Knowing when you’re in labor?

Question

I’m a first time mom. My baby is due any day now. I’m just curious, is it possible to NOT know when I’m in labor?? Will I mistake the contractions and just simply not know that their contractions?

Answer

At some point you will know. With my first my water broke and I was having contractions but I didn’t realize the contractions were anything other than Braxton Hicks which I had had the whole time but once my water broke that was obvious. My second you’d think you’d just know but I didn’t know for sure that I was in labor till pretty far into it. I suspected maaaaaaybe I might be in early labor but I had told my mom I wasn’t even sure she should drive the 3 hours because maybe I wasn’t. Luckily she did make the drive got here at midnight and baby was born 7 hours later. 😂 even when she got in at midnight I didn’t know if I was in labor yet and was like I’m goin to bed. Woke her up at 5 and told her we needed to go to the hospital. So I was only sure I was in labor for about 3-4 hours with that one. But at some point you know. Contractions go from “oh that’s uncomfortable my belly is all tight” to not be able to talk through them, having to breathe through them starting to get painful in addition to the tightness.

Answer

It is possible-I did not know I was in labor (everyone said I would know/contractions would hurt etc.) my advice is if you start feeling more consistent Braxton Hicks contractions, just start to time them and go by that. Sometimes early contractions just aren’t painful like you see in the movies -if possible you could ask your mom too what her labor was like. When I told her I was waiting for painful contractions my mom said “oh no, they really won’t hurt early on” so her experience was pretty similar to mine

Answer

You’ll know. You might not know at the beginning, you’ll just feel kind of off but then some real contractions start kicking in. They just feel way different than Braxton Hicks.
With my first my water broke and then I went into labor. I headed right to the hospital because of scheduled csection with breach baby.
My second I wanted to vbac and I went into labor at night. I felt extra tired and just kind of funny getting my son to bed. Decided to take a bath afterwards and see how I felt afterwards. I layered down in bed and things progressed quickly - I felt my first contraction at 9pm and baby was born at 11:53pm, I showed up to the hospital 8cm! 
Hope this helps.

Answer

You will know!

Answer

I promise you’ll definitely know my baby was a week PAST due I woke up feeling very icky lol And boom hours later BABY

Answer

I learned in nursing school that if you’re having Braxton Hicks contractions then you’ll cramp only in front/abdomen area, but when they’re real the pain will start in the front and travel to your back/lower back side. Hope this helps!!

Answer

Honestly everyone’s different but 99% you’ll know. They’re so painful not much mistaking them for anything else.

Knowing when you’re in labor?

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