Would someone please explain to me....

[OldFashionedGirl]

what contractions feel like?!?!

Everyone keeps talking about having them, the doctor keeps asking me if I'm having them, and I feel like a moron b/c I have no idea what you people are talking about!

I tried to google it, and basically all I got was that they're like orgasms--impossible to describe, but you'll know one when you have it.

So....does that just mean that I haven't had any, yet?

Would someone TRY to explain to me what I'm "looking" for?

[beebs]

with my first i was clueless and didn't feel anything before labor started, even though i would go into my mw appt's and she'd say "oh, you're having a contraction." i would just say, "huh?" the true labor contractions at first felt like i needed to poo, then just felt like really bad diarrhea cramps (with no relief for many hours) the rest of the time. i didn't have any crazy back labor or anything like that.

this time around i recognize the pre-labor contrax. my edd is the 27th. i know it's been happening for a while, but i haven't noticed them all that much until the past week or so, just a lot of tummy tightening episodes. my tummy gets really hard like a rock for a minute or so. not painful, just noticeable this time around. i have no idea if real labor contractions will feel different this time.

hmm. like orgasms? that sounds nice...

[OldFashionedGirl]

There are times when I feel my stomach, and it's definately tightening, and then it goes away. I assume those are contractions, but if I weren't touchng my stomach, I wouldn't know anything different was happening. It usually just feels like the baby's moving strangely.

Yeah, I've really been hoping they felt like orgasms

[katie9143]

ya i understand what you mean with people asking - my mw, my mum, my sil - and today my fiance called a couple times asking if i ever had any contractions....great

i do feel little tightening sensations on the bottom of my stomach - but they are similar to what i always thought was what the round ligament pulling feeling was supposed to feel like (maybe its a contraction...who knows). sometimes there is definitely a tightening, but it doesnt hurt at all. i feel dumb when people ask and i say "ya i guess so" or "hrm..i dunno" like some kind of an idiot.

i have enough fat on my stomach too that when i think i might be having a contraction and i try to feel from touching my stomach that i dont feel anything at all - so you're up on me there!!

[ibusymomto5]

BH feel like a tightening sensation but aren't uncomfy/painful. I usually have lots of those in the last trimester which increase in frequency and intensity, but even at their most intense are not really even uncomfortable. I sometimes feel my heart pounding a little harder with those and am very aware of my stomach getting hard as a rock and then slowly releasing. Feels kind of neat to me.

Real/active labor contractions are more like super, super bad menstrual cramps for me but with an ebb and flow instead of just being there constant. They're definitely uncomfortable and get your attention, but it's easy enough to focus through them especially knowing they only last a minute or so and you get a break. As labor progresses the waves get stronger and stronger and harder to focus through, at least for me. Usually about the time I'm getting sick of working through the contractions, it seems like transition is just around the corner, and that's when things get interesting and harder to describe.

I think the best way I can describe transition is this.... You know that split second feeling of when you stub your toe or hit your funny bone, and you just want to tighten every muscle in your body and somehow escape? That's kind of how transition contractions feel like to me. Only I know that if I just resist the urge to tighten up and escape(which isn't an option anyway) and instead breathe deeply and try my hardest to relax every muscle in my body that it will make it so much better. But, it's like with every stinking transition contraction I have this little battle in my mind and really have to force myself to relax. It's a huge mind over matter situation for me and is extremely hard work, but thankfully that stage is short.

[MacKinnon]

For me, when cx start they feel like menstrual or diarrhea cramps. They start in or near my back and wrap around, then radiate down the front of my thighs. My belly gets hard to the touch. Mine felt the same from the beginning to the end but they increased in intensity and frequency as I got closer to delivery. With DD I woke up with cx 5 minutes apart, looked at DH and said, "This is it! These are for real." I can't tell you why I knew that they were different from the prodromal labor I had been having, but I did. I wish I knew now why I knew then they were different because I am having alot of prodromal labor and I wonder how long it will go on before I realize that I am really in labor! It's a different kind of pain that I have ever experienced. The break between cx makes them tolerable in a way that breaking a leg doesn't, KWIM? I have a friend who swears she never felt a single braxton hicks or prelabor contraction prior to actually going into labor with BOTH of her children! So, it might not be that you don't know what you are feeling for, but that you are just having BH that are quiet enough you don't notice.

[Shazer]

My whole stomach gets hard and tight with BH and it does feel like a large belt has been cinched around my middle. The tightness is like the feeling when I tighten my calf or arm muscles. Then in the past few weeks I've noticed period like cramping to go along with the contractions. I don't know what real labor feels like, though.

[storychick]

In addition to what other people are describing in terms of cramping & the sensations moving, I get a pulling sensation in my vagina/cervix, and lots of downward pressure. Of course, I am getting this with my prelabor/prodromal as well as remembering it from previous labors. My water broke to start labor both times before and the contractions immediately changed in some undefinable way from the prelabor and BH I'd been having before that... and somehow I just knew it was labor. With DS I had back labor so in addition to the contraction I would feel a sharp stabbing pain in my lower spine as well.

"Real" contractions for me also involve a wave-like pattern to the pressure/pain... I can feel the build-up, a distinct peak, then the let-down. BH never did that for me.

