Prodromal labor support thread

Rawa1416

I started having real contractions last week. I get them every day and as the day progresses, they get more intense and closer together. Nothing makes them go away except sleeping at night. Yesterday, they got to 10 min apart for 2 hours and were 90sec long. I only know that it's prodromal because I experienced the exact same thing with DD for 5 weeks. I am losing my ever loving mind already having to deal with this and can't imagine doing it for 6 more weeks. Anyone else experiencing this? Hoping this can be a sounding board for those of us going through it and to know we're not actually crazy. 

GinnyJ2012

I had it for a week with my first. It's a nightmare and I can't imagine 5 weeks of it! Hope it lets go and that you get some rest. 

NLewis1

I had it with my son since 33 weeks. I went to 40 on the nose. Started with the stupid prodromal labor again last Monday at almost 34 weeks. I'm really really annoyed at this point.....

Rosehip15

No advice.  I'm not sure at what point braxton hicks become prodromal, but if I'm doing anything but lying down, I have contractions all the time.  Same story with my previous two.  And this time, I feel like the baby is much lower or something - it's so uncomfortable.  Sometimes I have to stop & stand still until it passes.  I just try and think about how interesting it is - feeling how tight my uterus gets even though I'm not doing anything.  

I've got no advice.  Obviously lying down all day is not an option.  Hang in there?  That sounds so lame.  

Rawa1416

Yeah contrary to popular belief being a SAHM is not conducive to laying down all day 

snowhite12

I actually went to L&D last sunday due to prodromal labor. My contactions got so bad I started throwing up. They never got closer than 7 min apart and once I got to L&D, they gave me a shot and IV fluid to stop them.
I was induced with my first and received an epi fairly early so I never experienced contractions like these.

VikingGirl12

Hmm I wonder if this is what I'm having. Painful timeable contractions on and off now since Thursday. Never heard of it before. I'm assuming it's basically like pre-labor that lasts a really long time??

Rawa1416

VikingGirl12 said:

Hmm I wonder if this is what I'm having. Painful timeable contractions on and off now since Thursday. Never heard of it before. I'm assuming it's basically like pre-labor that lasts a really long time??

Sounds like it. Real contractions that hurt and can be timed, but don't usually get more intense and eventually go away or spread back out. 

GinnyJ2012

VikingGirl12 said:

Hmm I wonder if this is what I'm having. Painful timeable contractions on and off now since Thursday. Never heard of it before. I'm assuming it's basically like pre-labor that lasts a really long time??

Sounds like it. With my first they would increase with activity and then space back out with rest. I walked so much trying to get them to switch into active labor (I was 39+5 when it started) but I could never get them closer than 7 minutes. I was taking two Tylenol PM so that I could sleep at night. 

gingerbride26

Visiting from the May 2016 board because we don't have a thread on prodromal support.  I've been having this for the last 3 weeks getting progressively more often and stronger contractions.  I completely feel for @Rawa1416 I'm not sure how much more I can take and I'm not at 5 weeks.  I can't take the constant roller coaster ride of emotions and physical symptons...the feeling that my body just can't do this correctly...feeling excited that this is it only to have them fizzle out when I get to 5 or less min apart.  Some days I don't even bother timing because I figure it's just my body crying wolf again - I've already had my 2 false alarms (both times OB told me to go to L&D) and I'm not doing that again, I'm sticking to my dr's "come in when you need pain management or your water breaks" - which could mean I just end up giving birth in the car because I don't trust my body's signals any more.

Distraction seems to be helping - putting on a movie to tune them out, getting a pedicure, reading a book...

