Real Contractions?

[Laurie73]

It's been 9 years since I've done this, so I'm not sure if what I am feeling is the real deal or not.

Saw MW today and she stripped what was left of my membranes. I'm at 3 cm but she could stretch me to 4. Anway, for the past 2 hours, I've been having what I think may be contractions every 10 mins apart - it starts in the low back and spreads to my abdomen. Doesn't hurt a lot, everything just tightens up and gets very hard. Moving around doesn't lessen the sensation either.

I called my ex to take my DS for an overnight in the event that things progress and I won't have to worry about waking him up in the middle of the night.

Does this sound like the "real deal" to you?

[wombatclay]

It could be...but a good membrane sweep should jump start contractions. If you're ready to go the contractions should pick up into "real" labor but if you're not ready they'll sort of fade away again.

You might try a warm bath or shower, a glass of wine or beer, and some general activity to see if that changes the contractions. A nap (if you can swing it with a little one in the house) is another good idea. You said they don't change when you move around though, so that's a good sign that this could be the real deal so to speak.

Happy birthing!

[sally Z]

alos having lots of rock hard but not very painful contration today. Dh leaves in 6 hours...

[brittneyscott]

It's possible that it's the real thing but there's no way to be sure except to wait and see if they get any closer together or stronger. I had ctx like this that were regular and painful about a week and half ago but it turned out to be false labor. I thought it was the real thing but wasn't ready to go to the hospital yet so I took a hot bath to relax and went to sleep, when I woke up they were gone. I never felt anything like this when I was in labor with DD though so every baby is different. Wish you luck though either way.