What do braxton hicks feel like?

[berrme]

For me Braxton Hicks contractions have just felt like a tightening or sqeezing of my lower abdomen for most of my pregnancy. I usually feel like I need to go to the toilet, then if I put my hand on my belly, it feels really hard like a basketball rather than flexible like it usually does. Until recently I could miss them if I was doing other things. They have gotten more painful as I have gotten close to my due date.

I have heard/ read that it is common for 1st timers to not feel them at all during their pregnancy. I was the only one in my antenatal class last time that said they had noticed them.

[Mama2two]

Hey..
Braxtin hicks for me feel like a hard tightening of my whole stomach and then it releases after 20 secs or so and there was little bit of pressure.. With my first i use to time them thinking i was in labor all the time. They aren't suppose to be painful. But are very uncomfortable. I read somewhere that your baby is aware your having them but feels like a cuddle to them or something.

[Miss E]

Thanks for the replies ladies. It's hard to say if I'm having them or not, to me my belly always feel hard like a basketball... Oh well, I'm probably one of the first timers who doesn't notice them...

[Pandora]

I didnt notice them at all the first time around.
this time they have been very evident since about 20 weeks or so, my whole belly goes rock hard. I only notice them if I am sitting down cos thats is when they feel unconfortable, especially when the baby moves at the same time.

[Serenitylee]

2 mins ago my tummy felt hard and when I touched it it was really hard and then I put my t-shirt back down and then within a minute I felt my tummy again and it was soft....could that have been BH without me knowing? I just assumed it was the baby as my whole abdomen felt quite hard but now it's not?

[berrme]

Serenitylee: Sounds like a braxton hicks contraction to me. They may get more obvious/ uncomfortable later in your pregnancy but for now that hard feeling is about all you are likely to notice.

[satya]

I never felt them.... I noticed the tightening of the tummy but it didn't hurt at all. The few times I thought it might've been braxtons (I was never sure) where I did get pain, I only realised afterwards that those pains were nothing like contractions at all. Of course didn't know that til labour started.