Contractions????

steph20830

Will I know when I have a contraction?!  I'm a first time Mom & we are 37 1/2 weeks!  :-)  Yay!  Our doctor keeps asking if I've had any contractions & I keep telling her no.  At our last appointment my doctor said I was 50% effaced & 1 cm dilated...that means I've had to have had some contractions right?  At our next appointment we will be 38 weeks, I know she's going to ask me again if I've had any contractions & I still don't think I have!  I'm afraid I'm having them & don't know it!  Is anyone else not feeling their contractions?!

megaloo27

I asked my dr. that and she said I will know if I have true labor contractions, those are the ones that matter. My mom said she barely felt early contractions, but felt the true labor ones. 

erincourtney17

I'm 38 1/2 weeks now and have been 1 cm dialated and 80% effaced for a couple weeks. No contractions for me either! Just normal BH but that's it. I feel like a ticking time bomb....no clue when it's going to go off. Good luck!

Indiechixor

You will know... especially if your water breaks first! I didn't get any contractions until the doctor broke my water (I was being induced) but once that happened...WHOA I could feel them.

Actually, today was the first time i've ever felt a "real" braxton-hicks! They aren't very pleasant...I had them for about 3 hours, they were annoying but definitely not how my contractions felt with my first pregnancy. 

Kristine Schilling

think of a contraction as a kind of all over tummy gas cramp. Thats how they feel to me anyway.

FarmvilleLover

Kristine Schilling:

think of a contraction as a kind of all over tummy gas cramp. Thats how they feel to me anyway.

Is that a true labor contraction or a BH?  I've been having that all over tummy gas cramp feeling a LOT since last night (I'm 39w2d) but not regularly and not timeable.

I'm afraid I won't know what a contraction is, what to look for, and hence won't make it to the hospital in time! 

princessb44@hotmail.com

With a real contraction you will feel you entire uterus harden or tighten. Fell your stomach now it has give but is taught from baby. When you start to feel a tightening or hardening feel you stomach it does not have a much give. You will notice the difference in a contracting uterus and a uterus that s relaxed. 

kaybe24

As a FTM I didn't know what contractions were supposed to feel like either.  At the end of my pregnancy I felt like I had to go to the bathroom all the time.  I would lie in bed and my bladder would feel so full like it would burst and it would be so painful to get out of bed and then there was hardly anything to actually pee.  I think these were early contractions.  The night I went into labor I finally gave up going to the bathroom since it seemed a waste of time.  I had my hand on my stomach and never felt it tighten but I felt these pains that kept getting sharper in my lower abdomen.  Went to the hospital and they were contractions!