Health: what tells a woman she is in labour?

By Shanta Sih

The sign sof labour are medically clear but can be confusing for many women especially for first-time mothers. Renard Vegah, a nurse and a midwife explains that the first sign to immediately know a woman is going into labour is the loss of the mucus plug (patches of blood mixed with mucus) followed by severe cramps.

Also contractions that become so frequent and reoccur every 10 minutes mean birth is no longer far away. Rupture of membranes come to some women but not all.

“Nurses, midwives and doctors are not God and that is why sometimes a due date is given to a woman which in most cases labor comes later or earlier than those dates given and due dates are estimated from the first day of your last menstrual flow that you had added to the length of your cycle if it is a 30, 28, 31 days cycle so labour must come between the estimated time calculated else it is considered pre – labour which is not safe. Labour starts anytime from 37 weeks of pregnancy,” Renard Vegah explains.

“Labour is indeed different to different women. I for one my first child did not give me much contraction but I went into labour within the estimated date calculated in the hospital as my due date. I had much of back pain and frequent urge to visit the toilet,” Manka’a Honorine a mother of 3 recalls.

“It is advisable to follow the instructions from the hospital and immediately you start feeling uneasy, be vigilant to think of all the signs and symptoms given to you during antenatal especially for first time mothers,” Sheron Ewung a mother of 2 advises.

Women have been called to shop and prepare for labour a week or two to the estimated date given to them in the hospital by purchasing the emergency materials mostly and heading to the hospital immediately they suspect they are in labour.