The MamasteFit Podcast Episode 141 – 10 Signs Labor is Approaching: Beyond Contractions

Roxanne: If you’ve been wondering what are the other signs that labor may be coming, other than contractions alone, we’re gonna go over all of the different signs in this video.

Welcome to the MamasteFit YouTube channel. I’m Roxanne, a certified nurse midwife and labor nurse previously of 13 years, and in this video we’re gonna be going over what are the possible signs that labor is coming prior to the contractions starting. There are different things that our body is doing to like prepare for labor and birth that you maybe kind of will know that labor might be coming within the next 24 to 48 hours. And what are signs that labor is not coming?

There are about 10 different things that you can look for within your body, 24 to 48 hours prior to labor kind of starting, to include contractions being one of them. And usually when they’re like paired together with other things, it increases the likelihood that it is a sign that labor is coming, versus when it’s just one by itself. So what are these 10 things?

Obviously, number one is contractions. We all know contractions is the start of labor, especially when those contractions are slowly getting closer and closer together, increasing in intensity and length- the best indicator that labor is coming or that your baby is coming out of your body, that labor is here. But what are the other things that we’re looking for?

Number two would be the effacement of the cervix. So the softening and the thinning out of the cervix is another great indicator that our body, pre-labor, is preparing for labor by releasing prostaglandins. And prostaglandins do a few things that are on this list of labor signs, like of impending labor. One of those things is softening and ripening the cervix. So if your cervix is getting thinner as well as softer, that is an indicator that labor is coming. But not everybody is checking their cervix to know if it is softer or thinner prior to labor beginning. But if your provider offers a cervical exam and they tell you the effacement, there is some research that supports if your cervix is less than 50% at 37 weeks, if you get a cervical exam, you’re more likely to go past 40 weeks and five days, versus if your cervix is over 50%, you are more likely to go before 40 weeks and five days. But there is this like little gray window of like 40 to 60% effaced that may go before, but also may go after. So know that, again, cervical dilation and effacement may just be a moment in time, but there is some research that does support effacement alone could tell you kind of if labor is coming.

Another thing that you might notice is diarrhea or loose stool, 24 to 48 hours prior to labor, usually. It’s clearing out the system, and this is due to those prostaglandins as well, just kind of speed in things up in a way to kind of clear out the system and make space for babies. So if you’re noticing some diarrhea and loose stool along with your cervix had been getting softer, that could be an indicator labor is coming.

Another thing that’s commonly seen at the end of pregnancy is the mucus plug. You losing your mucus plug, a lot of people think that is the indicator like, “Oh, labor is impending. I’ve lost my mucus plug, it’s gonna be starting any second now.” And that’s not always necessarily true. Our mucus plug is the plug that’s within our cervix and it comes out when the cervix is dilated, but that doesn’t always mean labor is coming ’cause we know dilation is a moment in time. A better indicator of just the mucus plug alone being that labor is actually coming, is the mucus plug along with some bloody show. So this is like, the cervix is not just like slightly open that the mucus plug could come out, but that the cervix is really changing and thinning out and softening as well, aside from just the mucus plug. So a mucus plug with bloody show, a better indicator that labor is coming, versus just the mucus plug alone.

You might also notice that you’re starting to have some increased vaginal discharge, and this is from the estrogen that’s increasing in our body at the end of pregnancy to prepare our body for labor. But that increase in estrogen also increases our vaginal discharge. So this is where we get a lot of questions of like, “Did my water break? Or like, am I peeing myself? Like, why does it feel like I’m constantly wet?” But with this increase in vaginal discharge, it is still different than amniotic fluid. While it is an increased amount of vaginal discharge, it’s more like milky white type discharge, versus amniotic fluid is clear, maybe pink tinged or potentially even yellow or green- which would be alarming- but, vaginal discharge, milky white, amniotic fluid is more clear and watery. That would be more concerning that your water broke, versus just maybe labor is coming because you’re having some increased vaginal discharge. Also, usually that increased vaginal discharge isn’t soaking through your pants like your water would be if your water was broken. So looking for an increase in vaginal discharge at your end of pregnancy might tell you labor is coming, but still kind of rule out that it wasn’t your water breaking prior to labor starting.

