What IS This?

patchen30 · June 2011

I've posted about this before but since it's been going on for a few weeks now I thought I'd see again if anyone ever feels something similar. It's so unsettling to me.

I keep getting this strange tightening feeling in my abdomen. It happens every day, anywhere from about every 20 minutes to every few hours. When I poke around, part of my abdomen will be hard (not THAT hard, just a lot more firm than other areas) - it's almost always only part of my abdomen - maybe half - and other parts still feel soft/normal.

I've gone in and gotten checked out for this and my cervix was long/closed. I was also hooked up to the machine to check for contractions and I believe I had one or two of these tightening episodes during that time and they did not register as contractions.

My Dr. just kind of blew it off saying she didn't know what it was, but that a contraction would cause my entire abdomen to harden, and would have a distinct beginning, middle and end. She said it's possible it's the baby changing positions.

It just makes me nervous b/c I have no idea what's "normal" and what isn't. WDYT?

kdussault · June 2011

I think I have felt something similar recently as well... in the last two weeks maybe? I know what you mean about it being unsettling but mine don't seem to last long and are not all that frequent, and usually near the end of my day - so probably due to work and/or not drinking enough during the day... I'm known for that even before pregnancy!

hope you can get some answers to ease your mind.

jcath · June 2011

Last night I swore I was having contractions but it was only on half my stomach and it didn't have a really defined beginning and ending. Earlier this week I had terrible period-like cramps but only on one side (different from the one last night)

I rested both times and eventually it went away so I guess it's just some weird pregnancy related stretching or maybe the baby pushing on something?

diana.filipi · June 2011

Sounds like Braxton Hicks contractions to me. Drinking fluids helps with the duration and severity of them.

Edit to add a blurb of info:

Braxton Hicks Contractions ? What You Need to Know
Braxton Hicks contractions can begin anytime after week 20 of pregnancy. (You'll probably feel them earlier and more intensely if you've been pregnant before.) Braxton Hicks contractions begin as a painless tightening of the uterine muscles, usually lasting about 15 to 30 seconds, but sometimes as long as two minutes, and causing your abdomen to become very hard and strangely contorted (almost pointy). Once you get closer to your estimated due date, these contractions become more frequent and more intense.

diana.filipi · June 2011

To be honest, it blows my mind that your OB didn't tell you that it was just BH. They are very common. Mine didn't make my abdomen pointy just hard. They weren't painful at all. Again, they are VERY common and your OB should have been able to tell you what it was.

patchen30 · June 2011

diana.filipi:

Sounds like Braxton Hicks contractions to me. Drinking fluids helps with the duration and severity of them.

Edit to add a blurb of info:

Braxton Hicks Contractions ? What You Need to Know
Braxton Hicks contractions can begin anytime after week 20 of pregnancy. (You'll probably feel them earlier and more intensely if you've been pregnant before.) Braxton Hicks contractions begin as a painless tightening of the uterine muscles, usually lasting about 15 to 30 seconds, but sometimes as long as two minutes, and causing your abdomen to become very hard and strangely contorted (almost pointy). Once you get closer to your estimated due date, these contractions become more frequent and more intense.

I keep reading that for BH your entire abdomen needs to contract, not just part of it. I don't think my Dr. was considering them any kind of contraction.

Stuckinthemiddle · June 2011

In my non-medical opinion (ha!) I think its probably BH. I've been getting them a lot lately, and it seems that the more I rub my belly (feeling for movement) the more the BH happen. Even certain low cut maternity pants seem to cause them more often for me. My whole abdomen doesn't harden, but my entire ute does (which at this point is almost my whole belly...)

patchen30 · June 2011

Stuckinthemiddle:
In my non-medical opinion (ha!) I think its probably BH. I've been getting them a lot lately, and it seems that the more I rub my belly (feeling for movement) the more the BH happen. Even certain low cut maternity pants seem to cause them more often for me. My whole abdomen doesn't harden, but my entire ute does (which at this point is almost my whole belly...)

See that's the thing - I poke in the places where I KNOW my ute is at this point - so not the outer reaches of my abdomen but like right around my belly button and everything below that - and some of that is sometimes soft.

Is it normal to get frequent BH?

Echloe · June 2011

I get similar aches Patchen and my MFM said they aren't BH if they last more than a minute or 2. He chalked mine up to gas. He told me not to stress unless it comes regularly or in shorter time spans. Another thing I'd like to mention is that your uterus might be too small for the monitor to pick up contractions. When I went in for PTL and ultimately lost my daughter the nurse hooked me up to a monitor and nothing showed up even though I was having obvious contractions. They were painful and regular. After the whole ordeal the doctor told my uterus was too small to register the contractions. I was 21 w at the time. I'm not writing this to scare you. In fact, I really do t think what you are experiencing are contractions or BH. I just think it is interesting they tried the monito on you as they did me since it isn't supposed to work on a small ute.

lmc5004 · June 2011

patchen30:
Stuckinthemiddle:
In my non-medical opinion (ha!) I think its probably BH. I've been getting them a lot lately, and it seems that the more I rub my belly (feeling for movement) the more the BH happen. Even certain low cut maternity pants seem to cause them more often for me. My whole abdomen doesn't harden, but my entire ute does (which at this point is almost my whole belly...)

See that's the thing - I poke in the places where I KNOW my ute is at this point - so not the outer reaches of my abdomen but like right around my belly button and everything below that - and some of that is sometimes soft.

Is it normal to get frequent BH?

I get BH ALL the time....I mean there isnt an hour that goes by when I dont have one and its been that way for like 10 weeks now.

What IS This?

Re: What IS This?

Braxton Hicks Contractions ? What You Need to Know

Braxton Hicks Contractions ? What You Need to Know

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