A medical professional places a stethoscope on a pregnant woman's belly to listen to the baby's heartbeat.
Your baby’s entry into this world will be preceded by some telltale signs. (For Spectrum Health Beat)

Labor is a process that happens at the end of pregnancy.

But does it “just happen” naturally? In one sense, yes, but in another, no.

What do I mean by that? An analogy can help explain.

When your body prepares to have your baby, it’s similar to how a runner experiences racing and the eventual race day.

I would hope you wouldn’t wake up in May and suddenly decide to run the Fifth Third Riverbank Run 25K the day of the race.

No, you would decide ahead of time that you wanted to run, and you would train appropriately. You would practice before the race, just like you’d practice before any big event.

Unplugged

The mucus plug is not the be-all, end-all indicator of an impending delivery. To illustrate this point, I sometimes share in my classes my favorite story about this.

While working on the floor of the Birthing Center, a patient came up to the desk. She was moving very quickly. I asked her how I could help and she told me she was ready to have her baby.

“Are you having contractions?” I asked.

“No,” she replied.

“Did your water break?”

“No.”

Confused, I asked what brought her into the Birthing Center.

“This,” she replied, opening her hand to show me her mucus plug in a piece of toilet paper.

Surprised, I placed her on the monitor to assess the baby, then sent her home because she wasn’t in labor.

It’s the same concept with labor.

Your body is going to practice so it’s ready for the “big event.”

Here are 7 signs that labor will happen in the near future:

      • Braxton Hicks contractions. I wrote about these practice contractions in a recent story.
      • Lightening. Most people call this “dropping”—it’s when the baby “drops” in the pelvis. For a first-time mama it usually happens any time in the last month before the baby is born. For a mama who’s already had a baby, it can happen before or even during labor.
      • Nesting instinct. This is the feeling the mama has when she wants to make sure everything is in order and ready at home. For some it involves a compulsion to “deep clean,” while others feel compelled to check the baby’s things and make sure everything is ready for the baby.
      • Weight loss. Many women lose 1-2 pounds in the last week or so before baby is born.
      • Increased backache and/or diarrhea. If this happens you’re not thinking about labor, but it often does precede labor for many women.
      • Loss of mucus plug. To me personally, this is the most overrated sign. It doesn’t really matter, but at some point you will lose the mucus plug. It’s literally a plug of mucus that’s released when the cervix starts to thin and open. It can be pink or blood-tinged. It can happen weeks before you have the baby, so it’s not a sudden indicator of labor.
      • Bag of amniotic fluid breaks. This is something that happens in about 10 percent of women before labor begins, and it DOES mean you’ll be having your baby soon.

The end of pregnancy can be difficult, given the lack of sleep and always feeling like you can’t move well. But make sure you watch for these signs so you know when labor is just around the corner.