My first sign was my water breaking.

I hope all went well with the birth.

I had these same concerns. Once your contractions start get your mum to come, if they don’t come to fast to begin with you should have time. Usually prior to contractions you have quite a bit of time.

I woke up with contractions at 5.30am. There was no discharge, back pain etc that others mentioned. Just contractions and going to the toilet a lot. At 8.30pm I called the hospital because I was exhausted and I live out of town. I went in and they told me I was only 3cm and to go home. I refused so they gave me a bed and 30min later my waters broke, my baby had pooped and had to be under constant monitoring. I was really rushed to get him out and while it felt like everything happened fast after that he wasn’t born until 1.30am.

You’re not going to know if you’ve stopped gaining weight. If people give rubbish cut and paste answers they should be removed from the site.

I hope all goes well for you.

Lots of discharge is apparently a sign of dialating I wish I knew that! Also te feeling of the Bub dropping (you’ll know as walking is weird as there’s pressure on your cervix) goodluck!! I hope for you your waters break it’s the most sure fire sign there is!!

So did it work out okay? I hope so!

I’m probably a little late with this answer, but I was going to say just watch out for your water breaking and then get to a hospital. Hope all has gone/goes well.

Just picked up on this post …so do hope all is well …thinking you probably am a mom now, so wishing you and bub all the very best. <3

How are you going? Did you work out what signs for yourself you had? Did you end up having your baby now? And if so what was it? Boy? or Girl? Congrats for when it comes

Of the ones I went in to labour as most were induced, my really only one was a really bad lower pain. When the pains came 20 mins apart it quickly moved to them almost being on top of each other. I had to go to a phone booth to order a taxi as our phone was cut off that morning for non payment. Nothing like a brisk 10 min walk both ways to get the baby moving, he was 4 days late any way. My other one lucky had a mobile phone and knew better the pains of contracting plus MIL told me this time.

Back pain, period pain is what I had.
3rd & 4th Baby (twins)
I woke about 4:20am to go to the toilet with my twins and it was hard to get off the toilet, by the time I got to the lounge room where my husband was sleeping cause we were staying at my parents place cause we lived to far away from the hospital I have a deep contraction. It was time, we hopped in the car and drove 25 minutes to the hospital. I had the first twin at 5:54am and second twin at 6:17am. (I had just under 2 hour labour)
For my 5th baby I woke up with mild period and contraction pains, we called the hospital at they said to wait an hour or so until they started getting worse, well we didn’t we left for the hospital straight away as we had over an hour to drive to get there and really happy we did as we had him just under 4 hours.

leaking of fluid, loss of mucus plug, pain that goes from your back to the front, sometimes no pain I went into labor and had no pain just before my c-section I lost my mucus plug no one tells you it can be a big piece but it can. Also flu like symptoms a few days before are normal I thought I was getting a cold but obviously my body had other plans.

For me it was intense pain that even a hot bath didnt help. Then my waters broke and my body started pushing on its own in the car. I would advise to trust your body and get to the hospital atleast so they can check how dialated you are. I was told by the nurses on the phone that it sounded like it was too long between contractions and because of their advice i nearly lost my son because he was in the birth canal too long

I woke up at 2am with really small contractions and just knew. I didn’t head off for the hospital until nearly 2pm and bubs arrived at nearly 8pm. Its different for everyone. But its pretty safe to say if you don’t notice you’re in labor until you need to push then you are one of the lucky ones.

Pre-labor signs :
Your baby “drops”
Your cervix dilates.
You feel more cramps and increased back pain.
Your joints feel looser.
You have diarrhea.
You stop gaining weight (or lose pounds)
You feel extra-tired…or you have an urge to nest.

Early Labor:
Your vaginal discharge changes color and consistency.
You feel stronger more frequent contractions.
Your waters break.

If you think you’re going into labor, your practitioner should have advised you on what to do when your contractions become regular. She might tell you for example to call her when they’re coming about five minutes apart for at least an hour. Contractions won’t all be exactly spaced, but if they are becoming pretty consistent, it’s time to check in with your doc. If you think you might be in labor but aren’t sure, get on the phone; your provider can advise you on what’s going on.

you will know when your body is in labour. it will give you time to get to the hospital