Do you always feel tightening with contractions?

Babycakes29

Specifically I'm asking, when you start having beginning labor pains, do they ALWAYS come with the tightening/contracting or can you ever just have pains that come and go that feel more like period pains?

Lesleyjking

Contractions to me feel like uncomfortable tightening/pressure

hewinked

Mine always felt like menstrual cramps.  With DD, it was constant mild discomfort.  Nothing I could ever time or pinpoint as, yes this is a contraction.  I don't ever recall feeling the tightening sensation til I was pushing, and that's how I knew it was time to push again. 

Babycakes29

I guess my next questions for those who did just have the menstrual like crampy feeling, did you ever have braxton hicks before labor?

My weird thing is I have lots of braxton hicks normally and right now I'm not having any more than normal but this period-like pain is gradually getting more painful and I'm kinda like what's up with all this random pain!

kjoswick

I felt like that yesterday and decided to go to sleep and see if it continued. I woke up and all was well today. So idk. Maybe it's just the body getting ready...?

hewinked

Babycakes29:

I guess my next questions for those who did just have the menstrual like crampy feeling, did you ever have braxton hicks before labor?

My weird thing is I have lots of braxton hicks normally and right now I'm not having any more than normal but this period-like pain is gradually getting more painful and I'm kinda like what's up with all this random pain!

I really don't think I felt BH.  If I did, it's not something I vividly remember.  I think I'm a special case cuz I was actually contracting quite a bit and never felt it.  My anxiety was through the roof with DD, so I got an epidural early.  With DS, I never felt anything until I had Pitocin.  I do not like this cuz here I am 3rd pregnancy and still don't know what the hell I'm supposed to be feeling, haha.

annabelle.27

I'm told my contractions with my son were atypical, but mine didn't feel like tightening/contracting at all. I actually felt like something was bursting, that there was pressure building that was trying to push its way out through my abdomen.

DBride2006

With DS, I definitely had BH. 

I went in for a routine NST and they told me I was having contractions every 3 minutes, but I had NO idea. No sensation, at all... pain, tightening, nothing at all.

Once I got further along, the contractions for me, came in WAVES of horrible cramps. They had a definite start and end, but at that point, I don't recall tightening. It was a bit of a blur.   

hewinked

annabelle.27:

I'm told my contractions with my son were atypical, but mine didn't feel like tightening/contracting at all. I actually felt like something was bursting, that there was pressure building that was trying to push its way out through my abdomen.

I felt this a couple times with this pregnancy!  You describe it perfectly.  I've never felt it with any of my other pregnancies.  It's only happened maybe 4 times so I assumed I was feeling BH or that I stretched in an awkward way. 

Babycakes29

hewinked:

annabelle.27:

I'm told my contractions with my son were atypical, but mine didn't feel like tightening/contracting at all. I actually felt like something was bursting, that there was pressure building that was trying to push its way out through my abdomen.

I felt this a couple times with this pregnancy!  You describe it perfectly.  I've never felt it with any of my other pregnancies.  It's only happened maybe 4 times so I assumed I was feeling BH or that I stretched in an awkward way. 

Me too! Great way to describe it. I'm not having my usual BH that tighten but I do feel an expanding kinda pressure that feels like someone is inflating a balloon in my lower abdomen. 

But while my pain seems to be getting worse, its not necessarily "coming and going". There's no definite start and end. The pain I'm feeling is always there it just kinda feels worse at times. Maybe I having some digestive issues and it just feels abnormal because I'm in the 3rd tri and everything is squished up in there!

lawmom2be

I didn't have tightening either. They were horrible, painful period like cramps that were timeable and slowly increased in pain over time. I didn't have the wrap around sensation that started from the back either. Just cramps like crazy. When I started to have to crouch over and lean against a counter or a bed when they came is when I decided it must be real labor, even though I didn't have anything that was typically described as a "contraction." When I went to the hospital, I was 5 cm, and my contractions were about 3 minutes apart....so yes, you can have them without the tighetening.

 

I had BH often prior to labor as well. Though, I didn't have them nearly as often or as painful as I do now with this pregnancy.

Babycakes29

lawmom2be:

I didn't have tightening either. They were horrible, painful period like cramps that were timeable and slowly increased in pain over time. I didn't have the wrap around sensation that started from the back either. Just cramps like crazy. When I started to have to crouch over and lean against a counter or a bed when they came is when I decided it must be real labor, even though I didn't have anything that was typically described as a "contraction." When I went to the hospital, I was 5 cm, and my contractions were about 3 minutes apart....so yes, you can have them without the tighetening.

 

I had BH often prior to labor as well. Though, I didn't have them nearly as often or as painful as I do now with this pregnancy.

I love this story! Makes me wanna show it to all the know-it-alls in my life and say See! Not every pregnancy is experienced the same way! If I was in your shoes and I chose to listen to the know-it-alls in my world I would have had the baby in my own house because there was never an actual "contraction"!

ahill1889

hewinked:

Babycakes29:

I guess my next questions for those who did just have the menstrual like crampy feeling, did you ever have braxton hicks before labor?

My weird thing is I have lots of braxton hicks normally and right now I'm not having any more than normal but this period-like pain is gradually getting more painful and I'm kinda like what's up with all this random pain!

I really don't think I felt BH.  If I did, it's not something I vividly remember.  I think I'm a special case cuz I was actually contracting quite a bit and never felt it.  My anxiety was through the roof with DD, so I got an epidural early.  With DS, I never felt anything until I had Pitocin.  I do not like this cuz here I am 3rd pregnancy and still don't know what the hell I'm supposed to be feeling, haha.

That's ok!  I'm on my second, and only a few days ago found out what a contraction is supposed to feel like . 

P.S.10

hewinked:

Mine always felt like menstrual cramps.  With DD, it was constant mild discomfort.  Nothing I could ever time or pinpoint as, yes this is a contraction.  I don't ever recall feeling the tightening sensation til I was pushing, and that's how I knew it was time to push again. 

Pretty much exactly this for me, too.

I had BH contractions before labor, but they felt different.  Maybe like really, really mild menstrual cramps that came and went.  I could time my BH contractions, but couldn't really guage when my labor contractions started/ended until they got much stronger.

ETA:  Also, if my water hadn't broke right at the beginning of labor, I wouldn't have known I was in labor until probably 5 or 6 cms,which is when my contractions got strong enough I asked for the epidural.