BH's are kickin' my butt! - Page 3

[mum5]

Pulling a sickie is a great idea Joy. Do it!!

[Periwinkle]

Bump...

Anyone else:

a) notice far, far fewer BH now then in the mid-20's? I am 35 weeks (almost) and compared to when I was 26 weeks they are so much less frequent!

b) notice that the ones you DO get s-u-c-k? Man, now when I get a BH it's the full-on 1 minute of red-faced, flushed, total tightening. Not painful yet, but they make me take notice that's for sure.

Just wondering where everyone else is at with their BHs....

[mainemom]

I haven't had a ton of them, but the ones I have are strong and long. This baby is going through such a little wiggle phase right now, though. Yesterday, I swear it put a foot on my right kidney and tried to jump through the left side of my belly. I could see my stomach literally jumping with each bounce. Settle down, baby! I usually get BH after moving something heavy, etc. and always get one after I use the bathroom--weird.

[HelloKitty]

I'm getting much more BH's then I did before actually - I get them pretty much all day and night. They also involve my back a lot more then now, where earlier on they were strickly my belly. Some are VERY painful, others not so bad. Had one the other day that literally had me falling over in pain - ouch.

Kitty

[threeforme2005]

Does anyone's BH's leave you feeling breathless? Almost like a tightening in your chest? That's how I know I'm having one...my uterus gets rock hard and I start having a little bit of trouble breathing until it passes. OMG it sucks! Am I the only one here?

[Periwinkle]

Originally Posted by threeforme2005

Does anyone's BH's leave you feeling breathless? Almost like a tightening in your chest?

Yup. Me to a tee. I get flushed, breathless, and a tightness in my chest... increasing, peaking, then decreasing right with the contraction. Fortunately my BH only last <1 minute. oooooohhh can't wait till labor.

[Periwinkle]

Groan. So here I am at 11:50PM in my kitchen drinking water mixed with Gatorade (24 oz. so far). I've been having BH's off an on all night, but since "going to bed" at 10:30, I think they've picked up. They got worse when I layed down in bed, which actually isn't that uncommon for me.

Anyone else have contractions that actually get worse or don't improve doing the whole lying on the left side bit? I'm just 35 weeks and want another 2 weeks minimum. This better just be some bad "BH kickin my butt" and not the real deal. :

[shannon0218]

Geez Peri, I'm glad I checked in, me too!!!! since about 10:15, and yes, mine get worse when I lay on left side--it's also where they hurt most.
I've had so much to drink now that I now know I'm going to be up peeing all friggin nihgt.
I just broke down adn took a dose of demerol, if that doesn't help I'm likely going to have to make my way into the hospital, I'm also 35w and a few days, too early just yet little Molly, you gotta wait at least until next week!!

[shannon0218]

Oh yeah and that's the other thing, I've been pooping all bloody day!! At least it's not diarrhea, but it is loose and for someone who's lucky if she can go every other day, this is getting a little tired!
Oddly, I just now got up and am sitting here at the computer with a can of Ginger Ale and that for some reason seems to be settling them down.
While part of me hopes this is it, I really do want her to wait, after all, I can't give birth at my local hospital until 36 weeks gestation adn I definitely DON'T want to be transferred to a hospital that has a nursery and more interventions. That and I feel so strongly that my doctor needs to be the one to hand us this baby. Lately I've been thinking so much about what she said to me when we were waiting to go in for the last d&c, she put a hand on my knee and promised me she was going to do everything she could to figure out what was going on and to be able to have me go home with a healthy baby. She's been there through every crappy part of this pregnancy and she's worked as hard as we have to get Molly this far, she deserves to be there for the good part!

[Marcela]

BH are ok!

Hi ladies,

I haven't posted much, but have been keeping up on different threads. I may have said before that I'm a doula and a childbirth educator. I'm also 36 weeks pregnant with my first! I wanted to pipe in on this thread... Braxton-Hix contractions are great and absolutley not a problem. The uterus is an amazing, strong muscle and it's toning itself. Some of you have said that you noticed some tightening in the 20's weeks... well I think we can feel them more now since our babies are bigger. Dehydration and a stressful/ active day will certainly bring them on more, but that's not necessairly a problem.

I hesitate to call anything "false" labor because everything that is happening is very real and prep work for the real thing!

This is an excellent article about how to know if we're in "real" labor: http://www.parentsplace.com/expert/b...=adid=13087518

About checking our cervices... some women might have a hard time not only because of short arms, but also becase the cervix points postireriorly (towards our back) before it starts to ripen. Our partners might be able to feel better if we're laying down with a pillow or our two fists under our bum. When the cervix starts to make change, it's also not a for sure sign that labor is imminent. This can be drasticaly different for first time mamas and subsequent mamas. I've had clients walk around as much as 4-5 cm dilated for weeks.

Some ladies report the difference in BH contractions and labor ones as being more crampy, and them reaching from the front all the way around to the back. General pelvic achyness... that continues! Also, some can feel cervical change with sharp, funny bone type feeling twinges.

I hope this helps. I'm getting pretty excited like the rest of you.

Marcela in Austin

[Periwinkle]

Hi Marcela. Thanks for the reminder - I need it sometimes. I think you'll find some of us a little edgy about it due to previous experiences with preterm labor (and delivery, in my case, at 31 weeks) or health issues that make preterm labor more likely.

It's so hard sometimes to distinguish what that line is when we should start worrying and when everything is normal. 8 contractions an hour that don't slow down with rest and are accompanied by a lot of diarrhea is pretty concerning, esp. since that was preterm labor for me, e.g., my preterm labor just felt like a lot of BH that wouldn't settle down.

It's good to hear the positive side though. My uterus is going to be ready for labor, that's for darn sure!!

[HelloKitty]

That 7 Questions article to tell if you are having false or true labor kind of cracked me up, I think it is probably pretty accurate if you are expecting your first but the more kids you have the more your BH contractions can feel like the real thing. All of mine include my back, some are so painful I have to moan or can't breath, etc., etc. They feel pretty much exactly like early labor pains. The only way that I know for sure is if they don't stop after a few hours Mine kept me going for 3 hours last night, very stressful!!!

It's all worth it in the end though, I just need to keep reminding myself of that