Emztron500

I will admit I only clicked on this thread because I misread it as "Paranormal Labor Support" which sounded amazing. This is less fun sorry to all of you experiencing this, I had it for only 2-3 days with my first and even that was maddening. All the sympathy to ladies experiencing it for weeks out.

jbailey213

I will be honest, I didn't know there was a name for what I've been experiencing. Just assumed it was pre-labor. I've been having a ton of Braxton hicks for awhile now, but for the past week I've been having painful contractions mixed in. We have been doing weekly non-stress tests for the past 5 weeks and the amount of contractions that they recorded on Monday this week really surprised me. Well, not surprised because I've been feeling them and they hurt, but when you see it in paper it's interesting. I'm not crazy...the paper shows all the contractions I'm having! Sometimes they get so bad and I feel so much pressure down low that I think my water is going to break. 

adiaz132003

Omg yes. I posted about this on Sunday!  My contractions were about 10 apart and getting stronger and I felt it for about 5 hours.  Then I wanted to try and get some sleep in case it was real and they went away.  My midwife said it was a very good practice run and if it happens again to just get some rest in case it turns into the real thing.  She told me when it's real that it would wake me up. Lol. I'm already almost 38 weeks so they wouldn't try and stop it. She said to just let nature do its thing.

KRuthie25

I feel the need to join this thread after this morning.  I woke up around 4am and was having a contraction and they got stronger and were consistently 8-10 minutes apart until around 8am....then they just stopped.  I'm 37+6, so I know little baby could use a little bit more time but I'm still so disappointed

adiaz132003

Well I'm back to this BS.  Story will get a little tmi.  As you guys know last week I thought I went into labor that suddenly stopped.  Last night, after getting home from a nice date night I got really sick in my tummy. I had diarrhea and gas pain all night until like 3am. At that time I stood up from the toilet and *gush* oh goodie.  Called the midwife and she wanted us to rush to L&D because she was concerned for the baby since I was so sick.  I was having some contractions but not too bad. They checked me out and said that while it possible I leaked some fluid, she doesn't think the sac fully ruptured.  Like maybe a little hole or tear. Since baby was doing fine they checked me out and told me to go home and try to sleep/let labor happen at home then go to the birth center to get checked again in the afternoon. On top of all that my bowels are still angry and if I go to the bathroom it's mostly liquid with blood in it and it's very little.  My nurse mom said I might have popped a vessel.  So yeah, I'm having quite a sh**ty morning....... I honestly want to let it all out and cry.

alileecam

Bumping this back up because it's 3:30 am and I have been up since midnight with severe irregular prodromal contractions. It is maddening and painful AF. I am definitely going to be a zombie in the morning. On top of regular contraction pain, I am having additional sharp pains shooting down my inner thigh, and that only eases to a dull ache no matter what I do. To relieve the pain, I have walked around the house a bit, sat on the yoga ball and taken a long shower. I really just want to sleep but there's absolutely no comfortable position that I have found where the pain doesn't take back over within 15 minutes. 

MillerMama13

I have not heard of this and this is my 2nd baby. I'm so sorry you guys are experiencing this. I think this may be what I had last night also although nothing near as bad as what some of you are describing. I was having some painful tightening and stabbing pains in my lower abdomen. They started getting more intense and more frequent around 7pm. I had my ob appt at 2pm today and I was at 4 cm so we decided to go into l & d around 8 when the contractions were about 5 min apart. Once I got there the contractions slowed way down and got less intense. They were catching them on the monitor but they were only lasting about 30 seconds and not consistent. I was still only at a 4 after an hour. They called my ob and she said we could go home or stay and be monitored for 2 hours. We went home and I've been sleeping up until now. Now I just can't sleep because I'm anxious and annoyed with myself for having a false alarm. I'm glad to know that it could have been prodromal and it's not just that I don't know how to identify labor contractions. 

princessandthegator

Stumbled upon this thread and thank God I did. I'm a FTM and I've been experiencing this for about a week now. Sunday was so bad, I was SURE we were going to end up in L & D. They were pretty steady and getting intense (from about 2pm sunday until the end of Game of thrones). I had ended up in OB triage in Jan and my bill was outrageous so I've told my husband if it isn't real labor I don't want to even step foot in there. So I told him I'd try and sleep and if I couldn't because the pain was too intense, we'd go in. Sure enough, I slept the whole night and the next morning the Dr said not only was I NOT dilated, the baby was still sitting high. It's frustrating to be experiencing pain and discomfort that is essentially unproductive. I read online that evening primrose oil would help ripen the cervix, have any of you tried this to try and see if this prodromal labor progresses into true labor or you begin to dilate a bit? 

