false labor
Or when I wet myself in our kitchen. There. I said it. Embarrassment over. Or just beginning? At either rate, when SuperBoy exclaimed “Oh, Mama, you had an accident!”–turns out the kid was on to something. You see, I thought I was a water-breaking pro. My water has broken with both the other children so I figured I’d know it when I felt it/saw it/dare I use another sense? It was the perfect day to have a baby. Saturday morning, my sister went off to help close family friends move as did AA. I took the kids in the double stroller I gratefully inherited from a cousin for a vigorous walk. It’s been a while since I was that brave as to actually attempt exercise, but I’d have a great sleep Friday night. I had finished knitting a special blanket for BabyLoves with this beautiful hand-died yarn my brother & sis-in-law gave me last year. The stars had aligned. I was ready for an adventure, a warm beverage, and maybe a bakery item. Off we zoomed. The kids were happy! It was sunny and bright! The cinnamon swirl I got from Bread & Chocolate was perfectly baked and the kiddos gnoshed their croissants merrily. We headed back down Summit Avenue, actually seeing AA’s red truck he had packed with our friends’ furniture roll down the road in front of us! Yes, I was feeling contractions and tightness, both of which I attributed to my being abysmally out of shape. As…
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Last week was particularly difficult. My beloved godmother and close friend passed away at a young age (only early 60’s!) from cancer. In lesser and hardly comparable news, I’m not sleeping hardly at all; J has erupted into regular night wakings again; and the in-laws were in town this past weekend. Needless to say, I think stress propelled me into “false” labor on Friday night. I put the term false in quotation marks because “false” labor does not mean you are not really having contractions at regular intervals, it means they don’t progress toward the end goal of effacement and dilation. It also means you’d better have your hospital bag packed and a car seat ready because when you’re almost 37 weeks pregnant and your baby has “dropped,” you know neither the day nor the hour, to quote the Good Book. 1) Signs of pre-labor. There’s the usual gambit. Discuss what the signs are with your healthcare provider. Think things like: mucus plug loss, feeling your baby “drop” or “lighten,” regular contractions that increase in length, intensity, and interval. Even these don’t necessarily mean that you are in a labor state that will progress. If you experience any of these, contact your doula and midwife/doctor. They will probably tell you to take a bath, drink water, lay down, and keep them posted. Check out this comprehensive article on pre-labor signs and the last month of pregnancy, here. I had about five hours of regular 5 minute interval contractions, but they…
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