What do contractions feel like?

[Pyxi]

Since around 2pm today I have been having really strong stomach cramps in my lower abdomen that feel like really bad gas cramps. Sometimes they are 5 mins apart. I have also been passing gas with each one (sorry if tmi). I still have 5 weeks til my dd so I really doubt these are contractions, but I just wanted to make sure what they're supposed to feel like.. because ouch, I have not had gas like this before.

[koofie]

It could just be a stomach bug - does your tummy get hard when you feel the pains? I thought I might be in labor a few weeks ago, but it really was just a tummy bug because my uterus was not hard while I was in pain. I took baths or showers to help me feel better.

[doudat]

When I had contractions (the real deal) the top of my stomach would harden first, followed by the rest of my stomach combined with bad cramping (stomach flu-like, made me go to the bathroom).

With false labor, the very top of my stomach never truly hardens...

[babycatcher01]

Could be starting up, or at least doing some prep work.

[lesley&grace]

I'd say it was a combo of gas (which is a lot worse now because your digestive system has been shoved into a space much smaller than it's used to) and Braxton-Hickes Contractions.

BHC feel a lot like real labour contractions, but they are inconsistent with timing and intensity. RLC always get closer together and increase in severity.

My contractions, both BHC and what I remember about my RLC, felt like the worst menstrual cramps ever. As my labour progressed I got a lot of pain in my hips too, felt like they were going to snap apart.

I'm making this sound fun, aren't I?

I also remember being out with my friend when she was expecting her son and she suddenly had to sit because she was having pains that started like cramps that then shot up her spine and out the top of her head. Repeatedly. I thought she was having that baby right there and then, and she looked like she was going to pass out, she got scary pale.

A few minutes later she passed the most foul gas in history. We practically ran out of the mall because she did not want to be associated with that smell, but she felt a lot better

[Pyxi]

Thanks everyone. They stopped around 5 or so, but boy, they hurt! I have had BH before but never with pain. My stomach was getting really hard all over, and the pain was in the front where the baby is, not in the back where my intestines/gas would be. I think maybe the spicy food I had for lunch triggered it...

They were about 15 second long and 5 mins apart for an hour or so, but there were a couple of spans of about 20 mins in 2 hours where I didn't have any.

At least now I know what a contraction feels like. Whew!

[frenchie]

They feel exactly like menstrual cramps, and they progressively get stronger.

[Pyxi]

Do you usually get the cramping with the BHs? I have had BH before and no pain, but yesterday it was definitely quite painful, but the nurse said it was BH.

[doudat]

Nowadays, I get cramping with BH, but it's not the same kinda cramping as real contractions. These feel like menstrual cramps. Not wave-like. Just a cramp. I think as you get closer to your due date, you might find that you start getting BH that are more and more painful.
I don't find real contractions feel like menstrual cramps, but that's just me. I really found they felt like stomach-flu like cramping. The wave that comes and go with gastro-entiritis. And I remember the stomach tightening to the very top of my uterus. With BH, my stomach gets hard, but not the very top of it, right below my breasts.

[peacelovingmama]

I have only ever had pitocin-induced contractions and they felt nothing like menstrual cramps. Or cramps at all. To me, they felt like being pierced with a sword through my back and out my abdomen. I don't mean to scare anyone but that was my experience. I have heard though, that pitocin can make contractions more intense.