Your Body Knows First- Subtle Signs Labor Is Near

Comments · 371

• BR

  @Bri-thazombae · 8 months ago

  I’m about to have my fourth baby and I feel like I’m the only one who hasn’t had that overwhelming urge to deep clean anything or nest. I just get extremely tired and want to sleep all day

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• KY

  @kyberpearl · 1 year ago (edited)

  I just had my first and let me tell you…..I watched all the videos (yours included!) and thought I’d have some clue. <br><br>WRONG! &nbsp;<b>Story incoming, and I’m sorry it’s so long</b> 😅<br><br>The day I turned 39 wks I was woken up at 2am with horrendous gas pain and fought on the toilet for an hour or two to get poo and gas to exit the premises, to little effect. Finally crawled back into bed and noticed an odd sensation. Somewhat regular, period like cramps, but light enough to breathe through. Then they’d go away. I wasn’t expecting to go into labor for at least another week, possibly longer ‘cause “it’s my first”. I had the forethought to download a contraction timer though, and breathed through the night with these little ones (that I wasn’t even sure WERE contractions) until 6-7am. Then I decided to take a hot bath, in case the heat would make them go away. It didn’t. I texted midwife and she said she could come check me, but me being me, I told her I wasn’t sure it was serious and I would hate for her to waste a trip. She said let me know if anything changes by 2. <br><br>👀 &nbsp;Suuuure. 2pm. I can make that. I hear a lot of moms have early labor that lasts days….. I didn’t particularly want to go through what I was feeling, even as light as it was, for days, but I didn’t know what to expect (this’ll be a recurring theme, bear with me 😂) so I just kept breathing. <br><br>Getting out of the tub, I decide I can’t go back to bed, so I waddle out to the living room and find a seat, breathing through what I can now call, in hindsight, mid level contractions. The only difference between how I’d felt the night before and today were the cramps. &nbsp;No mucus, no bloody show, no lightning crotch, no lightening, no water breaking. Nada. And the timer wasn’t even saying these cramps were getting regular, they still felt kind of sporadic in length and intensity. <br><br>Things continued to progress and I periodically battled the urge to poo. Because it was a real urge to poo, it didn’t click why the cramps got stronger every time I sat on the toilet (dialation station, babyyyy!). All I knew was that I was perfectly fine between them, but I needed to poo and it just wouldn’t budge. Plus gas pains. Ew. &nbsp;Definitely made things harder than they otherwise would have been.<br><br>The intensity scale on the app was 1-6, and because I had no frame of reference, I used 4’s as the max because I didn’t want to “overestimate” anything 😂, silly me….3’s were likely 4-5, and 4-5 were 6’s in hindsight). <br><br>By 10am it’s 3’s and 4’s, I’m occasionally hollering, working on breathing and STILL don’t realize I’m probably in labor. Genuinely thought this <b>might</b> be the very beginning and could potentially go on for a long time before I would need the midwife for anything. <br><br>Psych! 😅 I called her at noon, with a contraction the moment she answered, so all I said was “AaaaaaAAAAaHh!” And she said she was on the way, 30 minutes out. <br><br>It might sound stupid, but I was only just starting to acknowledge that these were real contractions (because I couldn’t stand or talk through them). Easy to know otherwise in hindsight, but dangit, I didn’t have any clues in the moment and I wanted to KNOW I was going into labor beforehand, so I would have time to get my mind wrapped around it and then “do the work”, be checked, told what stage I was in, how dilated, etc. you know, all the “normal” labor and delivery stuff you hear about. <br><br>During all of this, I’m so grateful my mom was home, because it was now that that she decided I needed to get back to the room we had planned for the birth. If we hadn’t of gone then, I wouldn’t have made it across the house. She was about as confused as I was, though, because I <b>sounded</b> like I was in labor, but kept saying it wasn’t anything but gas. <br><br>I really don’t want to bother people if it’s not serious. LOL. Turns out, this was the real deal, haha. &nbsp;I was a bit dramatic as one of the strongest contractions hit after we got to her room. On my way to the ground, I grabbed the wooden bedframe and bit it, 😂 such was my need to distract myself. <br><br>Note: I still had to poo. So I did what any thinking woman would do. I dragged myself over and sat on the toilet. Furious battle there, still unable to go and equally unable to sit as each contraction made sitting impossible. So, I stood up, took two steps to the sink, grabbed hold of the counter….and there I would stay until the baby was born. <br><br>The next segment was equal parts embarrassing, as my mom had to wipe the poo because it FINALLY had the audacity to come out, and painful, because the slightest touch down there stung. I didn’t think I’d be the one to say “Don’t touch me!” but it happened. She didn’t take it personally. 