# what "signs" did you *not* have before labor?



## cicely_m (Jan 24, 2007)

I'm trying to figure out if I need to wait to for all these things before I know that these contractions are actually doing something.








People who have given birth, did all of these things happen to you? (I know they can happen either hours or weeks before labor...)

Did you have:

1) diarrhea
2) nausea/vomiting
3) bloody show
4) backache
5) change in mood/frantic nesting

anything else?
(I know that not everyone's water breaks first, so I didn't include that one)


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## superfastreader (Aug 6, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *cicely_m* 
1) diarrhea
2) nausea/vomiting
3) bloody show

I got these in active labor.

I had no early labor. My water didn't break until pushing.


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## Dabble (Jun 14, 2007)

I had a backache all day while at work, but thought nothing of it - I was nine months pregnant after all! I had no other signs or symptoms. Went to my regular midwife appointment that afternoon and learned that I had been in early labor all day, and was dilated to three. They admitted me, and DS was born ten hours later!


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## Patchfire (Dec 11, 2001)

I had the diarrhea and nausea/vomiting once I was in the throes of labor. I never saw any bloody show with my second (I'm assuming it came out in the water when I was in transition), and my mucus plug came out when I was 7 or 8 cm, hard in active labor with my first. No unusual backache (I was developing gallbladder problems when pg with my second, unbeknownst to me, but that's a different kind of backache, I finally realized). I didn't even really nest right before labor - it was more a few weeks beforehand. My mood did change a few days before - I was utterly convinced I would never, ever, have the baby and was in a very foul mood!


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## broodymama (May 3, 2004)

Diarrhea was the only sign that I had.

The day before I went into labor with DD I had no signs, I didn't even have any Braxton Hicks that had been so frequent before. I took my toddler walking with some friends for a few hours that morning, then came back home and spent the rest of the day kicked back on the couch reading and napping. (In hindsight it was like anti-nesting, my body was resting up.) We went to bed around 10 pm and I told DH that I was going to be pregnant forever, that DD was never going to come.









A few hours later, just before 1 am, my cats woke me up (deliberately, and they were all lined up down the bed watching me). About 20-30 minutes later my body cleaned itself out, so I thought maybe something was going on. Maybe 45 minutes later I was in transition and then, just over 2 hours after waking up, DD was in my arms. I would never have guessed that I was going into labor that night!


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## lachingona1 (May 16, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *cicely_m* 
1) diarrhea
2) nausea/vomiting
3) bloody show
)

I had all these symptoms. I was in prodromal labor for 3 days and and actual labor only lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes when DD2 was born.

With DD1 I had lots of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. That labor was 42 hours.


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## barefootpoetry (Jul 19, 2007)

The only sign I had was diarrhea, and a general sense of "this is it." I had no bloody show, never lost my plug, never got nauseous, my water never broke.


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## mama_ani (Aug 2, 2007)

I have had 4 children and never had any of those symptoms at all and only 1/4 of my labours started with water breaking.


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## Flower of Bliss (Jun 13, 2006)

I had vague diarreah-ish bowel movements the evening before. I woke up at roughly 5 am (after going to bed at about 2 am) with a stomach ache and kept getting back up with it until I gave up at 6am. I assume that was really just contractions. I had no nausea, no bloody show, no specific back ache to my memory, and no frantic nesting.

However, I was certain that I was in labor. I also knew that I needed to get to the hospital ASAP. I had planned to labor at home and go into the hospital at the last minute. Though in the car ride there I was worried I was going in too soon, I arrived at about 8:30 am and had DD in arms 2 hours later.


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## frontierpsych (Jun 11, 2006)

I only had diarrhea because I took castor oil. NEVER. AGAIN.
No nausea/vomiting.
I think my mucous plug came out gradually, I didn't have the big gooey chunk that some women describe.
My water didn't break until I started pushing.
I went into pre-labour (for 2 or 3 hours at a time) about 10 times over the 2 weeks before I gave birth. (I was dilated to a 4 and 90% effaced before "actual" labour started).
I had a backache the whole last month or so, and back labour.
I had my membranes stripped twice, and started labour after the second time.


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## krankedyann (May 28, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *cicely_m* 
1) diarrhea
2) nausea/vomiting
3) bloody show
4) backache
5) change in mood/frantic nesting

I didn't have any of these. The diarrhea didn't hit until I was over 7cm with ech baby, and the nausea/vomiting never came. I didn't have any bleeding until labor was well established with both babies, and no back ache at all in labor with one- the other baby was posterior, but I had no back pain until my water broke at 9cm.


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## Daffodil (Aug 30, 2003)

I had none of those things before labor or early in labor. With my first, I had nausea and I think some bloody show after I had been in labor for quite a while. With my second, I don't think I had them at all.


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## DreamsInDigital (Sep 18, 2003)

I had none of those at my last birth. I had bloody show but not until after I already started laboring.


