Braxton hicks

OmSweetOm

hey mamas. I was debating putting this in a symptoms thread but, I thought maybe I'd start a thread instead. 

just wondering if any of you have been getting Braxton hicks yet? And if so, when they started. I am 16 weeks today and have been getting them for a few weeks already which really surprised me. They were sporadic at first but now I am having several episodes a day. With my DS I thought they started pretty early around 24 weeks or so, so I was caught pretty off guard with these. Not to mention it feels SO much weirder on a tiny bump... suddenly it just feels like I have a baseball lodged in my pelvis. Ah, pregnancy! The fun continues:)

Becky012016

Is there a pattern to them? Definitely talk to your doctor about them. I have had a few (16+1) but there's no pattern to mine. I think I started getting them around the same time as you did for my first. 

OmSweetOm

No real pattern, thankfully... just more incidents per day as the weeks go on it seems. I have noticed though they do also seem to increase if I am not staying up on water intake. So for now it's serving as a helpful reminder there. I was just a little surprised to have them start so soon. But, maybe it's just one of those things that can start earlier in subsequent pregnancies. I have an appt on Monday and I do plan on bringing it up then just to put it out there.

jessieR358

If you go to the weekly symptoms thread I was just in L and D last night for contractions. The monitor didn't pick up any, but they put it too high...anyways, I was feeling them for hours, despite water and rest. I'm 17 weeks today. I don't remember any Braxton hicks with my DS until I was 36+ weeks and they were mild and sporadic, mainly when I went walking. 

JNR6510

Dehydration can cause contractions. I would try upping your water and electrolyte intake and see if that reduces the occurrences.

msashley2010-2

In my first pregnancy I ended up in the ER having full blown contractions around 22 weeks. I apparently had a kidney infection and the pain was causing me to contract and they kept me in the ER until they went away. After that I didn't have any until I went into labor. 

Do braxton hicks feel any different from regular contractions? I get very uncomfortable spasms in my abdomen but I'm not sure what they are from. 

OmSweetOm

They are basically just that, uncomfortable and intense tightening... it doesn't hurt it just feels like all of the sudden your uterus is rock solid. I can even see if bulge out like a little baseball.... it's really kind of creepy feeling actually.