3rd Trimester

Baby Stretching Out vs. Contractions

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

  • i'm so glad you are asking this, because i have the same issue.. sometimes i think i'm having a contraction and everything is tight but then i feel a little foot sicking out the top and think it must be the baby stretching... i would be very interested to know the difference and  how to tell! 
  • I know what you mean and remember wondering the same thing with DS.  Although honestly I wouldn't worry about those "contractions" even if they were real ones b/c it would just mean that they aren't strong enough to think about yet.  You could also be having a lot of BHs brought on by LO's movements/pushing as well.
    DS born via c/s 11/08 and med-free GD VBAC DD 3/11! Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
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  • 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.

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  • My baby is head down and I surely cannot tell sometimes too. I was wondering this last night because It came to mind that maybe that wasn't baby pushing out but a contraction.
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    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. 

  • imagekg_08:

    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.

    This. 

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