those who say "i was having contractions", etc.... what did they feel like?

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when people write (like in the post below re: the week before labor) that you were having contractions now and then - what type? Painful ones?

I have contractions- they are not comfortable- but they are also not painful... so i'm just calling them BH.

i'm just confused as to what people really mean when they say they were having contrax before XYZ happened.

thanks!

MNheidi

I can only share my experience -

At week 22, I'm driving to work and get really light-headed and HOT.  I roll down the windows b/c I'm sweating (oh, it's Jan in MN so about 6 degrees).  By the time I get to work, I feel better but I have some strange tightness REALLY low.  My OB's office is across the street from mine so I call and head over (my coworkers talked me into it).

They hook me up and there I am contracting regularly (like every 5 min or so).  Now these are not something I feel but they put me on bedrest for the duration.

THEN, throughout bedrest, I'd get them every now and then.  They were just a tightening of the entire uterus.  Hard, like a soccer ball.

I was induced prior to having an emergency c/s.  And those contractions were much different.

hope that helps,

macchiatto

I had tons of Braxton Hicks. Some were slightly uncomfortable, some more so; I don't think any were really painful. (And in the end, I never went into labor on my own although there were several times when the contractions were coming more frequently and regularly--e.g. 5 to 7 minutes apart, lasting for over an hour. But I ended up being induced.)

tnkrbl21

I had contractions the entire time I was on terb (from 30wks on) and as I got towards to end they just seems to make my belly harder.  Like you said, they werent comfortable but they werent painful.  The weekend before the boys were born I noticed that my heart would start to race a bit before each contraction and I also started to feel them more in my back. 

FWIW - I stopped my terb on Sunday night and the boys were born tues morning so who knows if I was in some kind of labor pattern or if it was just not being on the terb.I think I was in labor and just breaking through the terb.

clberry6492

i ask everyone the same question and i usually get that they feel like cramps, but sometimes they say the things these women have said. i am totally confused too....

yankee42

for me, with the boys i had BH contrx starting at about 18 weeks..

you know, just the intense tightening, and as i got further along, they would come in a pattern (every 5-7 min)..but the night i went to the hospital for pre-term labor (the first time) they were different, and became painful..it was like the same contraction with pain at the peak of them. i think those are what made my cervix start to dilate, but i can't be positive it hadn't started earlier with the "BH contractions".?

when i went in that night, and had even thought that they had slowed down to about every 10 minutes, they hooked me up and said i was contracting every 2 minutes..so who knows!?

HisLobster

My NSTs for the last couple of weeks show I am having contractions, but I've only felt one (as in the type of contraction pain that comes rushing back to you after you've forgotten your first labor lol). I can tell that I'm contracting but they aren't painful and they go away when I lay on my side. My ob said that if they became frequent or I could "feel" them (as in painfully), to let him know.

I haven't been put on bedrest or anything though. I, too, mark it up to BH.

Temp6313048411121614

I had 2 or 3 the week leading up to labor.  For me they felt like minor AF cramps.  BH's have no pain (can be uncomfortable) but everything gets rock hard.  My contraction discomfort/pain was much lower instead of BH's which I felt all over my uterus.

MarcieCasavant

I was wondering this too as I had several of something the other day. I know they were npthing like when I was induced for my daughter but Pitocin makes contractions longer and stronger to begin with. My whole stomach would just tighten up and you could feel it. My big question is, how long does it have to last to cause worry? Mine were only lasting about 20 seconds at the most. -Marcie

FeistyFille

I've been wondering the same thing.  I woke up this morning with some pain down low in addition to the tight feeling of BH contrax.  But honestly, I can't tell if it was just gas or what! 

ccctwins

I am nervous about this too.  I have frequent tightening all over my abdomen where it feels rock hard and sometimes painful/uncomfortable, but dont know if this is BH or what.  I usually just drink water and lie down for about 30 minutes and it stops.  I guess these are BH?