How to tell if it's REAL labor: signs and symptoms

The #1 question parents ask: “Is this the real thing?” Of course the most standard answer is, you'll know, I promise!!

When talking to my own clients, doula clients in the past, or just prenatal massage clients who often ask me birth-related questions (which I love and am happy to answer!), I usually explain to them that the differences can vary from mom to mom, but generally speaking, most moms experience things in a pretty predictable pattern of events.

Braxton Hicks vs. real contractions

For most of us, we experience slow and occasional tightnings of the uterus for days or sometimes weeks before true labor starts. those tightnings are called Braxton Hicks contractions, formally known (ahem...in my generation, as false labor). These tightnings trick our minds into thinking soemthing might be happening, and don't get me wrong, something is happening, just not to the scale you are hoping for when the clock is ticking and youve been more than ready to meet this baby for 9 months! I like to call these practice contractions, because indeed, your uterus is practicing for the big day. my tip for BH contractions is that if you can stop what you're doing, put your feet up and rest, or even sleep/nap...they aren't labor contractions. As true labor contractions progress throughout the course of the day, they will build in strength and length, most providers no days are looking for contracrtions to be 5 minutes apart, lasting for a minute, for at least an hour before you head to your birthing place...I'd like to add to this a couple of things: in my decade of experience, first time moms usually need to be contracting at this pattern for many hours before things are truly happening, and the most important sign of labor for most moms is her demeanor.

Most moms tolerate early labor pretty well, going about their business whatever that may be, without much notice or change in behaviors! Gradually though she may need to stop and focus on breathing to get through the contractions, which is a sign that things are progressing. Now there is always the off chance that you may be the mom who goes straight into active labor, and need to be ready to be having a baby within mere hours! I have experienced this with a few clients over the years. Precipitous labor is defined as when your baby comes within three hours of your first regular contraction. Some healthcare providers consider precipitous labor to be anything less than five hours. (ClevelandClinic.org)

Signs labor is beginning

These are the things most people think about when its time for labor to start. As a society we've been conditioned to see labor starting by a huge gush as the waters break, (usually in public), the husband freaking out, getting the bags, and ushering the wife into the car and right to the hospital, followed by intense screaming and pushing shortly thereafter! this is the Hollywood version of labor, and I've personally never seen it happen this way! Most often as a doula I would get a random text message with a TMI warning, followed by a "Is this what I think it is", and a picture of toilet paper...I'll leave the rest up to your imagination! Which yes, if you think it's your mucous plug, it probably is. Also if you think you might have peed a little, in bed, or in your underwear, I'm going to bet you didn't! A full gush of water when your membranes rupture only happens in 8-15% of women, and only 5% of women experience their water breaking before any other signs of labor!

How contraction timing and intensity matter

Contraction timing is encouraged to establish a baseline, so that when you speak with your provider/birth team you can give them a breakdown of how things have been progressing. You can go for the old paper and pen method, or there are dozens of contraction timing apps in your app stores on your phones. We time contractions from start of one until it fades to determine length of contractions, and from the end of one to the begining of the next for the timing. As for intensity, YOU, the laboring mom, is the ONLY person who can guage intensity. God gave us each a different level of pain tolerance and threshold. Your tiny cramp is another woman's "Holy heck I need pain relief" and vice versa. Always take into consideration how you're feeling with the contractions, as well as how you feel between them along with the timing of them when you're making a decision to leave for your birthing place, or calling your birth team in the event of a home birth! Another way we as humans have been determining when birth is near, is by the Purple line! The ‘purple line’ is a line of temporary skin discoloration that can be seen in the anal cleft of some women as they progress in labour. In early labour, the line is short, and it gets longer as labour progresses.

This means that some midwives use it as a sign of labour progress. It’s one of a number of non-invasive approaches that we can use to assess how a woman/baby is progressing in labour. (Sarahwickham.com) Our bodies were divinely created and we don't have to mess around with it too much, most of the time, to know when birth is eminent!

Emotional signposts of labor (“labor land,” nesting, irritability, intuition)

Emotions obviously start running high when we think or know labor has started. Moms and dads react differently in so many ways, but the moms emotional reactions to labor is what should be paid attention to the most! Some first time moms get so excited, reasonably so, when contractions start, that they do a bunch of different things to "help get them going even more". As a seasoned doula, I try to discourage to intense of activity during early stages of labor, you want to conserve your energy for active labor and pushing! Labor is known to be a marathon, not a sprint , except for those moms having precipitous labor, like I mentioned above! What would you do to prepare for a marathon you may ask, mental preparedness, some endurance training (hopefully you've been moving your body regularly), fuel your body, and keep it hydrated! Snacking/light meals throughout the course of labor is helpful to keep your blood sugar regulated and therefore keep your energy levels as stable as possible! Hydrate, not just plain water, but some sort of electrolyte (there's so many on the market now!) or find a quick recipe for homemade electrolytes on the web! Last, but not least, rest, if and when you can, because sometime labor lasts way longer than we'd like it to!

The biggest thing to gain from reading this blog post, thank you by the way, i hope its been helpful, is to always check in with your provider for questions or concerns, and research anything and everything related to labor and birth!

Trust your body, and the wonderful God who created it and gifted us the unbelievable awesome ability to create, grow and birth new life into this world!

Be on the lookout for my upcoming Birth Workshop dates to learn even more!