For the moms, when did you know you were in labor?

FTM, 37+4 weeks when I had my son. I woke up feeling slightly crampy around 5am, went to the bathroom and realized I lost my mucus plug. Laid back down and decided to call into work because my husband wanted to play it safe, just in case. Cramps got more rhythmic so I started timing them. Water broke while I was laying down around 6:15am. My water breaking was the weirdest sensation ever - it didn't hurt but I could hear and feel it pop like a water balloon. Contractions majorly ramped up from there - I was having contractions 1-2 minutes apart by the time we arrived in triage around 8am and I was dilated to 5cm. Got an epidural, napped until 12ish when I was dilated to a 10, but then my labor stalled. I pushed for about 3 hours and needed an episiotomy. I dont think I'd change anything about my experience, tbh. In hindsight, I think my contractions started the day before. I remember coming home from work and feeling extra worn down and junky, but I didn't think anything of it at the time. I napped for a while and decided to finish packing our hospital bags, so the timing is just ironic.

/r/NewParents Thread