Contractions?!

amandabacome

What do contractions feel like?! I am so worried I am going to be the woman who gives birth in the car because she doesn't know she is in labor? Someone help!!

JamieCallow

Haha I hear ya!! I went in for an NST the other day and had no idea I was contracting!! They did not hurt and were not BH either! Mine felt like LO was just balling up in there and it would get really hard! I had one that hurt the other day and for me it started on the sides with period like cramps and then went in to my back and created an almost burning sensation. Hopefully that helps but I am sure everyone is different! I am sure you will get to the point that there will be no
mistaking them and will know to go to the hospital;)

barista411

They present differently for each person. Mine started as a back ache and turned into period like cramps that started in my back and wrapped around to stomach.

SweetLaura286

For a while now I have had Braxton hicks contractions that were fine. Since last week though, I have been having real contractions but am not in labor yet. Right above my pubic bone got sooo tight, I can't really explain the pressure. It all pulled on my hips, too. And felt uncomfortable.. Lightly painful. And came and went in a perfect wave.

fluttergirlmoonchild79

Full contractions will stop you in your tracks and nothing you do will make them go away.  That's a good way to know.  FWIW, if you're a FTM, you're typically in labor a really long time (I was in labor for 18 hours with DS) so the chances of you delivering in your car are very slim.

lamo1210

I keep having sharp cramp like pain that stop me in my tracks. But they don't stay too long so I assume they are not contractions. 

But I share your fear that I am going to guess that it's not real contractions until it's too late. The chances of that happening are very low. But still a fear!! 

jillmatheny

Contractions for me felt like period cramps that got worse and worse and at one point made me throw up (I never throw up otherwise).  I couldn't really speak or do anything once they got worse. 

3Dewdrops

Have you ever had a nasty UTI that needed treatment like yesterday?  They feel a lot like that.

First time around I woke up at 39 weeks to what I thought were my first Braxton Hicks. They kind of felt like period cramps but a little intense and came in a pattern.  They weren't painful until they broke my water right before pushing.  Second time around...umm...no one would mistake them for anything other than labor pains.  

Either way they were timeable so I'm taking that as my go to for judging if it's the real deal. I am nervous about delivering in the car also.  My labors were 6 and 2 hours. :-S DH's work is 30 minutes away and the hospital is another 20.  It makes me nervous.

lili118

Like a belt tightening really hard the muscles in your lower abdomen. starts in back and wraps around squeezing muscle pain.
The last labor was different. lower back pain and grinding pelvic pressure. Both very different

chatita_78

You will know them without a doubt. It's a pain like you've never felt before. It stops you in your tracks, takes your breath away, takes away hunger and hurts like crazy. There is a one in a million chance that you will give birth in a car AND with being a FTM you will "get" to enjoy the birthing process for at least 24 hrs. Don't worry... you'll know the feeling all in due time

okashimochi

I questioned my contractions for a few hours. They felt like menstrual cramps with pelvic pressure and back pain. It wasn't until they kept coming in a pattern that I realized "so this is what it feels like." I felt tightening followed by the pain. Nothing helped. Also thought I had to use the bathroom a lot. From the time I realized they were contractions to when DS popped out, it was about 5 hours.

(I'm totally lurking but I miss November 2013)

ranaverde

This is my fear, too.  I'm at the point where I keep wondering "Is this the baby pushing really hard?"  "Is this gas?" "Is this just Braxton Hicks in a different form?"  My poor abdominal nerves have been confused for weeks, so I don't really trust my sense of what's going on down there.

It doesn't help that my mother's first pregnancy (me) ended two weeks early and her labor only lasted six hours, and involved nurses pushing her wheelchair from triage to delivery at a run.  My brother's birth went even quicker!