little person growing inside (or maybe just to be done with pregnancy!).
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