Signs and causes of prodromal labor

Hello everyone, I’m 40+4 weeks and I’ve been having irregular contractions every single day for almost 2 weeks, especially at night. I haven’t reported this to my gynecologist yet, but I’ve been near to visiting the hospital 3 times already because those days contractions seemed to be regular and kind of painful. But every time I lie on the bed, they stop or calm down, and that’s why I still haven’t been to the hospital yet. I’m fed up of this “false labor” kind of thing… I’ve read something about it and I found it’s technical name is “prodromal labor”. FYI, this is my second pregnancy. First time I didn’t experience this, everything went ultra rapidly? Almost no contractions until the day came and after a few hours I was holding my baby 🙂 Do you know how long can false labor last? Sometimes I think my baby is going to die inside of my belly or something… Please, help me.

Dear jenny,

yes, as you said, “prodromal labor” is the medical term for “false labor”, but the latter doesn’t mean it is not real labor. Why? Because it is indeed a real labor, but for a variety of reasons it is not progressing. This is the reason why you experience the same symptoms such as pain and contractions, but then they stop until the next day. it can last from a few days to a month or even more.

The most common signs are: regular contractions without dilatation or efface of the cervix, contractions peak at a certain time of the day, labor seems to start at night and then stops in the day time… As you can see, these symptoms resemble yours a lot.

The causes behind a prodromal labor can be: a baby that is malpositioned, twisted or uneven pelvis, or the mother being stressed or tired. If the latter is your case, my advice is that you try relaxation exercises and meditation, and try to talk to your baby. As for a twisted pelvis or malpositioned baby, there exist some exercises strongly recommendable for a false labor. For instance: sifting, doing an abdominal release in bed, pelvic floor release, and forward-leaning inversion.

I hope I have been able to help,

Regards

Hi dear. With my 1st it started around 24 weeks, my second it started at 14 weeks, and this one started at 11 weeks. The contractions are more intense with each one as well. The other night they were 2 mins 30 secs apart, lasting about a min each. There’s always the trouble of not knowing when you’re really in labor, and I don’t know until very active labor starts. We have homebirths, and I can’t wait until I’m at 37 weeks so I won’t have to worry all the time whether or not I should go to the hospital! I think this is just how some of us labor. For me, it’s normal. I labor lightly for months, they have very fast and very intense births. I refuse to go on bed rest this time because I’ve come to accept that fact that this is just the way my body does things. Of course, I do all that I can to slow down the contractions but if after all I can do my body still goes about its business, it must be what’s best for me and my baby!