Contractions?

[veganjoy]

This is going to sound odd, but for those who've been in labor: what are contractions like? I've been having BH contractions, frequently, for a number of months now. I just assumed "real" contractions would be just like that (firm uterus), but painful.

I'm now having intermittent cramping, without the firm uterus. Is that like a contraction, or just cramps?

[isosmom]

For myself, and it's going to be different for everyone, bh felt nothing like real labor cntx. My labor cntx began like menstrual cramps and were lower, while my bh were always higher up. Bh are also pretty random whereas cntx have some sort of rhythm to them.

[chrysalis]

i don't know how to describe a ctx vs a bh...but they are definitely different. ctx's are much more intense...just make you have to stop in your tracks and breathe and focus...and they get more and more intense, obviously...just remember when they get real intense and you think you can't do it, you are probably entereing transition (or are still before) and that your ctx's are not more powerful than you cuz they ARE you. feel your power mama! i have to remind myself of this too. don't let them scare you...just flow with them. do u have a doula?

[GooeyRN]

Originally Posted by isosmom

For myself, and it's going to be different for everyone, bh felt nothing like real labor cntx. My labor cntx began like menstrual cramps and were lower, while my bh were always higher up. Bh are also pretty random whereas cntx have some sort of rhythm to them.

Me, too. My real labor was like menstrual cramps down low which kept getting worse and worse. The BH were higher and took up my whole abdomen. They weren't really painful, I just felt tightening.

[DeChRi]

FUnny how I dont remember this from the first time, but....when I have BH's, I can feel everything tighten....feels like a basketball. With real labor cntrx, do you feel the same tightening, but WITH that crampy feeling? Or is it just the crampy feeling at the beginning?

[veganjoy]

Thanks all. What I was feeling last night was a low crampiness. Unlike a period cramp, they actually had a rhythm to them, although I didn't bother timing it. Sometimes my uterus got firm, sometimes not.

It was very, very manageable; I've been having these particular sensations since early last week, and wondered what the heck it was! Hopefully I'll be one of the women who has contrax in bits and pieces, and a shortish labor!

[isosmom]

Joanna - I don't remember the extreme tightening that I have with bh with my labor cntx. Just more of a slightly painful sensation in early labor. In transition I can't honestly say where the pain/tightening was coming from, iykwim. It was all present.

veganjoy - With my first I was contracting for about a month before dd came. Every dr's visit I was dialated more and more. Was nice to get the early labor over with before I was actually "in labor" but she was still a week late.

[Curlita]

We always teased my mother because when asked what labor felt like, she said (in her stoic, Scandinavian way), "Like good hard cramps." So when I was in labor last time around and my sister asked me what it felt like, I sheepishly told her, "Well... like good hard cramps.'

My last labor started out feeling like indigestion and cramping, and then I realized that it was rythmic cramping. I don't remember the uterus tightening up like it does with a BH, but it has been a while. ANd there is probably A LOT of variation from person to person.

[brooklyn_warbler]

Originally Posted by Curlita

We always teased my mother because when asked what labor felt like, she said (in her stoic, Scandinavian way), "Like good hard cramps." So when I was in labor last time around and my sister asked me what it felt like, I sheepishly told her, "Well... like good hard cramps.'

i love everything i hear about your fam, erica.