I am really bad at timing contractions

psychdoc12 · September 2013

Does anyone else find it impossible to time contractions? When do they start? When do they end? Everything hurts. How will I ever know if I'm 5-1-1 at this rate?

CousinVicki · September 2013

it's hard for me too, i have been having A LOT of bh's lately, so i just sorta estimate depending on how hard my uterus gets / when pain stops/starts ha. i am using a free app called 'full term' which helps, and tells you how many an hour you are having.

aesisson88 · September 2013

I got the same app. I was so confused on how to time them.

psychdoc12 · September 2013

Oh, so it stops after the peak? I've been trying to figure out when the pain was gone completely, which is hard. It's looking like mine are about six minutes apart, but I can still talk through them. Nervewracking!

tashad18 · September 2013

I'm not help. With DS I felt no pain. I told the OB I wasn't having any contractions and when they hooked me up to the monitor apparently I was. I have a high pain threshold I guess. I'm so afraid with this one I'm going to have the baby at home because I don't realize what is going on.

cdbayes · September 2013

Haven't even attempted timing them yet! Good info to know when I start

CousinVicki · September 2013

crunchymama11 said:

Contractions are timed from the start of one to the start of another. So if you have one that starts at 11:00 and another one that starts at 11:05, then the contractions are 5 minutes apart.

The duration is from the start of the contraction to the peak. Once the contraction starts to subside, then you stop counting. A contraction is like a wave. Once you are over the top of the wave, then you have reached your peak.

this just confused me more. i was timing them from start of tightness/ pain to the end of it. so i knew how long each one was lasting. ??

Mae208 · September 2013

There's an app for that

ejh090305 · September 2013

And if you miss one because you are in another room it throws off the whole timing. I put my girls to bed last night and it took half hour, so everything was inaccurate after that.

marianaz0 · September 2013

Ummm I'm pretty sure you count from the beginning, through the peak, until the end ... So you know how long they accurately last

psychdoc12 · September 2013

I did a quick google search and the first sites that I get all say to time "until the end of the contraction." Nothing about the peak. Has anyone else heard to stop timing at the peak?

marianaz0 · September 2013

marianaz0 said:

crunchymama11 said:

marianaz0 said:

Ummm I'm pretty sure you count from the beginning, through the peak, until the end ... So you know how long they accurately last

No. After the peak, the contraction isn't working for you anymore. It's not doing anything to dilate you. So you stop counting at the peak.

That's not entirely true... To accurately assess the duration of a contraction you count until the end!

I've been counting and timing contractions every day for 5+ years at work... In L&D

psychdoc12 · September 2013

I wish I had gotten more detail on timing contractions in my class. It sounds easier than it ends up being!

CMireles2 · September 2013

I was told by my ob and in my class the entire duration... Beginning to end.

marianaz0 · September 2013

psychdoc12 said:

I wish I had gotten more detail on timing contractions in my class. It sounds easier than it ends up being!

The 'full term' free app a pp mentioned is pretty good if you can download it... you literally just hit 'start' when you start getting uncomfortable/tightness and hit 'stop' when you feel like it ends - we recommend it to pts

GL!

psychdoc12 · September 2013

marianaz0 said:

psychdoc12 said:

I wish I had gotten more detail on timing contractions in my class. It sounds easier than it ends up being!

The 'full term' free app a pp mentioned is pretty good if you can download it... you literally just hit 'start' when you start getting uncomfortable/tightness and hit 'stop' when you feel like it ends - we recommend it to pts
GL!

Maybe it's iPhone only? I wasn't able to find it for Android. I did find one called Contraction Timer that is working well. It's knowing when to hit start and stop that is proving difficult.

bionicb · September 2013

I have a pregnancy app that has a contraction tracker that I have been using. I compared it to the monitor at my last nst and the tech/nurse/doc seemed to agree that timing is from start of contraction, till the tightness goes away. But I'm thinking I'm going to ask my doc on tuesday.

(Android app- WomanLog Pregnancy Pro. I use the non pregnancy one normally for keeping track of periods and such as well.)

TXswissmiss · September 2013

I ended up in L&D the other night with crazy period-like cramping and intermittent back pain that just wouldn't go away (went in after about 4hrs of it) - turned out they were pretty big contractions, about 2 every 5 minutes. Even hooked up the only way I could tell was by putting my hand on my stomach as the other pain was so constant.... Anyway, they decided that even though baby had descended within the monitoring time frame they didn't think they were "working contractions" and released me home - midwife looked so sad for me and kept apologizing for sending me home with no solution for the pain.... Ohhh well! Still havin them fairly regularly (at least I think!) and can't time them for the life of me.....

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