Do contractions feel more like menstrual cramps or BH?

bwm2bmw

Sorry for the dumb ? but having never had them before thought I'd ask

I always imagined contractions will feel like cramps but I saw a post a few days ago about the diff b/w contractions and BH so does that mean they don't feel like menstrual cramps?

Note: I'm not having contractions, just curious what they feel like!

4realyo

I have never had menstrual cramps, but I would imagine they feel different since my BH are not painful. It just feels like a quick tightening/hardening of my belly. Sometimes itll take my breath away just because Im not expecting it & its a little uncomfy but not painful.

AliciaSpring

BH are still contractions, mine feel like a tightening in my belly then my belly is hard.

GoombaGirl_79

Same. For me BH feels like my whole stomach just kind of tightens and goes hard for a little bit. Mostly uncomfy if im sitting because my rib cage squashes against the top of my belly.Ive been getting those since somewhere around 30 weeks.

Ive had one or two "menstural" cramp feelings in the past week, which I think may be things gearing up since my due date is in 2 days. Not very painful but definitely different then the BH contractions.

jeffrae

4realyo:

I have never had menstrual cramps, but I would imagine they feel different since my BH are not painful. It just feels like a quick tightening/hardening of my belly. Sometimes itll take my breath away just because Im not expecting it & its a little uncomfy but not painful.

actually, BH can be painful.  I have been experiencing this first hand.  The first ones I had were not....just a tightening of the tummy and sometimes a little uncomfortable.  More recently they have been very strong, I can't move that well through them, and I have the menstral like cramping and slight back pain.  I think they are different for everyone.

lzybeanie

mine felt exactly like menstrual cramps. i was shocked by this - didn't realize it until the doc told me i was having contractions! i never had BH so i can't compare.

mamaofliam

My early labour contractions with Liam felt just like BH. No pain, nothing.

This time around my BH are actually sort of painful with crampy feeling.

smurfetteinred

Contractions can be very different for everyone. They can feel more like BH with a tightening of your stomach, they can feel like that but accompanied with pain, they can feel crampy like you would get during AF or (if you're not used to getting af cramps in your back) they can feel like a dull pain in your lower back.

With my ds they started with a dull pain in my lower back (which did not suprise me as all my af cramps are in my back) and became a very hard pain in my lower back and then moved around to include my abdoman as well - complete with the tightening that you get with bh.