I need a little bit of help here. If you are reading this and you have given birth before, please please please could you leave a comment and describe what your contractions felt like? I'm an idiot on most days, but as my due date creeps closesr, I can't help but feel totally clueless about the impending labour. I find myself constantly thinking,"When are contractions going to start?". I have no idea what to expect or what they feel like. I'm waiting for something similar to my gallstone attacks or my chest pains - shooting, painful, throbbing that just about drop me to my knees.
You don't have to leave your name...you can stay totally anonymous. And you never have to comment again, but I would just really appreciate reading different women's takes on what their contractions felt like. While I know that no two women are going to feel the exact same thing, I would just like a wide variety of symptoms to pull from.
So far I've been told that it feels like a rolling sensation and someone else described them as if a balloon was slowly filling up in their belly. Over the past few days, I've had moments where my belly gets really hard, really quickly but it passes. I'm not sure if those are contactions though because they don't hurt. Am I to be expecting something that knocks me on my ass with the very first one I feel?
I know that time will eventually answer my question, but I can't help thinking I just might be the first woman in history to not know she's in labour. What I do know is that I refuse to pee when I'm at Walmart...Lord help me if I end up being the second woman to have a baby in that bathroom.
Update: The one thing I am waiting for is a dream about having contractions. It may sound totally weird to wait for this, but I have good reason. Throughout my life, the night before I get my period, I always dream about "it" showing up. So I'm figuring the same will happen with my contractions. Only time will tell, I suppose :-)
For me, because my babe was posterior and trying to escape through my arse rather than my..um...well, you know - felt like my sphincter was being pushed out, inside out,through my "pubic/anal" area. Graphic, I know, but you asked!!! haha
ReplyDeleteIt hurt. Alot. You will frickin know when you have a contraction - trust me!!!
Was that the very first thing you felt though? Or did it start off more mildly than that?
ReplyDeleteI bet you're having Braxton Hicks contractions. The real deal feels like that but eleventy million times worse. That may be a slight exageration.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Deena. I actually asked the doctor about BH because I thought I had never had them and she said every pregnant woman has them to varying degrees. The doc described exactly what you said about the tightening and release of the belly. Since I was induced it went from 0 to 60 really fast and I didn't have to decide if I was in labor or not but it was something I did worry about. Don't worry - when it is labor.... I'm pretty sure you will know! Good Luck!!
ReplyDeleteAgreed...the hardening/tightening is Braxton Hicks.
ReplyDeleteI have heard Braxton Hicks/false labour ARE contractions, they're just inefficient contractions. So real labour will start off the same way, it's just that the contractions will actually be dilating the cervix, whereas right now, they're not.
In the days/weeks/months leading up to labour, the Braxton Hicks will become more frequent, last longer, and be closer together. Sometimes you can even get a real painful one. It is real labour when they start to get closer together,harder in intensity, and cannot be relived by changing position/activity. One time at 36 wks I had a contraction every minute for an hour, but they never hurt and didn't increase in intensity...so no baby for another 4 wks.
For me, the labour starts with Braxton Hicks, then they get closer together and stronger. If you get blood "show" or (TMI) you feel like you need to have a bm (this is the biggest sign, the baby is moving down) call your doctor and think about getting to the hospital. (Another subtler sign is you start to focus and get in your own little world. You kind of panic and want to get to the hospital. My doctor calls it the "labour glaze" in a labouring woman's eyes.)
Oh and another sign is you get a lot of diarrhea (TMI) in the 12 hrs or so before.
ReplyDeleteNot at all TMI, Jessica...this info is exactly what I'm looking for!
ReplyDeleteI just can't imagine what Deena's "elevnty million times worse" (lol) is going to feel like!
If you start to feel that tightening rhythmically, lay down for a nap. If it goes away you are not in labour, real contractions will not let you sleep trust me! Also with both the boys I lost my mucous plug a couple days before I went into labour, that it a sure sign that your cervix is ripening. Also, you can't talk and be funny through a real contraction...they mean business I tell ya! I have a funny feeling that this time my water is going to break in some ridiculous place, should be interesting!
ReplyDeleteI was induced because I was sick and between my coughing & Finley's kicking, I cracked 2 ribs. The contractions started right away and I knew that's what it was because it was the most painful feeling I had ever felt and I was "lucky" enough to have both front and back labor. I was the same as you though, always wondering if I would know and I definitely think that next time, I will definitely know!! Good Luck Jyl, you will do fabulous!
ReplyDeleteMy contractions started out as mild cramps, and the uterus tightening. It just sloooowly progressed from there. Right before my epidural, I'd almost compare the pain to REALLY bad gas pains. Well, at least the gas pains I had after my 2nd c-section (with my healing tummy). Those hurt. Or a kidney stone (but unlike a kidney stone, the pain does stop!) Anyway.. my contractions felt crampy and achy, with tightening tummy.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what those super intense contractions feel like. And with my 2nd baby, I had no contractions at all, thanks to my scheduled c-section. That was nice.
all I remember is having significant pain the last 4 weeks of my pregnancy, that said, I went to the hospital when said pain brought me to my knees...trust me you will know.
ReplyDeletecan't wait to meet princess toews! xxx
Oddly it would seem that I'm the only one who doesn't actually remember what the contractions felt like. It's true. Total feeling memory wipe.
ReplyDeleteI was induced so when I started contracting I remember thinking "this isn't so bad" - like super brutal period cramps, but that were somewhat eased by standing in the hospital shower for hours on end. I remember asking for something to just dull the pain and the nurse told me what I had were not real contractions and if I needed something now I had no idea how bad it would get. I thought her rude at the time, but now looking back and though not remembering what real contractions felt like, those first ones were NOT IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM near what the real thing felt like!
The only thing I remember and this should give you an idea of how bad they were was that I puked 2 hours through the pain until I could get an epidural, I told Shane there was no way in hell I'd ever do it again - we would adopt! and I groaned a low gutteral sound through the real contractions thinking "I sound like a cross between a zombie and a dying cow."
Thank goodness for the feeling memory wipe or I may not be pregnant today :)
I really appreciate all the different descriptions!
ReplyDeleteBasically what I'm going to go with is to expect the worst possible pain of my life! As I'm having these Braxton Hicks, I've made the mistake of naively thinking, "This isn't so bad! How much worse can it get?". I'm a silly, silly girl.
On the flip side, I remind myself the pain can't be THAT bad or women would not have more than one child!
Oh, it won't be so bad! Think positively! You might be one of the lucky ones who's labour is quite manageable.
ReplyDeleteI may have written this in another comment, but for me, it's a mind game. I'm like "I can totally handle this right now if I have this baby in the next hour. If the pain is this intense for 10 more hours I'm not going to make it." (But then the baby is usually born shortly after that.)
I know it's way later, but I had to share too! I had braxton-hicks sporadically, but I KNEW the instant my real labour started up, and it wasn't at all dramatic! It just felt like very mild menstrual cramps...then it got eleventy million times worse.
ReplyDeleteIt's never too late to join in! I've still been having Braxton Hicks on and off...still patiently waiting for the real ones to kick in!! Thanks for sharing, Amarie!
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