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## the_lissa (Oct 30, 2004)

I didn't realize I was really in labour the first time until I started throwing up.


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## ~*~MamaJava~*~ (Mar 7, 2004)

[1) diarrhea
2) nausea/vomiting
3) bloody show
4) backache
5) change in mood/frantic nesting

[/QUOTE]

only 1 and 5, and neither of those was really severe







i nest at about 37 weeks, it includes about 2 days of unbroken cooking, and that's about 4 weeks from labor for me, anyways









twice my water *did* break before labor!


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## dianna11 (Dec 3, 2004)

None of the above. I suspected absolutely nothing, until for some reason, DH started timing DD's "kicks" and discovered they were strangely coming at 2 minute intervals. About an hour later, they were getting strong and I was quite sure I was in labour by the time I had any bloody show and nausea.


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## queenjulie (Oct 26, 2007)

Nope, none of the above--at least, not during labor. I had diahrrea throughout my pregnancy, so that wouldn't have helped me know I was in labor, and I went through a nesting phase in the second trimester. But I knew I was in labor--my contractions woke me out of a sound sleep with excruciating force. There was no doubt they were the real thing.


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## Jilian (Jun 16, 2003)

No signs at all with DS1, but with DS2 I had bloody show about 24 hours before he was born.


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## Queen of my Castle (Nov 11, 2005)

Did you have:

1) diarrhea- for 2 weeks before!
2) nausea/vomiting-no, never
3) bloody show-yes, when I was in 'real' labour, and knew that I was in real labour then!
4) backache- always?
5) change in mood/frantic nesting- mmm, I was having 'pre-labour' for weeks before, and false labour a week before, so I experienced everything except the _bloody show_. And for the record, I was losing my mucuous plug for like 2 months, (no blood) but it just regrows.

anything else?


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## ~Katie~ (Mar 18, 2007)

I did not have diarrhea, nausea/vomiting, or bloody show. I was a frantic nester for weeks beforehand. Never lost a huge blob of mucus plug, just a small amount here and there. I was only convinced I was in labor once my contractions came every 3-4 minutes and lasted 50-60 seconds for 4 hours.


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## Gilby (Nov 27, 2007)

I didn't have any of the above signs until well into my labor... but I had prodromal labor with an OP baby. I'd already been in labor more than 24 hours when I lost my mucous plug and started having some bloody show. I remember thinking 'Oh yeah, I forgot that was a sign of labor, next time I'll wait until that happens before I even call this labor!'


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## AZgirl2207 (Jun 25, 2006)

I made five (!) casseroles for the freezer and my water broke/contrax started less than 24 hours later. I"m hoping for a little bit more nesting time with this baby.


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## Shelsi (Apr 4, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *cicely_m* 
I'm trying to figure out if I need to wait to for all these things before I know that these contractions are actually doing something.








People who have given birth, did all of these things happen to you? (I know they can happen either hours or weeks before labor...)

Did you have:

1) diarrhea
2) nausea/vomiting
3) bloody show
4) backache
5) change in mood/frantic nesting

anything else?
(I know that not everyone's water breaks first, so I didn't include that one)


Um, none of the above actually. Well when I was well into definite labor my body did clean itself out but it wasn't diarhea. I never had any nausea, no bloody show....I guess I did have a backache but that's when I was in full swing labor because I had back labor and I'm just not a nester at all lol.







:


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## puddle (Aug 30, 2007)

I didn't have any of those. The only sign I got was regular contractions.


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## RileysmamaNM (May 10, 2007)

Nothing untill the very last hour of 8 hours of labor. Then I had 1, 2, and 4







Water didnt break untill the very end also.


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## Storm Bride (Mar 2, 2005)

1) diarrhea
2) nausea/vomiting
3) bloody show
4) backache
5) change in mood/frantic nesting

I've laboured with three of my four.

With my first, I had a _bad_ backache and vomiting before labour.

With my third, I had contractions before anything else, and I never did have nausea or vomiting (I didn't labour long with him before surgery, though).

With my last, I had nothing before contractions started.

I couldn't begin to pin down whether I had a change of mood with my third or fourth. In both cases, I was already in a highly charged emotional space (fighting for VBA2C with ds2 and pretty seriously post-dates with a VBA3C baby with Aaron), so I don't know if I would have noticed a change. I've never really had the nesting thing happen.


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## leafwood (Jun 15, 2004)

I had loose stools and a frantic surge in energy/nesting hours before labor started with dd. Within 2 hours of the start of contractions I had show ans passed my plug.

This time with ds I had none of these signs. I started having contractions around 10pm that were every 10 min or so and they persisted and intensified throughout the night. At 3am I was convinced it was the real thing....I kept waiting for the tummy stuff and show but it never came.


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## samstress (Feb 21, 2008)

i had none of these signs before hand and only vomited once i was in active labor. was probably having contractions for several hours, but they were so mild that i ignored them. didn't realize it was "time to go" until my water broke.


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