Another thing that people normally kind of notice at the end of pregnancy is something called lightening, which is when it feels like your belly gets lighter ’cause your baby is engaged into your pelvis. And this can happen shortly before labor, or weeks before labor. So not alone, not a great indicator, but people will report that all of a sudden you can take a big deep breath now ’cause your baby is no longer pushing up into your diaphragm ’cause it’s descended into the pelvis. If you notice this with a couple other things, could be a sign that baby maybe is coming and heading on out.

Along with that lightening from baby descending into the pelvis, you might start to notice more lower back pain- if you haven’t been feeling that at all in your pregnancy prior. This could be from babies settling into the pelvis and stretching the different ligaments within the pelvis that’s leading to a little bit of back pain. That could be a sign that maybe labor is coming.

We talked about the first sign of labor is coming is contractions, like labor is coming, and it’s here, is having contractions that are getting closer and closer together, increasing in intensity and length. But you could also start to notice some prodromal labor as a sign, like labor is coming, but we can’t tell you when it’s gonna come. So prodromal labor, or I like to kind of call it early labor that’s just start and stop and not progressing to that next stage of early active labor. Where they stay the same, but they’re happening often, and they may increase in intensity compared to maybe your Braxton Hicks or pre-labor contractions that you were having, where maybe they were just sudden tightening, but it wasn’t really painful. Whereas now in prodromal labor, they may be more painful and uncomfortable where you may not be able to sleep through it. With prodromal labor, if you can’t get it to stop where you’re able to rest, it could be beneficial to reach out to your provider to see what options are available so that you can get some sleep, ’cause sometimes that alone will just help you either break the prodromal labor, or progress you into early active and then active labor. The key thing with the prodromal labor and Braxton Hicks is that it doesn’t continue to progress, getting closer and closer together, increasing the intensity, it kind of still stays about the same, still could be painful. Whereas true labor contractions, again, they’re progressing, so they’re increasing in intensity and increasing in length, as well as getting closer and closer together. So that’s how you can kind of tell the difference between the two.

Usually with prodromal labor, I’ll recommend maybe trying to drink a ton of water or electrolytes, see if that helps it. Taking a warm bath usually will either knock it out or it will continue into active labor. Or sometimes you might need to go to the bathroom and have a bowel movement, and that can sometimes break up that prodromal labor. Another reason you could be having this prodromal labor is that baby’s position could be a little bit off, so we’ll link some videos down below of things you can try if you’re having prodromal labor for positions of baby.

Then my personal favorite labor sign is coming is nesting. This is this like sense of urge of just needing to like, organize, or clean, or just prepare your home for a new baby. So this, I didn’t think that I would feel this ’cause I was like, “Ugh, nesting. It seems so ridiculous.” But I have the nesting urge so bad with all of my kids, and my last labor I like reorganized my entire oldest daughter’s room prior to labor. I like, we got a new bed, I put her bed together, changed her sheets, reorganized everything within her room, threw away toys that were broken, threw away clothes that didn’t fit her anymore, as well as my son’s room and our room- ’cause we had also been in the middle of construction. But we did all of those things and literally the next day I woke up in labor. So nesting, I truly do believe it. It is a bit of a labor is, labor is coming. ‘Cause of personal experience, I believe it. And I’ve had it with the other children as well, and I do have it with this one, but I’m still only 35 weeks, so there’s still some time in there that I know baby has to come. But the nesting urge, like directly prior, like 24 to 48 hours prior to labor is strong in a lot of people that they report the nesting.