Emztron500

Dang it. Why did I jinx myself by commenting on this post saying I was NOT having prodromal labour? Now I'm having menstrual-like cramps all day every day at 36 weeks. Not cool

NLewis1

I'm still in prodromal labor ive had inconsistent contractions all day every day (and at night) since Saturday. Got checked yesterday and have literally made ZERO progress. I may have had a break down....

adiaz132003

NLewis1 said:

I'm still in prodromal labor ive had inconsistent contractions all day every day (and at night) since Saturday. Got checked yesterday and have literally made ZERO progress. I may have had a break down....

I know! It totally sucks.  They don't even check my progress unlrss it's true labor so I have no clue if this is doing anything.

princessandthegator

NLewis1 said:

I'm still in prodromal labor ive had inconsistent contractions all day every day (and at night) since Saturday. Got checked yesterday and have literally made ZERO progress. I may have had a break down....

That's precisely how I felt Monday at my appointment. I actually started crying. 

NLewis1

mrsmartinez16 said:

NLewis1 said:

I'm still in prodromal labor ive had inconsistent contractions all day every day (and at night) since Saturday. Got checked yesterday and have literally made ZERO progress. I may have had a break down....

That's precisely how I felt Monday at my appointment. I actually started crying. 

Oh I did too! I held it together until my dr stepped out, and then it was full fledged tears. I was telling my H how my "body is broken! It doesn't even know what it's doing!" Because I had to be induced with my son and did this same exact thing with him. I really want to avoid induction this time around and was tearfully telling him how I wasn't going to get what I want this time around either.

i was super frustrated. Plus we are in the middle of buying a business, with contract signing tomorrow and closing on Wednesday so I think I'm just extra stressed out. 

alw12290

Yes. I have had it since 35 weeks and I'll be 38 this Sunday. It is completely annoying and uncomfortable and I'm anticipating when it will actually be real! I am terrified as I am a VBAC and I am scared I could progress and not realize with all the contractions! 

MillerMama13

Yep. I'm fighting tears too. I just headed in to my OB to get checked because I've been contracting and losing blood. Still at a 4.... At least with my first pregnancy I was able to get from a 4 to a 5 in a few hours to where they could actually induce me. This time I feel like my body is completely failing. I have a bad headache and nausea that my OB says is from my body being exhausted. This is torture. 

Whats adding to it is DHs boss is a total prick. DH is worried he's going to get fired now because he left work an hour and a half early to take me to the dr today when I wasn't really in labor. He already told DH he could only have one day off max for when I have the baby. So now I feel like DH is frustrated with me too. And I'm frustrated at myself because my body can't kick start this thing. 

huskypuppy14

MillerMama13 said:

Yep. I'm fighting tears too. I just headed in to my OB to get checked because I've been contracting and losing blood. Still at a 4.... At least with my first pregnancy I was able to get from a 4 to a 5 in a few hours to where they could actually induce me. This time I feel like my body is completely failing. I have a bad headache and nausea that my OB says is from my body being exhausted. This is torture. 

Whats adding to it is DHs boss is a total prick. DH is worried he's going to get fired now because he left work an hour and a half early to take me to the dr today when I wasn't really in labor. He already told DH he could only have one day off max for when I have the baby. So now I feel like DH is frustrated with me too. And I'm frustrated at myself because my body can't kick start this thing. 

