bloody show

[bethwl]

I am 38 weeks 4 days and yesterday quite clearly lost my mucous plug. This was about a day after my most recent midwife appointment, during which she did a cervical check. I was wondering what people's experiences were with losing their plug and then going into labor. A lot of sources say "labor will probably start within a few days--but it could also be another week or two." I'm wondering if this just happened because of the cervical exam, or if it truly means labor is pretty close. I know that everyone's different and you can't truly predict when labor will start, but I'm so anxious. I like to hear what other people have experienced!

[alkagift]

Hey,
I lost mine after an exam as well and then didn't have the baby for three weeks! There was no "bloody show," though--my understanding is that that is lots bloodier than just the mucous. (I really hate that word!)

I had the baby 10 days before my due date. Interestingly, my ultrasound predicted a due date within two days of my delivery date, while the OB's chart prediction was off!



Allison
Mom to Matthew Clayton, 5/19/03

[COElizabeth]

I had bloody show before my 38-week exam and mentioned it to my doctor because I was all excited thinking it meant I was about to go into labor. She seemed mildly interested but that was it. I then had to be induced the next day for preeclampsia. The induction and labor went pretty rapidly, though, even though I was only at 38 weeks, and I really think that I was close to going into labor on my own. Besides the show I was also starting to have painful contractions. Who knows, but I think there's a good chance you might be early rather than late.

Elizabeth
Mom to James
9-20-02

[LucyG]

Hi!

I lost my plug on a Sunday afternoon, and went into labor on Tuesday night (two days later). This was all about two weeks early. I wasn't sure whether anything would happen soon after the plug came out, but it surely did!! Good luck to you!

[momtoemma]

I lost mine on a Saturday afternoon and went into labor Saturday night late. This was 2 weeks before my due date. Good luck!

[lukkykatt]

When I was pg with #2, I started having alot of Braxton-Hicks contractions at 34 weeks. My first son was born at 35 weeks, so my OB told me to get ready to have a baby within the next 2 weeks. At 36 weeks I started having the bloody show. I ran out and got my hair done, manicure, pedicure, etc. Two days later, I went into full blown labor - made it to 37 weeks to the day!

[jd11365]

I had her 2 days later!!!...Sending labor vibes your way...You're almost there!!!

[bethwl]

Thanks for the input. I'm glad to hear that most of you went into labor a few days after losing the mucous plug. My husband is asking me to hold out till Sunday, so we can go to IKEA on Saturday and buy a desk and he can build it and set up the computer. I could manage till Sunday, but I'll take any day now that this baby decides to come!

[Marisa6826]

I lost mine about four weeks before having Sophie. I asked my OB about it and he said one thing really has nothing to do with the other!

-m

[amp]

Based on other people's experiences, I am sure it was only a coincidence, but the very first contraction that I had woke me up at 4am (I wasn't sleeping well as I was due to have a c-section several hours later and was NERVOUS!). I immediately got up to go to the bathroom and realized I also just lost my mucous plug! So mine happened simultaneously. How weird is that?! Never did have a bloody show though.

[Calmegja]

With my first babe, I lost it at 36 weeks, and she showed up at
40 weeks on the nose. I spent 4 weeks thining "any moment now", and nada....;-)

Everyone else I was induced with, and I lost the plug routinely around 36 weeks each time, but being induced, I have no idea when they would have actually made their entrances.....

[beckyr88]

I lost mine after 1/2 day of mild contractions, and gave birth about 8 hours later! Sending good vibes your way...almost there!

[LucyG]

I hope you make it til Sunday! My husband needed to finish a paper and go to his graduate class before our baby was born. He finished the paper the night I went into labor, but didn't make it to class the next day. I don't think he thought another thing about it after he held his baby!

[bethwl]

This is what I want to avoid! I am almost 39 weeks, so that's much different from 36, but I won't be medically induced unless I go to 42 and a half weeks, so theoretically, I could be waiting another 3 weeks and a few days! God, I hope not. Maybe I'm confused, too, by the terms "mucous plug" and "bloody show," which seem to be one and the same in some sources, but are seeming to be referred to as 2 different things by some of the posters. Maybe veering into TMI territory (but if you can't talk about these things here, where can you, I say), but mine was definitely brown-red tinged with blood.

Anyway, I'm going to try not to wonder with every little twitch if labor is starting.

[C99]

I lost my mucous plug on a Wednesday night, my water broke the next night and at noon the following day (Friday), my doctor had me check into the hospital to induce labor. I was 35 weeks so maybe that's why I didn't go into labor on my own, but who knows?

[liya]

i lost mine at exactly 10pm wednesday night at 3am thursday i was at the hospital because my contractions were terrible and i was already 3cm when i got there...(i was schedueled for an induction at 5am but hey at 3am i was there)....after some pitossin and some of that gel yauza those contractions started hitting hard.....18hrs later Arian was born...

[kaitlinsmommy]

I lost my mucous plug (with bloody show) about 8 hours into labor. DD was born 5 hours later.

[Calmegja]

Let me add that I was induced, for a medical reason, with the last three around 37 weeks, so it wasn't that I would have never gone into labor in a timely fashion. We just had to get those babies out of there! ;-)

[LucyG]

This, also, might be TMI, but when my midwife asked me what mine looked like (to determine if I really had lost it), I kind of hemmed and hawed. She said, "Did it look like snot?" That was just about right, and I told her it did!

[Calmegja]

That's exactly what mine looked like. Like a big honking mass of bloody snot.

If that's not TMI, I don't know what is!