My name is Hannah Bajor the
Pregnancy Super Coach with over twenty years in the field
taking care of women before, during and after their pregnancy.
So, lets look at the signs of labor. On the
whole, most people have warning that they are going go into labor
soon before labor actually starts itself. So, early warning signs
would be that you might, notice may or may not but you might notice,
that your tummy was way up here, that your tummy dropped a little,
and as it dropped a little, certainly you can breathe a little bit
better.
You do not have the same like degree of feeling
that your, you know, tummy is up on to your mouth. So, you might
notice that because before you went to labor, it is normal that the
babys head goes low into the pelvis.
Other signs that you might be going into labor
might be that you might get a little bit of a show and the show
could be a mucous plug, you know like if you had a really bad cold
and you have ever blown your nose and there is a lot of mucous in
there and sometimes it is blood streaked except the same thing just
comes out from your vagina, that is the show, and the show is in
fact the mucous plug that was inside the cervix.
If you say this here is your cervix, the neck of
the womb, and here is the womb, inside the neck of the womb, when
you became pregnant, there was a little plug of mucous and that was
there to prevent any other sperm or any infection from the vagina up
into the womb itself, and that is all the show is.
Sometimes you might get some cramps or feeling
achy. You might get a little restless or your intuition might even
be telling you that you might be going to go into labor and also you
might get other signs that you might be going into labor, might be
you might have a change in your bowel habit. You might actually
empty your bowel or have a little bit of soft stool. So, all of
these symptoms can be early signs that you might be going into
labor.
What are the real signs that you are in labor.
Well, #1 is you definitely are going to have pain. On the very rare
occasion have I seen any woman that has come into labor and not have
pain. However, I have had seen woman and including myself with my
second baby, labored right through the labor in a meditated state.
Where I knew the contractions was coming because a contraction is
tightening and relaxation of the muscles within the womb.
When you are in labor, every time the womb
contrasts, means tightens and squeezes on the baby. It will then
relax but it never goes back to its original position. So, in other
words, here your uterus contracts and relaxes, but it is going to
shrink down every time until it is so tight around the baby that the
muscle itself will help push the baby out. So, that is what actually
a labor contraction is, and when you get these contractions in
labor, they are painful because they press on nerves endings.
For years I taught Lamaze and I tell them okay,
do the breathing, but when I was in labor myself it was challenging,
very challenging as the breathing helped me to be in control but it
was a whole different story when the breathing was accompanied by
pain. So, labor is definitely painful and that is a really good sign
that you are in labor.
When you start off early labor, initially the
contractions may be like every 20 minutes, they might be every 10
minutes. We really say to be in good labor, we want you to be having
contractions every five minutes at least for an hour and each
contraction lasts a good one minute.
It is just amazing because these contraction
pains take over your body. This violent contraction and the next
minute your body goes back to normal and you are normal for another
five minutes, and boom, another contraction happens. It is like this
wave of contractions that happen to you in labor, all very normal.
Other signs that you might be in labor would be
that you might get a big mucous show, and you know, associated with
contractions and another thing is your water might break. Now,
sometimes your water breaks like that you peed on yourself, that is
exactly what it feels like. Sometimes you can even feel a pop inside
yourself as your bag of water is broken, that is what happened to
me.
With my second child, I was in this totally
meditated space, next minute I heard this pop inside myself, my
water broke and I was ready to deliver the baby. So, again a sign of
early labor may be your water breaks. Sometime you water can break
without any contractions and this does happen and that is premature
rupture of your membranes and if this happens do not put anything in
your vagina.
If you are leaking fluid constantly during your
pregnancy or at any stage in your pregnancy, please go and get
examined because we want to make sure that your waters have not
broken. If they are, then we can treat you appropriately.
If you are having signs of labor, be excited, it
is one of the most wonderful events that you can ever experience in
your life. Just create this cocoon around yourself and be this
incredible machine that can deliver this beautiful baby from inside
you out into the world. You as the mom should be very calm and very
relaxed when labor comes because it is such a special time, yes it
is a challenge, but at the same time you get a wonderful reward at
the end of it. Finally seeing this incredible being that you have
been growing inside you for months out into the big world, to hug
and hold and treasure for the rest of your life.
.jpg)
