Can't breathe during contractions??

heavnzangel037

So people are starting to ask me if I've been having any contractions since I'm due in 2 weeks. I honestly can't tell! People are starting to  think I'm nuts. I've seen more than one person mention contractions and breathing in the same sentence. When you're having a contraction, does it feel like it's a little harder to breathe or is it just that painful that it's hard to breathe through? Just trying to find out if maybe I'm having contractions but just don't know what to look for. I'm such a newb!

FinallyMrsBMW

The contractions that I'm having now are still false labor but they definitely take my breath away a little bit.  I can still talk to them and they aren't painful.  The real labor contractions will definitely be painful to the point of needing to breathe much differently than you normally do.

Jessimurph

I have never had a labor contraction, just braxton hicks and some recent cramping.  I wouldn't say it's harder to breathe although I do make a conscious effort to do deep belly breaths when I'm having them as practice for when they hurt.

alissadg

I had some bad contractions last night. But the difficulty in breathing I always seem to have at night...even when I'm not having the contractions.

Mattel

I've had a couple big ones that caused me to hold my breath a little. I was at my NST on Friday and I had one that was causing me to breathe funny, but it wasn't super painful. According to the nurse it was a "huge" contraction. The BH I have don't affect my breathing at all.

mrscurlygurl

I'm not sure if I'm having contractions, but I was woken up last night with a serious pain/cramp down my left side/left back/and a little of the left part of my stomach. It lasts for much longer than a countable minute or so, which is why I'm unsure what it is. FTM here! Since then, it's happened probably 4 or 5 more times and is just tender when it's not really bad. A couple times it's been bad enough where I find myself holding my breath and having to think about breathing through it...

mcgeeva

You can breath through contractions unless your holding your breath due to pain. 

Fergie+1

FinallyMrsBMW:

The contractions that I'm having now are still false labor but they definitely take my breath away a little bit. I can still talk to them and they aren't painful. The real labor contractions will definitely be painful to the point of needing to breathe much differently than you normally do.

This. For me, when contractions 1-pass 'uncomfortable' and hit painful and 2-I feel like I cannot continue to talk through one because I need to concentrate on breathing to get through it... that's when I consider it active labor. Even when I was in active labor with DS1, my contractions were timeable, but not 100% consistent. Even at 7 cm (when I checked in to L&D) they were anywhere from 2-5 minutes apart, but it was the real deal.