35 weeks and experiencing hard contractions

Hi everyone,

I’m 35+2 weeks today. The past few weeks have been pretty hectic. I think I lost my mucus plug last week, along with a lot of mucus discharge and some sweet-smelling fluid. I was really unsure and called my midwife. She came over immediately. She did some tests; they use a kind of cotton swab to check if you’re leaking amniotic fluid—if yes, it turns blue. Mine was a bit dubious. She also checked for any dilation, which was luckily not the case. I was sent to the hospital for a CTG (fetal monitoring), and everything was fine there too. They checked for a bladder infection and other possible infections, which were all clear. A few days later, I went back for another CTG, which was also fine.

Two days after that, at the end of the day, I had severe constant abdominal pain and hard contractions. I didn’t feel quite top-notch; I was getting worse and crawled into bed with a hot water bottle. Unfortunately, that didn’t help. The pain kept coming, and I had to really wiggle away or kind of puff out to cope. A friend advised me to time the contractions. They came every 3 minutes and lasted between 45 seconds and 1 to 1.5 minutes. I got worried again and called the midwife, urged on by my partner and friend. I’m quite stubborn. I was told to take two paracetamols and have a shower. I did that, but under the shower, the pain only got worse, so I got out. The pain made me feel sick; my partner had to dry me off. The midwife checked again for dilation, but there was none. I was told to try to sleep, and she would contact me the next day.

After a terrible night and lots of pain, she called the next morning. She felt it necessary to come by again because the pain wasn’t subsiding. Again, no dilation, and I was sent to the hospital for a CTG. They also didn’t think much of my hard contractions, and I was sent home. The next day, I went back, and this time everything was fine... Today I had a check-up with the midwife. I explained that I’d already been having hard, painful contractions for two full days and that I barely feel the baby. My blood pressure was good, and my urine was fine too. I was told to just wait. I sometimes don’t really know what to make of it. Are these signs that labor is starting? Today I had hard contractions all day, and the baby doesn’t feel much. Right now, I feel an elbow in my side, otherwise nothing. The baby has been engaged for a while, so it’s probably not engagement contractions. Any ideas or tips?

Sorry for the long story, but I’m not sure about things sometimes. This is our first baby after two miscarriages, hence the uncertainty. Yes, the final stretch is tough.