Being pregnant is one of the most amazing, blessed experiences a woman gets to experience. It can also be one of the scariest most confusing times of life for any mother to be. As you get closer and closer to that impending date of expected childbirth the questions can seem to overwhelm you. One of the most commonly asked, and important questions, that new mothers to be have is what is the difference between a bloody show and losing your mucus plug? What does each mean? And how close do that happen in respect to the start of labor?
Defining Mucus Plug and Bloody Show
The mucus plug is exactly what it sounds like it might be. The mucus plug is a clump of mucus that is created to plug the opening of the cervix during pregnancy. The purpose of this is to protect the baby from any forms of infection by sealing the uterus off.
A common question women have is what does the mucus plug look like and how will they know if they lost it. The mucus plug looks like a thick glob of mucus. Sometimes the mucus plug will be tinged with a slight red or brownish color. This tinged color is called the bloody show. During the end of pregnancy, vaginal discharge naturally increases so you may not even notice if you lose your mucus plug. This is common, and nothing to worry about. Some women even, lose only a small amount of their mucus plug at a time in amounts so small that they don’t even see them.
The simplest way to describe what a mucus plug looks like is to imagine a giant booger. Exciting isn’t it?! If over the course of a few day, you notice that you are discharging thick globs of mucus, it is most likely that you are losing your mucus plug.
Why It Happens
In preparation for labor your cervix will soften and begin to dilate. These changes in your cervix cause your mucus plug to loosen and then fall out. This does not mean that you are going into labor though. It is possible to lose your mucus plug anywhere from several weeks before active labor to right as labor starts. Your cervix dilates gradually and losing your mucus plug does not dictate how close are far you are from active labor, simply that your body is doing exactly what it needs to do in order to prepare the process of labor that will begin, eventually.
Your body does continue to create more mucus after your plug is lost so it is not out of the ordinary to see more pieces of mucus discharge. If you lose your mucus plug, it is not quite time to ring the alarms. Let your doctor know at your next appointment, but there is no reason to make an extra phone call. It is perfectly fine to continue on with all of your normal activities and daily routine.
What Bloody Show Means
The scoop on bloody show is simply that it is a term that has become commonly interchangeable with the phrase of losing your mucus plug. This is because a lot of times when women lose their mucus plug it is tinged red or has some blood with it. When the cervix open and softens sometimes small capillaries can break that results in the blood you see in the mucus. This is no reason to become alarmed. If you notice that you have loss more than a couple tablespoons of bring red blood you need to call your provider and report this. This bleeding can be an indication of placenta previa, a condition where your placenta is sitting over your cervix.