How do you know if you are in Early Labor?

ctana

Acc'g to What to Expect when You're Expecting, Early labor is when your cervix dilates to 3cm and you start to efface. Contractions last 30-45 seconds on average and may be regular or irregular but not necessarily consistent. They also say this phase can be a matter of hours, days or more.

My question is - does anyone know if this is any different from BH during the late weeks of pregnancy?  Is the main difference being early labor causes cervical change where BH does not? 

FTR, I am 3.5cm and 50% effaced yet all I keep hearing is "I must be just having Braxton Hicks".  Not from my doc (my next appt is this afternoon and I'll get clarification then). 

I was induced w/my DS, so I never experienced natural onset of labor. 

 

ETA:  My contractions are rock hard, and when sitting down not just walking. They are timeable and are happening at regular intervals (only fizzle out after an hour or two).   

 

Mjmksb04

One of my friends told me that you can differentiate between BH contractions and real contractions by sitting in a warm bath, because that usually makes BH contractions stop. Yes, BH contractions are just the uterus "practicing" for real labor and won't cause the cervix to dilate.

ZoeyMarie

At our birthing class, we were told that BH are not timeable, meaning that they aren't on a schedule that you can find of any type. Also, BH usually go away by moving around or changing positions. During a real contraction, according to the class and my Dr., your uterus is rock hard--like pushing your finger against your forehead--whereas BH are more like pushing your finger against your nose or maybe your chin--there's a little give.

mrsashby

I personally think it will be hard for me to tell if I'm in early labor...unitl I progess into active labor...I was induced with my first so I can't really say...

I was walking around 2-3 cm dialated for about 3 weeks before my induction...so was I in "early labor" during that time...IDK!

nosoup4u

You can also have prodromal/practice labor, where you contract and dilate, but it stops and starts. With BH, if you do the opposite of what your doing (sit down if you're on your feet, get active if you're relaxing), they usually stop. 

It sounds like you're well on your way to going into labor on your own!

JLSmith124

I have an irritable uterus and have been getting BH every 2-10 minutes since 25 weeks. The difference is that your cervix doesn't shorten or dilate. I also find that BH are not painful at all, and real contractions are quite painful. Hope that's helpful