Signs of Premature Labor
Everyone’s prematurity story is different and that got us thinking about how those stories begin. What are the most common signs of premature labor – like what were the very first symptoms of labor that preemie moms in our community experienced. We polled our Facebook community to find out what symptoms they experienced before going into premature labor. As many of us know, those signs and symptoms aren’t always the ones our doctors told us to look out for!
“No fetal movement (turned out my water had broken around 22 weeks), and swollen feet (developed pre-eclampsia after birth). I demanded an ultrasound and she was born later that day at 23 weeks.”
“Back pain! Unbearable back pain! It turns out that it was back labor and my contractions weren’t even showing up on the monitor because they were all in my back, not uterus!”
“For days before my daughter was born I felt pressure at the bottom of my belly.”
“It might sound strange, but I just knew. I didn’t expect him to come at 31 weeks, but two days before, I was on the phone with my mother in law saying “he’s not going to last until April!” I can’t remember anything specific physically though.”
“It felt like my son was stretching into my hip, it was a really deep pressure in my right hip. I told the nurse about it at my 26 week appointment—two days before he was born—she literally laughed and told me that my body was just making room for the growing baby.”
“I’ve had two preterm births and both times I could only describe the way I felt as “blah” No symptoms at all, other than that feeling. It was like everything including my emotions were stuck in neutral. Delivered both times within 24 hours of starting to feel that way.”
“Sudden change from frequent kicking and movement to barely discernible activity. I had morning sickness up until then and it went away. My eyesight changed and I remember thinking I must need glasses. Even though I felt much better than I had in months, there was this nagging feeling that something was wrong.”
“At my ultrasound four days before I gave birth my daughters head was so low they couldn’t measure it on the ultrasound. I told them it felt like I had a bowling ball between my legs. They blew it off and refused to do an internal ultrasound to check my cervix. Four days later my twins were born at 28 weeks.”
“Low groin pains/pressure. Dr said it sounded like a UTI. My water broke four days later due to an incompetent cervix at only 22 weeks.”
“I thought it was constipation and gas pains. Apparently it was super low contractions.”
“Spotting throughout, I had multiple trips to the ER. OB said one week before the birth “it’s in Gods hands” I fired her on the spot! There was no suggested bed rest, or medicine—then I started cramping. I finally got another OB appointment when I spiked a fever the following Monday...they discovered all my amniotic fluid had leaked out.”
“I woke up with bad headache, light headed, vomiting, with swollen feet and hands...my doctor told me to take sinus meds. I said it is a not sinus problem.”