early signs of labor?

We could really use, and would really appreciate, a little advance notice of when labor is going to begin. There are a bunch of people we need to notify, from the people who might be keeping an eye on River, to Mark’s mother, who needs to drive several hours, to our doula, who lives an hour away.

When I look back at my first pregnancy, I see we had good forewarning, with cervical mucus appearing three and two days before labor began, and the bloody show appearing the day before labor began. Mark is counting on the same thing to happen again this time, and I admit, that would certainly be helpful. Especially since we know how to interpret it this time around.

But then I hear of other people’s water breaking with no notice at all. I found this list of six potential signs of imminent labor, though none are quite as clear or give quite as much notice as the bloody show. Any other suggestions of what I should look for, or when to make the call to people that perhaps they should be prepared? Looking back, did you have any clear signs that labor was on the way?