Name: saradha

hi all

i got hold of some useful info. most of them might know it, but thought incase if any one is not aware - then this post might be of great use to them.

HOW DO I KNOW I AM IN LABOUR?

It' s one of the most important question most of the first time expectants wonder when they finish 36 weeks gestation! Here is a little information on the same and hope that adds to knowledge. By now most of you must know what BHC means and experienced some or many.

But what you want to know is mucus plug, that’s protecting any leakage and preventing cervix from effacement and dilation ahead of time. You will loose mucus plug anywhere 2 days to 2 weeks ahead of real labor. In some case mucus plug is lost just when she enters in labor so do not get fooled if one takes long to loose mucus plug or you have lost it 10 days before but not labor sings! In both cases is natural and normal. When you loose mucus plug it may thick mucous or with some blood tint. This is also referred to as Bloody show and some may make false trip to hospital, but relax this only means your cervix is being effaced, slow or fast can' t tell but it' s in progress.

first time baby can be engaged and remain in the same phase for 2-4 weeks ahead of time and in some cases will be just few hours to 2 days before real labor.


LIGHTENING:
This is one of the early signs of labor. One fine day towards the end of pregnancy you will notice there is enough space between breasts and abdomen allowing you to breath better, which was a huge concern lately. This may also result in letting you visit restroom often just like when you discovered pregnancy. This means baby is engaged and labor is on it’s way in a few hours to few days.

Some of you may feel diarrhea and that’s natural, this is one of the signs and natures way to make empty intestine to make more space for your baby to come through birth canal.

One of the important labor sign and everyone must try to reach hospital soon possible is membrane rupture or in other words water break. The baby must be delivered within 24 hours so that be vaginally or C-section, if needed induction is preferred, decision depends on cervix status.


TRUE LABOUR:
Tends to start at the top of your uterus radiating down through your abdomen and lower back. They will develop a regular pattern and grow in intensity and frequency. A change of activity will not stop true labor. These contractions are way painful and intense than your BHC. BHC were irregular and can repeat time to time throughout the day or for an hour or so. But these real contractions will grow intense as time goes by and also the space between two contractions will be reduced but the length of contraction will grow more and more from contraction to contraction. This is a prominent sign of labor. At this time one would want to time the contraction and question as to if they are regular or not? If they are bearable or not? If they are regular then in hours does the time between two contractions has reduced and pain has increased?

Initially your contractions may start at 15 minutes interval and each contraction may stay for about 20-40 seconds. Then the gap between two contractions will become 10 minutes and 7 minutes and 5 minutes as time goes by. Also each contraction may last as long as 1 to 2 minutes and this is likely be unbearable. This is the when contractions are real painful and spaced 5 minutes apart where you should give a call to you OB and ask is it OK to make step towards the hospital.

To help labor faster take a warm shower and avoid taking solids while making step towards the hospital.

Hope this helps to understand false and real labor.

Cheers
saradha

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