will i know a contraction when i have one?

[HollyC]

You won't know when you have one, you will know once you have had 10 or 20. I think it is the pattern of them that tells you this is it.

Generally: each contraction will come, build in intensity and then fade away. There won't be any pain in between contractions. They will become longer, more intense and closer together over time.

And they won't stop after an hour or two.

[Sagres]

I didn't know when I had my first contractions. I felt something that woke me up and kept waking me up every 30 minutes overnight but they had stopped by morning, I thought they were BH. It wasn't until a week later and I was induced and had what I knew where contractions and went 'oh, that's what I got last friday night!'.

When I had period type pain I don't remember it going back to nothing but with the actual contractions, yes, I did go back to normal with no pain between contractions.

[Janie]

Funnily enough, this has been a good thread for me to read . Things feel like they're kicking off in a completely different way to last time (PROM, cx starting an hour later, four minutes apart straight away, OP baby). This time I am getting lots of those period pain-type niggles, it's all down low, and sometimes in my back.

For those who had the period pain-type cx, did you find that it changed into your labour? Did the cx start moving up to the top of your uterus? Or did it stay down low?

Shell, I totally hear where you're coming from, I have been woken in the night a couple of times wondering if things are slowly starting. But the others are right, when it's labour, you'll know! If you have to ask "am I in labour?" you're probably not

[Tish]

For me the pain went away completely during contractions (until much later on when there wasn't much of a gap between them). A friend visited me while I was labouring - she rang the doorbell in the middle of one and I couldn't even yell out "hang on a second" but by the time it was over I could get up and answer the door fresh as a daisy LOL she was pretty shocked when I told her what was going on!

In my early contractions I could def feel a downwards wave, and it was even vaguely pleasurable after the peak of it! After that I lost my focus a bit and was a lot less analytical about it so couldn't tell you LOL

[Cassius2]

mine started out as feeling like period pain. but like the others have said, it would fade out and then come back again. like HollyC mentioned you might not *know* they are contractions until you have had a few, cause unlike BH these dont go away and they do have a consistency to them.

with mine i also found that within 40 minutes the pain had increased from period pain to definite waves ITMS.

[Inertia]

There will be some pre labour pains that you will think are contractions because they can get mighty ouchy - but when a real contraction comes along you will want those ones back again! LOL.

I define contractions by my ability to walk. If I can still walk through them, they aren't worth jumping into a car and rushing to a hospital for... If I cant.....

Also helps to know bubs position so at your appointments try and find out if bubba is Anterior or Posterior. Posterior bubs can cause you to "Labour in the back" and with some of mine the bulk of the pain was in the back rather than the front.

[Mum2Romone]

Hi,

You will know it when you have one. If you have had braxton Hicks contractions then you'll know the real ones are more intense.
if you havent its like a vibration , all your stomach muscles tense and release at weird times , you can actually see it lol

Best of Luck Sweety, You'll know

[2CheekyMonkeys]

i agree with the wave of pain also. however, with DD1 i had pain in between contractions also. it was like the beginnng of the wave of pain was continuous but the peaks were there also. that was an induction labour with no signs of readiness. (and a reaction to prostoglandin) so not sure if that is normal or not.

second labour, no pain in between contractions only for a short time though as they got closer together really quickly (4 1/2 hour labour) and then it seems they come upon each other and also, you zone out and forget to even think about looking at the clock or thinking about them.

[allycat06]

mine were like a tightening sensation in my lower back (i had a posterior bub) and like Nelle said came in waves. For the last few weeks of my pregnancy i'd been get all having sorts of odd niggly pains so when I first felt that back pain my inital reaction was "oh that's a new one, let's see if it happens again then i'll know it's a contraction." Sure enough I had another 15mins later and they were in full swing from then on in!

[ColeStar8]

I was quite nieve as well - I was in labor for several hours before relising it. My contractions never became "established" they were like period pain but more intense and lasting for about 20 seconds and then fading away - they were mostly down in my lower abdomen and in my back...I managed to only go to the hosptial when I felt something wasnt right and an hour later Jayde was born...Though I do say If I had to stop what I was doing and breathe my way through the pain that was probably a good indication

I was stupid enough to relise that pushing sensation (like I needed to go to the toilet) was actually my little one saying "I am here and I am ready" though my waters never actually broke - as she was so far down they "trickled" out as that was my indication that I needed to go to hospital.

[smamfa]

With ds #1 I completely didn't know. I had been getting sporadic "gas" pains all day, including as we went out for a Mexican dinner It was only at 10pm that night when the *regularity* of them made my brain perk up and take notice (and by then they had started coming every 3-5 minutes.) I didn't have any BH prior to this, and spent some time wondering if that was what was happening - but nope it was labour alright! (I still laugh at myself that after all of the reading and prep I thought I'd done I was on google at 10.30pm asking "what does labour feel like"?) And to think I'd thought I was in tune with my body !

[~breeze~]

hey Shell, just wondering how you're going

[Lewis's Mummy]

For those who had the period pain-type cx, did you find that it changed into your labour? Did the cx start moving up to the top of your uterus? Or did it stay down low?

I don't remember feeling very much up the top of the uterus at all...it just got more and more intense down where the period type pain was to the point where I was naturally breathing out through them and had to be standing bent over what/who ever was nearby. There was something more up the top not long before the pushing stage, but that was more like the muscles doing their thing like when you hold a stomach crunch or something, rather than pain as such for me. The big pain was still low down. Back pain didn't start for me at all until push time with that feeling of having to do the biggest poo of your life lol

[Janie]

Thanks for that Lewis' Mummy!