That's fucked up. Does your H not have personal, sick or vacation time? Does your H work for a small company or have only worked there a short time?

princessandthegator

@NLewis1 That's a lot on your plate for the last few weeks of pregnancy! I'm so sorry this is happening again, maybe this is just how our bodies are? It doesn't make me feel any better but you at least have a healthy son from your first pregnancy so you know that baby will be fine. I keep reading about stillbirths and I'm freaking myself out. 

@MillerMama13 I can't believe his job is being like that! It's not like he took off to go to the beach, he was taking his wife to the emergency room! I can't believe that's even legal. We ended up in OB triage in January and it cost us so much money I won't even consider going to the hospital unless I feel like my body is being torn apart. 

adiaz132003

Ugh another round of false labor last night. We had gone for a nice slow walk and then came home to just relax but I started getting contractions. Not close together so I was trying not to get my hopes up.  They were coming 20-30 min apart and I figured"oh this can't be the real deal, I'll lay down and they will go away as always". So I got ready for bed and tried to go to sleep but they didn't stop no matter what position I tried.  I've been having issues falling asleep at night as it is and this wasn't helping.  Then at midnight they stopped and I fell asleep.  This morning... Nada.  Just gotta keep waiting I guess... 

MillerMama13

huskypuppy14 said:

MillerMama13 said:

Yep. I'm fighting tears too. I just headed in to my OB to get checked because I've been contracting and losing blood. Still at a 4.... At least with my first pregnancy I was able to get from a 4 to a 5 in a few hours to where they could actually induce me. This time I feel like my body is completely failing. I have a bad headache and nausea that my OB says is from my body being exhausted. This is torture. 

Whats adding to it is DHs boss is a total prick. DH is worried he's going to get fired now because he left work an hour and a half early to take me to the dr today when I wasn't really in labor. He already told DH he could only have one day off max for when I have the baby. So now I feel like DH is frustrated with me too. And I'm frustrated at myself because my body can't kick start this thing. 

That's fucked up. Does your H not have personal, sick or vacation time? Does your H work for a small company or have only worked there a short time?

Yes it is! I hate his boss. It is both a small company and he only started in September. The owner is a complete shit bag. He likes what he does but the way they are treated there is ridiculous. No vacation or sick/personal days even for the guys that have worked there forever. One guy has been there 8 years and has only had 2 days off in a row a handful of times. He makes them all work 38 hours a week but won't let anyone work "full time" because then he's required by law to offer them benefits. He's a horrible person. 

MillerMama13

adiaz132003 said:

Ugh another round of false labor last night. We had gone for a nice slow walk and then came home to just relax but I started getting contractions. Not close together so I was trying not to get my hopes up.  They were coming 20-30 min apart and I figured"oh this can't be the real deal, I'll lay down and they will go away as always". So I got ready for bed and tried to go to sleep but they didn't stop no matter what position I tried.  I've been having issues falling asleep at night as it is and this wasn't helping.  Then at midnight they stopped and I fell asleep.  This morning... Nada.  Just gotta keep waiting I guess... 

I'm so sorry! This sounds awful. I was crying in pain last night. Not sure if it was contractions or if baby was putting pressure on some nerves but I had shooting pain near my cervix and in my pelvis then after about 30 min they stopped. The waiting sucks. I'm praying that all of us either go into full blown labor or get a break from this. 

MillerMama13

mrsmartinez16 said:

@NLewis1 That's a lot on your plate for the last few weeks of pregnancy! I'm so sorry this is happening again, maybe this is just how our bodies are? It doesn't make me feel any better but you at least have a healthy son from your first pregnancy so you know that baby will be fine. I keep reading about stillbirths and I'm freaking myself out. 

@MillerMama13 I can't believe his job is being like that! It's not like he took off to go to the beach, he was taking his wife to the emergency room! I can't believe that's even legal. We ended up in OB triage in January and it cost us so much money I won't even consider going to the hospital unless I feel like my body is being torn apart. 

