The Signs of Labor |
There is not a sure manner to know when the baby is coming, says Dr. Ellen Schwartzbard, Obstetrician and Gynecologist with Baptist Health South Florida, who adds there are some changes that do occur, such as the cervix can start to dilate.
The main signs of labor are: lightening, bloody shows, rupture of membranes, nesting, effacement, dilation and consistent contractions, the doctor describes.
Transcript
Let’s kick off the show by you know going into labor, and knowing the signs that that indicate your baby is on its way, I mean there are a lot of signs, I remember mine, I’m not going to say what mine was because it’s, it’s a yucky one, but go ahead, it wasn’t the water with something else, go ahead. So it’s the most common questions my patients ask me as they get closer to their due date, can you tell, am I going into labor? is my baby coming? and unfortunately I have no crystal ball, we really can’t always tell, there are some changes that do occur, the cervix can start to dilate, that’s when it starts to open a face meant, that’s the actual thinning of the cervix that happens, but like I said that crystal ball we really don’t have it, and labor just can happen. That’s right and it’s different for everyone, we do have some signs, mine is there by the way, I just didn’t want to say it, so it’s number two, the bloody show loss of the mucus plug, I guess now I can say it because there it is, I just didn’t want to say it right off the top, but that was my sign, let’s talk about the other ones as well, and just kind of walk us through us, and let us know actually what number two is as well. Yeah so, lightning the first one there, you can breathe again so, the baby actually drops down into the pelvis, so that baby’s way up high up against your diaphragm, you can’t breathe and all of a sudden, it drops down, and that happens towards the end of pregnancy but unfortunately that can happen and labor doesn’t necessarily start within a day, or a week. Bloody show like you said, not the most pleasant sign, -actually where it happened, and it is a common phone call that we do get from patients, but again that can happen and labor doesn’t mean that it’s around the corner. Your water breaks. that is, that is common, and that is time to go to the hospital, that means contractions if they don’t start occurring with that, you need to go to the hospital right away, because infection can occur and that’s a big one. Nesting a burst of energy, so that’s partly a myth, but it does really happen to women, they suddenly want to get the home ready for that baby, and start preparing.