This time has been more confusing so far. Last night I was pretty sure I was in labor, with regular progressive contractions that involved a lot of pressure sensations & some wave action, but no dice, they petered out. I think not only is it a bit different for every woman, its a bit different with every baby!

[ibusymomto5]

Originally Posted by ilovemyavery

I have a friend who swears she never felt a single braxton hicks or prelabor contraction prior to actually going into labor with BOTH of her children! So, it might not be that you don't know what you are feeling for, but that you are just having BH that are quiet enough you don't notice.

One of mine was exactly like that! I honestly was never aware of BH, nor did I have any build up prelabor stuff. It was a fast labor and my earliest delivery, one day before my due date as opposed to going over like I usually do. When labor came on it was all of a sudden and very intense. The mws barely made it in time. I spent the last few weeks of that pregnancy worrying that something wasn't right, because I wasn't having any BH or build up stuff like I usually do. I guess it just goes to show that each time can be so different.

[wendyk]

For me the BH are as described- a tightening sensation. I don't remember if they had that kind of increasing then decreasing sensation the first time around, but they definitely do this time. They've gotten a lot more uncomfortable this time, too.

The real contractions were completely different. For me, they felt like really strong intestinal cramps- like from a GI illness or an irritable bowel syndrome kind of thing- only they were over my uterus instead of over my intestines. They also had the increasing then peak then decreasing sensation, but didn't start out mildly then increase in intensity over time. They started out strong.

With DD#1 I didn't have anything other than BH until the 9 hours of irregular real ones before I went into "real" labor. Seems to be the case with this one as well. A fair amount of BH, but nothing I'd call a "real' contraction. My water didn't break w/ dd#1. Who knows what'll happen this time...

[ryleigh'smama]

Originally Posted by ilovemyavery

I have a friend who swears she never felt a single braxton hicks or prelabor contraction prior to actually going into labor with BOTH of her children! So, it might not be that you don't know what you are feeling for, but that you are just having BH that are quiet enough you don't notice.

I never felt a single BH cx with dd1, not one. I was so frustrated, and I knew I was having them cause I was dilated and effaced for weeks before she was born so something had to be happening, but I didn't feel anything. This time I have felt a lot of BH's for months now, they feel like my stomach is hardening sometimes, and sometimes I feel a little "crampy". For me, with dd1, real contractions started with a back ache in my lower back. I didn't even realize they were contractions, it just felt like a back ache that came and went....not too bad...then my water broke, THAT is when I knew that they were contractions because they hurt a lot more. I had back labor though, this time I am hoping for a whole different experience.

[CTMOMOF2]

Originally Posted by ibusymomto5

Real/active labor contractions are more like ... bad menstrual cramps for me but with an ebb and flow instead of just being there constant. They're definitely uncomfortable and get your attention, but it's easy enough to focus through them especially knowing they only last a minute or so and you get a break. As labor progresses the waves get stronger and stronger and harder to focus through, at least for me....it seems like transition is just around the corner, and that's when things get interesting and harder to describe.

I will generally agree with this quote... and say that for ME, PRESSURE, PRESSURE, PRESSURE, not really pain. with ds (my first)... all lower back pressure, as if someone had set something really heavy (like a house) on my back... 60-90 seconds... then tottally normal, could run a marathon inbetween... w/dd (my second), all cervical pressure, more like a sharp something poking directly on my cervix, along w/the weighted pressure but instead of on my back, it was inside the center of me... again 60-90 seconds, totally normal again.

Transition... exactly as described above, only lasting 90-120 seconds with only a 1-2 minute repreve... just enough time to catch your breath and get the next one... fear begins to take over, like oh s**t, can i really do this?? The answer is YES... it is NOT going to get WORSE than this... although you may think it is... immediately after this, you get an overwhelming feeling you must bear down and push (like taking a poop!), and you push... hopefully, if you are like me... 3 pushes, baby is out, and you have ZERO discomfort... all contractions, pressure and everything is GONE!! little things like after "pains" and stitches, but you hardly notice a thing... you feel like you just did an olympic sport, so those little things are like mosquito bites...

Just remember, YOU CAN DO IT.... It WONT get TOO Bad... no matter what you brain tells you during it!!

[ibusymomto5]

Originally Posted by CTMOMOF2

3 pushes, baby is out, and you have ZERO discomfort... all contractions, pressure and everything is GONE!! little things like after "pains" and stitches, but you hardly notice a thing... you feel like you just did an olympic sport, so those little things are like mosquito bites...

Oh, I love that description.. mosquito bites! That's exactly what it's like. There's nothing in the world like that incredible feeling that comes right after natural childbirth, and yes all that stuff afterwards is no biggie.

[FireflyFan]

I gotta admit, I'm dreading the afterpains, and the Midol has been bought!!! :/

[skueppers]

Non-labor contractions for me are only in the belly; it feels like my belly just gets hard. They can be painful, especially if I'm walking or something, but not in the same way as labor contractions. They last an irregular amount of time, and are more prevalent if I'm doing something physical.

Labor contractions start in my lower back, then "wrap around" to the belly, building in intensity until they peak and start to ebb again. As others have said, they feel more like menstrual cramps, too. I recognized the very first one I ever had as being completely different from anything I'd felt before.

Oh, and labor contractions don't go away if you lie down and rest.