Sometimes I cannot tell if a wave of contraction-like tightening is baby really pushing himself out (like he's stretching or something) or an actual contraction.
Any tips for how to tell?
I do not have a good sense of where all of his little parts are. (My dr has said that he is a tough one to feel out externally because he holds his body a little differently from being tranverse for so long.) So it isn't cut and dry for me.
Re: Baby Stretching Out vs. Contractions
My DD was transver/breech until 36 weeks.
When I started having contractions I couldn't tell the difference between that and stretching in the very beginning stages. However, I ended up having menstrual type cramps and back labor that gave it away. Also, after concentrating for a while I realized that the tightening was happening more like a squeezing instead of a push from the inside.
Our baby site: Baby Cragg
I have been in the hospital and on monitors since Sunday, so I have lots of practice in telling the difference, and sometimes it still fools me - when the contractions don't mean anything.
On Sunday when I was in REAL labor, there was no mistaking it. The contractions were tight, hard, painful, and often (though not always) rollled into my back.
Now, I still have lots of contractions, but they're irregular and don't really mean anything. These sometimes I can tell and look at the monitor to see a contraction, but other times I think I'm having one and it's just LO stretching.
So I guess that's a long way of saying you might really just not know... until it counts. Then you'll KNOW.
This.