🥰😂<br><br>The midwife called back and talked me through contractions as they went from the “belt” tightening sensation to the “top down, bowling ball coming out” sensation. There was NO stopping the push, and I wasn’t the one doing it. That was super weird. And all this time….no mucus plug, no water breaking. I’d gotten one swipe of slightly bloody show while on the toilet, but only one. Again reinforcing the idea that this couldn’t be “it”, could it? (It’s hard to believe I thought that, with the unforgettable sensation of my baby’s head pressing its way out at the same time 😂) <br><br>No amount of research can prepare you for birth, but in the back of my mind, while I tried to control my breathing (and failed spectacularly), I could finally say some of those mom Reddit posts made sense. The feeling of his head coming through the pelvis, the sensation of needing to poop out a bowling ball, occasionally feeling like I was about to rip in half and going up on my toes to get through it, the stretch of everything, which somehow didn’t scare me that it would tear because it felt like it was designed to stretch that much (a very cerebral thought for such a moment, I know). I didn’t feel the “ring of fire”, just a big stretch. <br><br>In the middle of all this, Mom says, “I think you’re having this baby today” and that finally gave me permission to think about it officially. LOL. 😂 I still felt like I was missing half the experience, given no midwife was there yet, no checks had been done, no moments you see in all the home birth blogs had occurred.<br><br>It was amazing how quickly I broke out in sweat as the uterus bore down on its own. Beads just popped out on my face. And I didn’t have to push at ALL to feel the baby coming out. &nbsp;Holy heck that was a lot of pressure. But just pressure. Not pain. Like an intense workout. You’re exhausted, weak, a little sore, but it’s something your body can do.<br><br>In the middle of these “top down” surges, where I could feel the baby’s head crowning, the midwife arrives and slides in behind me, gets her gloves on, takes one peek, and says “ok, you can push”. <br><br>🫨 🫣 😳🤯<br><br>Body did the work but it felt good to add to it. 4 pushes later, out comes baby, and it wasn’t until after his HEAD came out that the water broke! They call this &quot;en caul&quot; in the industry, which I’ve been told is a cool thing. 🤩🥳😎 Full birth was 4 minutes after the midwife arrived. 😂🎉 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/neverbeensograteful">#NeverBeenSoGrateful</a><br><br>The funny part? A few weeks prior I’d asked this same midwife what the odds of having a spontaneous labor were and she kind of laughed and said “not likely, especially for first time moms with no family history”. 😂😂😂 I suppose there’s a first for everything. Apparently she texted the other midwife, who was on vacation, saying she was worried she wouldn’t make it in time. 🤞 Lucky me! <br><br>If I calculated correctly, early labor, which felt very light, was 3-10am, active labor and transition from 10-12ish. Called the midwife a little past noon. Baby born at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcCG6Js6Fnw&amp;t=778">12:58</a>. All without knowing I was in labor until it was actively upon me. I’d say that was pretty fast!<br><br>It’s what I prayed would happen, actually. Haha. As a professing Christian, I believe Jesus redeemed all things, including childbirth, so this was a pretty amazing testimony for me. It&apos;s not supposed to be crazy painful. I&apos;m so grateful I didn’t have to think too long or hard about what, when, where, but on the flipside I also didn’t get to learn how fast I was dilating, etc. I may be weird, but I kind of wanted to know all that. Oh well. Baby was born safe and sound. No tears, no injuries. Praise God!<br><br>Anyways, just wanted to share my story. Sometimes you just DON’T know! Better to be safe than sorry. Call your midwives!!! You aren’t a bother. 👍🏼