Yea his boss is a douche canoe. Luckily I didn't have to go to the hospital, my OB let me just come into the office to get checked. I did go into the hospital Tuesday night with false labor though. Hopefully it's not ridiculously expensive though since I'm well past my deductible at this point and insurance should pick most of it up. But yea in January I can imagine that would be a big expense that insurance wouldn't pick up. 

Rosehip15

MillerMama13 said:

Yes it is! I hate his boss. It is both a small company and he only started in September. The owner is a complete shit bag. He likes what he does but the way they are treated there is ridiculous. No vacation or sick/personal days even for the guys that have worked there forever. One guy has been there 8 years and has only had 2 days off in a row a handful of times. He makes them all work 38 hours a week but won't let anyone work "full time" because then he's required by law to offer them benefits. He's a horrible person. 

Wow.  Why do people stay?  Seriously - this sounds like a nightmare scenario.  Are there really no other options/companies?  It's hard to imagine how this company retains any kind of skilled labor...So sorry about that!!

huskypuppy14

@MillerMama13  why does he stay? I'm sorry, but if he doesn't even have benefits it's not worth it. There has to be a better job out there, and no one should stand for that sort of treatment. That's so bad. 

adiaz132003

My mom sent me this article and it made me feel a lot better about this on again off again "labor" I've been having the last few days in a row.  

https://www.bellybelly.com.au/birth/early-labour-tips-suggestions/

helca

I am so glad I came accross this discussion. This is my third pregnancy and I thought I knew it all. Never heard of prodromal labour or experienced it until now. It is absolutely draining and I thought I was going insane until I came accross this topic. Thank you everyone for sharing and good luck to all, might these "false" contractions turn into active labour for us all soon!

HeartLikeMine3

Well I think I can add myself to the group now and it totally blows. I've been having contractions about every 20-25 min since 430am they are still occurring but haven't picked up in frequency or intensity so I'm thinking it's not the real thing. Sucks when you get your hopes up. I feel terrible for all you ladies that have been experiencing this multiple times or for weeks I can't imagine!!! 

juliagulia38

Lurking from July

I've had contractions/cramps/back pain every day, multiple times an hour for two weeks. I'm dilated 2cm and 50% effaced but haven't progressed in two weeks. I'm miserable. I'll be 36 weeks Sunday, so potentially have a while to go. This is also my third and I never experienced this with the other two. 

MReyArts

Same going on here! 38w-3days and well into Day 6 of 5-8 minute contractions at night and 10-12 minute contractions during the day with relief from them only a couple random hours during the day... what is worse is they are completely ineffective.... cervix is closed and 60 percent effaced (same as when I had my totally pointless 9 hour hospital visit on thursday).  I do have an appointment on Wed, so maybe there has been a change, otherwise I am just thankful I have a scheduled c-sec in 7 days... 

helca

I am so done with these prodromal contractions. I am 3 days away from my due date, so did not expect them to return after having a break from them for a week especially so close to due date! Anyone else having them close to due date?

adiaz132003

Ya'll I am so over this.  I had a sweep today at 10 and since 2 I've been having contractions starting at 10ish min apart then 8 min apart the last two hours and suddenly 5 min 20 min ago.  These feel different cause it's getting stronger and with each one my back hurts.  I yeeeeeeeeeah don't want to get my hopes up but damn these are intense!!!!  I'm just worried it's gonna be last every other night and just suddenly stop.  

Tawny87

adiaz132003 said:

Ya'll I am so over this.  I had a sweep today at 10 and since 2 I've been having contractions starting at 10ish min apart then 8 min apart the last two hours and suddenly 5 min 20 min ago.  These feel different cause it's getting stronger and with each one my back hurts.  I yeeeeeeeeeah don't want to get my hopes up but damn these are intense!!!!  I'm just worried it's gonna be last every other night and just suddenly stop.  

Good luck!!!