Can you "scare" your contractions away?

HanaLouise · September 2013

I am 39+6 weeks pregnant. The past couple of days I have been showing signs of going into labor, but they are all signs that could mean labor could start any minute or it could still be a few weeks (slowly been losing my mucus plug in chunks, extreme energy to get stuff done where there was NO energy before, lose stools, increased BH, crampiness, etc...). Then, last night at around 10 I started having irregular contractions. They would come and go and I would tell myself not to get too excited. This continued until about 1am when I frantically thought to myself, "I can't have the baby yet! I still have to clean the kitchen!" And then I slept through the rest of the night; no more contractions.

I am aware of false labor, but I was just wondering if maybe I had embraced the contractions and relaxed myself about the messy kitchen that maybe I would be in labor for real right now! Has this happened to anyone else? Any other moms "scare" their contractions away?

sschwege · September 2013

Yes, it is possible for labor to stall in stressful situations, no different than other mammals while they are in labor.

Not really sure if a messy kitchen would be stressful enough to stop labor, but perhaps if you started to tell your body and baby you weren't ready then I guess it might. With DS his EDD was 12/26, I really wanted him to be born after Christmas. Twice leading up to Christmas I had steady contractions for a few hours that lead me to believe I was in labor, once on Christmas Eve and one other time before that. I kept telling the baby to wait and eventually the contractions fizzled out. DS was born on 12/29, I went into labor soon after taking down the Christmas tree. Perhaps it was all a coincidence, both my babies were born at 40w3d (charting) so maybe that's just how long my body takes to 'cook' a baby. But who knows?

Either way, it was not wasted effort. It's like training for a marathon, you just had a long run which is preparing you for race day. I bet it won't be long now!

rooftop · September 2013

It's absolutely possible. That's why its so important for momma's to not stress about due dates and such since stress releases cortisol and fear releases adrenaline, both of which have been shown to delay labor and even stall labor.

Arielle27 · September 2013

I'm sorry, but I don't agree with pp's comments. I think in very extreme examples it might be possible to stall labor, but I've never actually even heard of this happening.

If you could just worry labor away I think a lot of preterm births would be preventable!

I'd say that what you're experiencing is pretty normal. Your body is getting ready but isn't quite there yet.

nosoup4u · September 2013

Yep, I'm with Arielle. Worrying about your kitchen didn't make your labor go away. I had hours of contractions a few days before DS1 was due, and was convinced it was the real deal. After eating dinner and watching TV, they were gone. I ended up going into real labor 10+ days later. Hang in there, you won't be able to scare away the real thing!

Haley.Beth · September 2013

I think sometimes labor can rest on a precipice where contractions can either continue or stop, based on the mother's acceptance of labor and state of mind. However, if it were truly labor and baby had signaled it needed to come, nothing would have stopped it save a possible life/death situation. I had tons of prodromal labor with my second, but I didn't have her until 41+2, exactly 3 days after my bedroom remodel was finally finished. I was planning a home birth and looking forward to getting "my space" comfortable. I don't think it was entirely a coincidence that my subconscious waited to allow contractions to get serious until it felt like I had a safe and comfortable place to birth.

kdjudd · September 2013

It is possible to stall your labor for awhile due to stress or fear. However, it wouldn't stall for long if it is the real deal. Eventually the body will do its thing!