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• MO

  @mothboss · 10 months ago

  I really appreciate even the first few seconds of this video just because you’re not talking to me in a cutesy or overly soft voice. Jfc the amount of accounts for birthing that have unlistenable voices 😩 thank you for being so normal

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• SC

  @schnitzel711 · 7 months ago

  Three weeks until my due date and my husband is currently painting our room and washing everything even my shower curtains 😂

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• VE

  @veronicachic · 1 year ago

  I never know if the pains are IBS gas cramps or real cramps lol

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• RL

  @rlf3c · 1 year ago

  Nesting is no joke! I was squatted down (in a great pre-birthing stretch position) painting my 4 year old’s room yesterday—currently 37 weeks and being the most productive I’ve been in years hahaha.

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• LT

  @ltplauren4138 · 1 year ago

  With my first, my water broke but I wasn&apos;t having productive contractions.<br>With my second, they told me I was in false labor and sent me home because my contractions were anywhere from 2 to 8 minutes apart. They never got consistent. I showed back up at the hospital at 3am, 10 cm dilated, managed to walk in, check in at the reception desk, get half way to the elevator without a contraction. Then had one that brought me to my knees. They got me a wheel chair, brought me to the labor floor, and an hour later I had my baby. It took me 9 minutes to push, but I only had 4 contractions in 9 minutes. 2 back to back, then a few minutes without any where I was talking and joking and totally fine, then 2 more and she was out. Labor is wild.

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• TS

  @tschenii4567 · 7 months ago

  I got the coolest, the night before I went into labor, I dreamed of having my baby. All three times. Loved it.

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• AL

  @alyssamonsma5993 · 1 year ago

  I’m 40 weeks and I was scrubbing my blinds today…. Been doing random little chores that really have already been done and didn’t need done again

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• LA

  @laurenm1369 · 1 year ago

  My water broke at midnight when I was sleeping! I always tell my friends now to put some incontinence bed pads under their sheets in case 😅

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• JA

  @janetlaytham8991 · 1 year ago

  I too have 4 children. First one (boy) at age 20 (barely), second one (girl and biggest) at age 24, third one (girl) at age 25 and youngest (girl and smallest) at age 39. All were uneventful pregnancies, though my last one I was monitored more because of my age, and EVERY single one I had VERY quick labors.<br>My son: 6 1/2 hours from 1st pain until delivery. Born 3 days before due date.<br>First daughter: 2 hours and 51 minutes. She was also 11 days late.<br>Second daughter: 5 hours and 45 minutes. She was 6 days late.<br>Third daughter: 5 and 1/2 hours. She was born 2 weeks early. <br>Their weight/lengths:<br>Son: 6lbs 10oz, 19 1/2&quot;<br>1st girl: 8lbs 1 1/2oz, 20 1/4&quot;<br>2nd girl: 7lbs 10oz, 20 1/2&quot;<br>3rd girl: 6lbs 9oz, 18 1/2&quot;<br>My water was broken by my delivery OB on the older kids. On my last one it broke while straining with a strong pushing contraction before I was completely dilated. I was at 9 cm already so it didn&apos;t take much. (Funny about this incident: my husband had briefly lwft the room and came back and was walking past the &quot;zone&quot; when I had this contraction. He BARELY made to the side of the delivery bed when, while still straining my waters BURST all over the room and floor right where he literally was just at 😮😅). He narrowly missed being splattered. 😂<br>My kids are now 38, 34, 32 and 18 years old. The older 3 are parents now, giving my husband and I 10 grandchildren altogether (so far), and Baby Girl is getting ready to graduate from high school in May of 2025.😮❤❤❤❤<br>Wouldn&apos;t change a thing.

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• RA

  @RachelsRandomRamblings · 2 months ago

  I think nesting is a God-given instinct to help us get ready for baby. My nesting goes in spurts. I&apos;m really motivated to get a lot of stuff done and then I&apos;m exhausted for like a week lol. And then I get another urge to nest.

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