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What are contractions like?

kittens03kittens03 member
in 3rd Trimester
I am known to ignore pain and discomfort. So any bit of what to expect is appreciated. I shrug things off like everything is fine when I shouldn't.
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Re: What are contractions like?

  • meggymemeggyme member
    When they are impossible to ignore go to the hospital.
    DD1: June '16 DD2: March ‘19 :::: Married since 2011 :::: USN Wife ::::
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  • paytonpedropaytonpedro member
    Contractions are impossible to ignore. 
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  • swizzlemalarkeyswizzlemalarkey member
    edited February 2022
    Yeah…you’ll know. 
    It was hard for me to even walk to the restroom, urinate, and simple tasks like brush my teeth/hair.
    my Braxton Hicks felt more crampy than the internet said they would feel like. But full blown contractions are another beast entirely. 
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  • wishiwaspreggowishiwaspreggo member
    edited February 2022
    I'd say, too, it depends on how bad your menstrual cramps are. I didn't realize I was in labor myself. I had what felt like moderate menstrual camps the night I had my twins... it was uncomfortable but I could still breathe and talk without a problem. Because the cramps were about 5 minutes apart I went to the hospital. I'd get a wave that felt like "It's time to take Advil" level cramping and then it would go away for 5 minutes and then it came back. When I went to L&D the nurse told me I wasn't presenting like someone in labor (i.e. I wasn't expressing enough pain apparently) and tried to send me home. Luckily a doctor stopped me and did a cervix check. Whaddaya know, 6 cm dilated and 98% effaced. I was prepped for a c section then and there. If I'd have gone home I'd have started active labor and I wouldn't have made it back. Given my smaller twin was poised to come out first and my bigger twin was breach at least 2 of us would have died. Not trying to scare you but think of how your body copes with pain during your cycle. Mine is really bad. But I've learned to live with it because it's been happening since I was 12 and you can't really do lamaze breathing when you're in a staff meeting so you just sit there and space out while dabbing sweat off your forehead and wait for the pain medicine to kick in. ETA: for scale, if I don't keep up on pain medicine I can't breathe when it reaches my max pain. It radiates from my front to the back and the tops of my legs. Nausea. It's really bad.
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  • twizzleraddict1twizzleraddict1 member
    It’s different for everyone and everyone has a different pain tolerance. I definitely could tell I was having contractions (that would have been impossible to ignore), but I was unsure of whether I actually was in labor or not. At some point I figured it didn’t hurt to go to my ob to get checked out, I was only down the street. Turns out I was 5 cm dilated and very much in labor haha. You’ll definitely know when you’re having contractions though! 
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  • jc0820jc0820 member
    For me, it just felt like waves of a lotttt of pressure and your belly…contracting… lol I can’t find another word to describe it. Also felt like a truck was trying to come out of my butt. Also felt like that horrible feeling you get when your stomach is just about to vomit. Then when the contraction is done, you feel fine lol they get closer and closer together though so eventually you don’t get much of a break in between. It’s a very weird feeling not what I was expecting at all. Very hard to describe.
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