I live up north and we got hit with a heavy dense snow last night. I had work today and as long as they don’t shut down the office, I need to be there. My manager is also out of town this week - she wanted to use a week of her vacation as she won’t be able to take off while I’m on maternity leave, so this was the week she chose. So doubly important I was there in the office as I’m covering for her as well. My city doesn’t plow side roads at all (and rarely plows main roads - it’ll be like hours or even a few days after the storm if they do) so it can be a pain getting places. My fiancé works night shift so he wasn’t home before I left, so it’s not like there was another option to avoid shoveling the driveway. I only live 10 minutes on a normal day from my office, so I left an hour early. I shoveled my driveway, but got stuck multiple times and had to keep digging myself out. It ended up taking me over an hour to get to work bc of constantly having to dog myself out and shovel a new path for myself on the road.

I’m 36 weeks pregnant. I started having cramps while shoveling and would have to stop for a minute, but they were irregular so I didn’t think much of it. I was really fit prior to pregnancy, but honestly I’ve been way too tired to workout recently, so I figured it was just due to being out of shape and not working out the past few months.

When I finally got to work (I have a desk job) I was able to relax. I kept getting cramps but not regularly and not very noticeable, but now it’s well into the afternoon and I’m still getting cramps, more often and stronger than this morning. I haven’t lost my mucus plug that I know of and my water hasn’t broken, and only a few have been all over pain. I’m assuming these are just Braxton Hicks, but could shoveling have caused this? Can shoveling actually put you into labor?