Signs of starting labour

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Starting & progressing through labour

Signs of starting labour

Typical sensations and changes you may experience

During your pregnancy you may have experienced Braxton-Hicks. Your contractions may feel similar but will continue for a prolonged period of time. The contractions you have may feel like extreme period pains. If you touch your abdomen, it may even feel hard when you feel a contraction, then soften when the contraction eases.

You may also experience some lower back pain. It may even feel heavy or achy. As well as this, you may experience a feeling of pressure down below.

A mucus plug may also come out of your vagina. This mucus plug is a sticky jelly like pink substance. For some people, it may come out all at once and then for others it will come out in several pieces. This indicates that your cervix is starting to open up. Labour can come very soon after or take a few days and not everyone will experience a mucus plug coming out.

Your waters may also break before or after your labour starts. During pregnancy, your baby grows in a bag of fluid called the amniotic sac. When your waters break, it is this bag of fluid breaking and exiting out of the vagina. For some it will be a slow trickle and for others it will come all in a big gush. This is a clear fluid which may be a bit blood stained to start off with.

Waters breaking before labour

If your waters break before you go into labour, it is best to contact your midwife or maternity unit as this increases your risk for infection for you and your baby.

Your midwife will monitor you and your baby depending on your circumstances. If baby is moving less, report it to your midwife as soon as you can.

They will be able to ask you some additional questions such as if you are having any bleeding and if you are feeling unwell, this will help to decide the next steps in your care.

You may go into labour naturally within 24 hours. If not, and you are full term, you may be offered an induction of labour. 60 in 100 labours start naturally within 24 hours of the waters breaking.

This is where you are given medications to try and start your labour. You can continue to wait for your labour to start if you would prefer. Waiting for your labour for a prolonged time can be a risk to you and your baby. The risk of serious neonatal infection is 1 in 100 for women whose waters have broken before labour starts compared to 0.5 in 100 for those who have their waters intact.

This risk increases as time goes on. If at any point your baby’s movements decrease it is important to report this to your local maternity service as soon as possible. You may also be offered some antibiotics depending on how long your waters have been broken. You can continue bathing and showering as normal as they don’t increase your risk of infection, however, sexual intercourse might.

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