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Day 285 · 5 days past your due date

PMT-like, and low back

Last reviewed · 3 min read · 5 sources · Plain-text version

Five days past your due date. Early labour can start quietly, with period-like feelings and a low backache. How to tell it from practice contractions.

Size this week
about the size of a pumpkin
Length this week
around 51.2 cm from head to heel
A Latina woman with a full bump in leggings and a long loose shirt, standing at a kitchen counter with one hand pressed to her lower back, the other holding a phone timer, morning light.

Five days past your due date. Labour rarely announces itself with a gush and a dash to the car. More often it starts with something you could mistake for an ordinary bad day.

Your baby

A single orange pumpkin on a plain pale wooden table, soft window light.

Your baby is around 51.2cm from head to heel, about the size of a pumpkin (NHS). Before labour, the baby may move lower into the pelvis, which is called lightening (OWH). In a first pregnancy it often happens a few weeks before birth; if you've given birth before, it may not happen until labour starts (MedlinePlus).

Your body

The NHS names two possible signs of early labour: PMT-like feelings and lower backache (NHS). In early labour, contractions last 30 to 60 seconds and come every 5 to 20 minutes, and there may be a clear or slightly bloody discharge called a "show" (NICHD). Early labour can last up to 20 hours, especially with a first birth (NICHD).

Practice contractions behave differently. Braxton Hicks contractions are irregular and tend to fade, often when you change what you're doing; true labour doesn't stop with a change in activity (OWH). Real contractions also spread to the lower back and upper belly and get strong enough that you can't talk or laugh through them (MedlinePlus).

Try today

  1. The PMT-feeling note

    Time: 2 minutes, each time you notice something

    1. If you feel period-like cramps or a low backache, write the day and time in your notes.

    2. Change what you're doing: walk if you were sitting, lie down if you were walking. Write whether the feeling faded.

    3. If tightenings keep coming, time them from the start of one to the start of the next, and how long each lasts.

    4. Call when they last at least 60 seconds and come every 5 minutes, or any time you're worried (NHS).

    Make it work:

    If nothing happens, the note stays blank, and that's fine. A blank page is still a day closer.

Watch for

  • Normal

    a "show," a clear or slightly bloody discharge, in early labour (NICHD).

    Call your provider

    right away for vaginal bleeding beyond light spotting (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    irregular tightenings that fade when you move.

    Call your provider

    right away for regular, painful contractions, or contractions lasting 60 to 90 seconds (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    feeling a bit light-headed if you stand up fast.

    Call your provider

    now for dizziness or fainting, which the CDC lists as an urgent warning sign (CDC).

For you

The NHS's list for week 40 includes one item that is easy to skip: enjoy your maternity leave (NHS). A film in the afternoon, a long lunch with a friend, a nap with the phone on loud. Waiting doesn't have to mean pacing.

If you're the partner: keep your phone charged and on loud, and know your route. If her back starts to ache in a new way, sit with her and time it; you're the one with the free hands.

And if the backache turns into labour and your baby comes, their notes start at your first month, with day one.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

Get each day’s note the morning it applies

Add your due date to a free Chorevia household, and every morning until the birth the day's note arrives in the app and by email: what's forming, what your body is doing, one thing to try, what to watch for, and a word for you.

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