In late pregnancy, around the expected date of delivery, if brown discharge appears in the vagina without any obvious cause, it is usually indicative of preterm labor, which is commonly called redness, and indicates that the pregnant woman will be in formal labor soon. It is also common to have false labor (irregular abdominal pain, often appearing at night and disappearing in the morning) and a sense of fetal descent (also called a sense of relief). The brown discharge is caused by the rupture of the capillaries and a small amount of bleeding, mixed with a mucus plug in the cervical canal, which is removed through the vagina as the fetal membranes near the endocervix peel off from the uterine wall there. It is a more reliable sign that labor is about to begin, and most pregnant women go into labor within 24-48 hours after the onset of redness, with a few extending to within a week. After the appearance of brown discharge in late pregnancy, pregnant women need to seek medical attention promptly. Doctors will perform relevant tests to clarify the bleeding, such as internal vaginal examination (to exclude the source of bleeding from the uterine cavity, bishop score to determine the maturity of the cervix), abdominal palpation (to exclude tonic contractions), fetal heart monitoring (to assess the fetal response and intensity of contractions), ultrasound examination of the fetus and pregnancy (to assess the fetus and exclude placental abruption or abnormal (intrauterine bleeding). If common pathologies are excluded by the above tests, it is clear that brown discharge is a sign of preterm labor. As long as the fetal movement is normal, the fetal heartbeat is good and the amount of vaginal redness is not too much, we should listen to the doctor’s advice and wait patiently.
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