Braxton Hicks

[MummyDuck]

I feel so stupid when I went to see my Midwife she was doing the fundal measurement, stopped, looked at me and said she will have to wait as I was having some braxton hicks. Of course this was a good thing, made my stomach do a bit of a flurry (like OMG this is really happening). She explained that for a first timer my body was doing a great job of preparing me for birth.

Up until now the tightness I had been feeling I put down to bubs doing tumble turns or something I feel like a bit of a dag now.

I get a few a day so Im not at all worried - in fact everytime I get one I'm a bit excited but my 'need to know everything' nature got the best of me and I wondered......

Is there such a thing as too many BH?? Can it cause Premature Labour?? If they start too early in pg are you sent for bed rest just to be safe??

[amberj]

I am a first timer too, but as far as I know, there are limits on how many BH they like to see before they want you to come in and get monitored. I *think* its like if you have more than 6 in an hour, you would want to let your doctor/ hospital know- but don't take this as gospel! I know that if they are concerned, they do monitoring to see what's going on, and I think they may do an internal to see if the BH are actually causing you to dilate or efface. If they are, then they will order bed rest, lots of fluids and if they are really bad, perhaps medication to stop them. This is just from what I have heard others say.

But by and large, they are just our bodies exercising to get ready for labour and they will not cause dilation or premature labour until our bodies and our babies are good and ready! I have lots too and I think its amazing that my body just knows what it needs to do. I too am a "need to know everything" person- I think my biggest struggle will be trying to get my head out of the way and letting my body do its thing!!