"Timeable" Contractions?

CatfishAnn

The past couple of nights, I've had fairly strong contractions-- stronger than my usual BH contractions-- along with a crampy feeling in my lower belly, and occasional stabbing pains in my crotch.  I try to time the contractions, but they seem to last continuously for quite a long time.  A contraction will start to ease up, but then strengthen again almost immediately.   The crampy feeling makes it even more difficult to tell when one contraction ends and another starts, because it doesn't always go away between contractions.  I have to sit here and mush my belly every few seconds to feel how hard it is and determine when it's really a contraction.  Sometimes LO fools me by pushing her butt or back up against my belly, forming a hard area that feels like a contraction-- she's a prankster already!

Anyway, for you April mamas that actually had April babies, what were your contractions like when you actually went into labor?  Were they pretty obviously different from false labor?  How uncomfortable were they?  Did you know you were in labor, or did you have doubts?   Thanks for your help, and please send some labor dust my way! 

katlizabeth

Labor dust your way!

This time, my real labor was very different than false.  There was no doubting it at the time-it was much more painful, although the contractions were not really timeable (well, they were, but as we saw when I was at the hospital, some were 2-5 minutes apart, but others started before the last one ended).  Mine got very uncomfortable - but I was 5 cm when I got to the hospital.  Unlike my previous labor when I knew I was in a labor because my water broke, but my contractions were quite bearable when I got to the hospital (I was 3 cm then).  

misssurly

My water broke at 7:30 am and I started timing contractions although it was kind of hard to known when they started/stopped for the first couple hours. It definitely got more clear over those 2 hours they were real as they got more intense and timeable. I was hesitant that morning to ask my hubby to come home in case it was false labour. Sending labour dust your way - good luck!!