It is sooooo hard to know what to expect with labour, even if you've been through it before.

Lots of women also make an elaborate labour plan, and then find things go completely differently to aht they expected.

With my first baby, my waters broke at around 36 weeks, completely out of the blue- no warning at all- I went to hospital, but I didn't go into labour- ie- no contractions, and I didn't dialate, so I was induced the next day.

Sometimes, you'll get the contractions first, and from what i've read, it's like a sqeezing pain, that reaches a peak for a few seconds, then goes away again, and the pains gradually get longer and closer together- your waters might break at some stage after the pains start, and labour will progress quite quickly after that. Sometimes the waters don't break and have to be ruptured by the nurses during labour.

There is also something called "backache" labour, which occurs sometimes if the baby is in a funny position- this just feels like a gradually worsening backache until well into the labour process.

You can never know- and sometimes, contractions start up, and then stop for a while, or you'll get a long one, followed by a short one and you won't know where you are !!!!!!!


It sounds like you are soo close now, it could be any time, just try not to think about it, stay close to home, and if you feel pains, try to gauge are the getting stonger, longer or closer together.
I'm sure you have all your bags packed and ready- I did !!!! Rest up, and enjoy the last few days of being able to, you'll be wishing you had this time back again in a few days, trust me!!!

Take care.