It could also be not maybe nesting, like just emotional changes in general, where the nesting urge or you’re just super calm, like it’s a calm before the storm, as they would say, where you just feel this like overwhelming sense of like calm, like things will happen when they happen. I don’t need to control it. It’s like this relief sense of comfort that you’re feeling, and this has been reported by a lot of people, about 24 hours to 48 hours before labor.

Just to review, what are the signs, other than contractions, that are getting closer and closer together, increasing intensity, that labor is coming? One, the softening of your cervix, or the effacement of the cervix, like the thinning out. So those are two things that tell you that labor may be coming. You might have diarrhea or loose stools prior to labor. You might lose your mucus plug, but especially if you lose your mucus plug with bloody show. Mucus plug alone is not an indicator ’cause it could always regenerate, but mucus plug with bloody show could be an indicator. An increase in your vaginal discharge and that vaginal discharge is that milky white type vaginal discharge, not this like clear pink tinge, which could be your amniotic fluid- and that’s from that increase in estrogen. You might start to notice that baby has descended and engaged into the pelvis, which is lightening, and this engagement could be a sign that labor is coming if it happened, like a few days before, but it could also happen weeks prior to labor. You might start to notice a little bit more back pain as the baby engages as well into the pelvis, because those ligaments are starting to be stretched. If you’ve not had back pain the entire time, or any sort of pelvic pain the entire time of pregnancy, with the back pain and that baby lightening could be together as sign labor is impending. Prodromal labor or those pre-labor contractions could be a sign that labor is coming, but we can’t say when it’s gonna come still with that prodromal labor, ’cause it’s that start, stop, start stop where maybe you’re just not able to sleep or get a well rested night’s sleep, like you might be just like sleeping one or two hours at a time. And then breaking that prodromal labor could be beneficial to kind of push you into that active labor. Or, it could be baby’s position is off and once we fix baby’s position, that prodromal labor will kind of just resolve itself and progress to active labor. And then my last favorite sign that labor is coming is nesting, where you just feel like you need to reorganize, and throw away, and just prepare your home for your incoming baby. So it’s either this overwhelming sense of urge to organize everything and clear everything out, or it could be this just overwhelming sense of feeling, calm, comfort, and like relief. And both of those have been reported 24 to 48 hours pretty commonly in people prior to labor.

So we went over the reasons of what is a sign labor is coming with a little bit of, not labor is coming, but what is not a sign labor is coming, or what is not a predictor of when labor is coming?

Number one, dilation. Dilation will not tell you when labor is coming. You can be one centimeter right now walking around in pregnancy, and still go into labor in four hours and have a baby. You could be five centimeters right now and still be pregnant for another four weeks. Dilation is not an indicator by itself of when labor is coming. Dilation, potentially with effacement, maybe a better indicator though.

Like we said, the mucus plug alone without the bloody show, you could lose your mucus plug weeks prior to labor, for some people, days before labor. If it’s with bloody show, that is a better indicator that labor is coming though.

If you’re having either back pain by itself or descent by itself, those two by themselves again, alone, not as great of an indicator that labor is coming, but when you have descent of that lightening with the back pain, that could be a better indicator that yes, that engagement is happening, and maybe it’s starting to stimulate a little bit of that labor.

So while these are not foolproof, all of these things, you may report some of them prior to labor, but you may not like piece it together until after you’ve had your baby that, oh, that was telling me that labor was coming! Which is how we get all of this information anyway.

So if you noticed any of these signs prior to you going into labor and would like to share your stories, you can comment down below ’cause we love hearing from all of you.

And if you’re pregnant or postpartum and you’re looking for more support, check out our website at mamastefit.com. ’cause we have both prenatal and postpartum options of both education courses and fitness programs to help prepare your body and your mind for both pregnancy, birth, and even postpartum.

If you’re a birth professional looking for ways to support your clients and patients in birth and pregnancy, check on our newly released Pelvic Mechanics course where we break down how the pelvis moves and how you can support your patients and clients in pregnancy and birth to have an easier labor.

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