Similar to my first pregnancy, I never lost my mucus plug and did not have bloody show before I went into labor. Labor started without warning this time around too. My contractions began at five in the evening on the first day of my thirty ninth week of pregnancy. The contractions were very mild and felt like menstrual cramps. I mentioned to my husband that I was having some contractions and he started recording them. They were anywhere from four to fifteen minutes apart and lasted twenty to thirty seconds. I had experienced similar contractions a week earlier so I … Continue reading →

Even for women who have gone through it before, trying to read the signs of impending labor seems impossible. Every cramp or unusual symptom may very well be the beginning of labor, but then again, delivery may still be weeks away. Even the doctors will tell you, “It could be a few hours, a few days, or a few weeks!” It’s enough to make you want to pull your hair out. Take the bloody show, for example. What is it supposed to look like anyway? How do you know if you’ve had it and what does it mean? For some … Continue reading →

Timing your contractions is a good way to track your labor progress. Once labor is rolling, you can get a good idea how close to delivery you are by the length of each contraction and the space in between. When contractions are less than five minutes apart and a minute or more in length, it’s time to head to the hospital. When they seem as though they are completely overlapping, delivery is very near. (Transitional labor is the most difficult and is generally when you dilate the final three centimeters.) There are lots of different tools for timing contractions, though … Continue reading →