Normal for labor to start then stop?

[ExcitedMamma]

Labor with DS was so straightforward that I'm completely confused by this one! With DS I went into labor on my due date it pretty much started revved up and about twelve hrs later I had my baby in my arms. Now I'm going post dates with no idea if I'm in labor! Last night I had contractions really start up in a pattern. First I tried to sleep through them and they kept waking me up. By around 1:30 I started timing them and they were about 1.30 min long and coming abut every 8.30 minutes for an hour. Then I decided this could really be it and we might be heading to the hospital so I ran a bath to relax and see if they kept going. Same pattern for another hour but then they slowed down to every ten min. Then it was like twelve min with a random four min spacing or eight min spacing thrown in. I decided this could no longer be a consistent pattern.

They stopped altogether around 5 a.m. No more since then but I now have this consistent dull crampy ache in my belly and it's definitely worse when I stand up or sit in a chair. Is this normal? Does it just hurt from the contractions now? Is it normal for labor to start and stop? Is this that false labor I was worried about the first time around? If it is normal does this mean I am making progress so that the real labor will be easier and faster? If you had this how long before the real labor started up? Obviously freaking out about this! Thanks for your advice!!

[Philly Mom]

This just happened to my colleague. Her midwife told her it was the baby's way of turning around, but it was not labor because with labor you have to continue to progress. A few things I learned from her: 1) Continue to drink lots of water. When she was finally in active labor, she got to the hospital and was severely dehydrated. 2) Get rest when you can - i.e. try to sleep. Her's went on long enough that she was physically too exhausted. 3) When you have the contractions, move with the contractions to help the baby move into the proper position. Once she started to move with the contractions, real labor progressed much quicker. Good luck! She has a healthy and happy baby girl, and your DC is soon approaching. :)

[brittone2]

Sometimes it can be a sign of malpositioning. I did a lot of hands and knees scrubbing of floors toward the end of my pregnancies and used some of the spinning babies stuff.

With DS2, I contracted a bit on and off for a day or two before I went into labor. The day before we were at an event at a museum and I was contracting roughly every 10-12 mins, but they were irregular. I just went about my day. About 30 hours later I woke up in the middle of the night to a really, really big contraction, and they were regular from that point on for the next 5 hours (full on active labor).

With DS1, I contracted a lot in the weeks leading up to labor. Walking around any large stores (Home Depot, Costco) got me contracting. I had a lot of contractions that wrapped around to my back when sitting in the car. I was 2-3 cm dilated for several weeks thanks to those contractions I guess. My real labor contractions were actually not wrapping around to my back as much and were much more tolerable. I think he was a bit posterior in the weeks leading up to labor. I had a somewhat freaky huge movement in my belly the night before I went into labor, and I think he got himself into a better position at that time. Just speculation on my part, of course.

I'd make sure your bags are packed and loose ends are tied up just in case! Best of luck.

[swissair81]

I contract for weeks before I go into actual labor. With my last baby, I started timing contractions at least 5 different times. When I actually went into labor, I still wasn't sure. I had contractions every 20 minutes all day from 2 am until around 8:30 pm Then I was suddenly having contractions on top of each other but they stopped if I sat down. They totally stopped on the way to the hospital and I was freaking out. I made my husband walk with me in the parking lot until they started up again. I was admitted at 9:30 still unsure if I was in labor. 2 hours and 8 minutes later, I was holding my baby. This uncertainty was despite the fact that I am a labor and delivery RN and 4 previous births. I will probably be just as unsure next time.

[MSWR0319]

Both of my labors did this. With DS1 I had contractions that were running 5-8 minutes apart for about 13 hrs but were never regular. They didn't hurt bad, but they hurt. They stopped for about 12 hrs during the day and started again at 6pm and went all night. They were doing the same thing. Finally about 2am I had bloody show and they started to hurt pretty bad. I went in to the hospital at 8am, was 8cm and had him at 6:30 that night. He was posterior and nothing would help to turn. I labored a lot in the tub once I got to the hospital, but I was totally exhausted by the time I was needed to deliver. DS2 was similar with contractions starting about 1am, stopped at 8am when they were about 7 min consistent. Started at 6 that night and had him at 9am the next morning. He wasn't posterior, but his head was turned funny. My midwife said usually there's a round of contractions and then the next round is real labor. I think my problem was positioning. So I'd be prepared to go, hopefully it'll be soon!

[Katigre]

I concur with brittone2 that while it could just be a normal thing, it could also indicate that the baby isn't in the right position yet. Can you tell what way their body is positioned in your abdomen?

Go to www.spinningbabies.com for positioning exercise ideas, and keep in mind that if you run into similar weirdness in labor it is critical to get baby properly positioned otherwise you can get stuck at certain CM which is pure misery (btdt three times now!).

[edurnemk]

With DD I had about 4 hours of regular ctx a week before she was born. I was sure it was the real thing, they were 15 minutes apart and did hurt, did not stop after drinking lots of water, emptying my bladder and resting. And then they started spacing out and stopped completely. That was a Saturday, next Friday I had an OB apt and was 4.5 cm dilated. I went into real labor on Saturday at 4:30 am and DD was born 4 hours later after one push (DS was posterior and I pushed for 1.5 hours, I was not expecting it to be so easy with DD).