How Do I Know for Sure?

So if you’re really wondering if it’s the true, real deal labor, or if you’re just having a prodromal phase, the best thing to do is wait at home as long as you can and start timing contractions, seeing if there’s any kind of pattern to the labor progress. Basically labor is labor when it intensifies. And if it seems to stop and start, and if it seems like your labor is not certain, it probably is because it’s not real labor. What I would always suggest to anybody is to test if it’s labor by trying to stop it. If you can stop it, it’s not true labor and ways to try to stop your labor would be to relax, to take tub baths, to take a nap, to drink some warm tea, any kind of verbal teas to eat a nutritious meal. You’re going to need your energy and your calories and lots of relaxation and rest if in fact labor commences or it continues. So the best thing to do is to try, even if it seems against your best intentions to stop it, always try to stop it. And if it stops, it’s a false alarm. If despite everything you do, despite the bath, the rest, the food, of course, lots of water, the walking, if despite all of those things, you’r labor keeps on and gets closer and closer together with contractions, then it’s probably the real thing.