What can be indicative of the imminent beginning of the forthcoming birth?
In midwifery practice, it is commonly believed that the prenatal period dates back to the 38th week of pregnancy. It is from this period that the baby is considered completely full. However, this does not mean that it can not be born before the above-mentioned period or after the gestational period - 40 weeks.
The childbirth process very rarely has a sudden onset, and as a rule, 10-14 days before the appearance of certain signs, which are called precursors.
The first and most noticeable for the most pregnant is the lowering of the abdomen. So the woman immediately after that notes the relief of breathing: it becomes deeper and less frequent, due to the fact that there is an increase in the chest excursion.
The second factor, which speaks of an early birth, may be an increase in the motor activity of the baby. So, many pregnant women note that yesterday the baby was calm, but today his motor activity suddenly increased dramatically: the kid actively moves his hands and feet.
Also, in addition to subjective sensations, there are also objective signs, among which the departure of the mucous plug is, perhaps, the dominant role. This happens 10 days before the birth. The cork is a clot of cervical mucus that is transparent and sometimes colored pink.
How to understand that the birth will begin today?
After 10 days have elapsed since the appearance of the first precursors, a pregnant woman with stress awaits the moment when the birth process begins.
In order for a woman to understand whether labor has begun, it is necessary to distinguish such a phenomenon as birth labor from training. It should be noted that the latter in some cases can be observed up to the onset of the generic process. The main difference between training fights from generic ones is that they do not have a strict periodicity and their duration does not increase with time.
If we talk about how to determine a woman at the first birth, that she started fights, then for starters, she must fix the time of their appearance. As a rule, at first they are weakly expressed and not very painful. The duration of them increases with time, and the gap decreases.
The sensations of birth in primiparas begin, as pulling pains in the lower abdomen or lower back. In this case, leakage of amniotic fluid may occur. The pain intensifies over time and acquires a rhythmic character. When the interval between contractions is reduced to 10 minutes - it is necessary to go to the hospital.