Braxton Hicks vs. Contractions...

[lilyblossom]

Ok ladies, so how do you really know the difference between the two? I've had BH for sure before and it's never been anything more than a tight belly. Today, DH and I DTD, went for 2 long walks and now I'm starting to have that hardening of the belly along with some VERY mild back pain (I hate to even call it pain, but it does feel tight and sore in my back area) and some mild cramping low in my pelvis. I can tell it's not the baby pushing out because my whole belly gets hard but I've had a bunch of them, they don't seem regular, but I get really flushed and hot when they come.

Can contractions be irregular or are they not defined as contractions until they are? I still don't feel like this baby is ready to come out yet but it seems like maybe my body is starting to prepare. Perhaps I should take off for maternity leave next week .

[True Blue]

It may not be labor just yet, but they could still be productive early contractions. For me, when it was labor, I just knew. Even though they were mild, they were very regular. Like every 2 minutes (I did not have a textbook labor with my first, even my mw doubted anything productive was happening..which made me mad...I knew otherwise and went to the hospital, was 4cm when I got there, and I was pushing less than 3 hours later). With DD, my water broke first though so I knew when I felt contractions it was labor LOL.

[day-by-day]

I'm not sure how to explain the difference, but I have always been able to tell the difference between BH and "real" contractions as soon as I felt the real thing. For me, the BH made my belly tight and hard and all balled up but didn't feel like it was moving anything (if that makes any sense.) Real contractions feel like they are pushing/pulling in a downward direction (which, of course, they are) and are more distinct. Also they are accompanied with pelvic pressure.

[smokeylo]

My midwife says if I feel them in my back or they are all over (including low), that they're more like the "real thing" than BH which are more a tightening across the top. I've definitely had some more-than-BH or quasi-"real" ctx in the last few days that didn't go anywhere. I'm ok with that, I figure they must be doing SOMETHING, maybe moving my cervix or effacing or something. I'm not quite 38 weeks, so I have plenty of reason to think my kid will be staying inside for awhile longer.

I have a friend who said she had a very hard time distinguishing between BH and "real" ctx in early labor, so who knows. I think the regular pattern would give things away.

I'm really interested in how other ppl answer this question, too - BH didn't feel the way I thought they would so I wonder if "real" ctx will, either.

[LawrenceDoula]

With my daughter I had a ton of BH contractions that never felt like more than tightening. This time I have some of those, but a lot of crampy tightening contractions with lots of pressure. I'm not sure if it's just being the second time or what. For what it's worth, even though my BH were never that bad with my daughter I was at 4cm by the time labor really started. Then my contractions felt like cramps, kind of like what they feel like now.

So basically I don't have an answer! Just that there's so many different ways it can be or feel - for each woman and each pregnancy. I've been having a pretty good back ache the last 2 days and hoping it's a sign things are kicking in, but like I said, it's been a few days. The anticipation can be torture!!

[LoveChild421]

To me "real" contractions make your uterus get really hard at the top and feel like a huge squeezing sensation radiating down. I do get flushed and hot during them like my whole body is surging. I had some really good ones when I was stuck in the hospital for the non-stress test the other night...the nurses were surprised at how strong they were measuring on the monitor. But I think even braxton-hicks are "real" in the sense that it is your body warming up.

[aircantu1]

For me -- braxton hicks don't hurt or have any sensation other than tightening.

With the real thing, the pain/ cramping sensation is more obvious than the tightening.

And they don't have to be regular to be the real thing. I made it all the way to 8/9 centimeters and 100% effaced with my first and didn't think I was really in labor because the contractions were still erratic and totally irregular -- up to 10+ minutes apart.

They say, "you'll know" but maybe I'm always in denial because I've never had a clue. We'll see if this time is any different.

[NamastePlatypus]

I had alot of BH's it is tight but not uncomfortable, I wouldn't know it usaully if I had not been leaning agains the counter or something like that. At the end month ( I was a 3 and hlaf for a month with him and he was fully encaged that whole time) i felt alot of cervial pressure, not really pain but pressure. ( when I did go into labor with him I had hypertonic ctx)
THIS time I have had fewwer BH's and now that I know how REAL ctx feel alot more of those, i never felt with e. I have been feeling them ALOT this week and more and more eveyday. It will start off really low around my pubic bone area and feel like a REALLLY bad intestinal cramp for about 30 seconds then it will move up my belly and it gets really hard and crampy for about 2 min and then it fades down. HTH

[slgt]

It sounds like - as with everything in pregnancy and birthing - every woman has a different experience! Wouldn't it be nice of there were SOMETHING predictable about this whole process?!

I'd been having a lot of B-H the past several weeks. Earlier this week, they were coming very frequently throughout the day. They don't bother me at all - more of an interesting sensation than any type of discomfort (wait, how is my body doing THAT without me telling it to?!). However they seem to have slowed considerably and I'm only getting a couple a day now. Hope that doesn't mean that anything is slowing down!

[cocoschmoco]

Great post - it's really nice reading about other women's sensations/symptoms. I've noticed that I am contracting, but I think they are still more BH - not painful (though I have had a few crampy times this week...).

I'm thinking something's practicing at least, though, because it seems like the second the sun goes down, my uterus revs up and contracts like crazy on and off all night, hee hee.

[LoveChild421]

Originally Posted by cocoschmoco

it seems like the second the sun goes down, my uterus revs up and contracts like crazy on and off all night, hee hee.

same here...today is the first day I've had any activity still when I woke up.

[smokeylo]

Well, this has been very helpful to me! I have definitely been experiencing some contractions over the last week. Wooppeee!! I think it's interesting that mine tend to happen when I settle in to read in bed -- I thought they were supposed to go AWAY when you lie down .