contractions

[2CheekyMonkeys]

this may seem a silly question but.. what do contractions feel like?

[Trish]

Contractions feel like a tightening that usually starts above your bump and works it's way down. Saying that though you might not feel them in your tummy but more your back. If you have been having Braxton Hicks contractions already then they are like those to start with but unlike Braxtons these will get stronger. If when you have a shower or bath and you find they stop then I would say they are Braxtons.

LOL. Of course I just realised that you never said you were having them just wanted to know what they felt like

[mizzsocial]

Its hard to describe.. defiently a tight feeling in your stomach and an overwhelming pain that doesnt go away until 30seconds to a min..

You'll defiently know when you have one, as its something you havent felt before..

[Plagued]

It feels like a tightening across you bump that lasts from 30 seconds to longer. it is a wierd sensation but if it stops when you have a warm shower or bath its just braxton hicks. you also get a little back pain. (went into early labour and i agree with mizsocial its something you defiently know when you have one)

[Lea13]

Well I'm getting a lot of tightenings (all over the belly) so bad that sometimes its hard to stand straight, sometimes no pain and sometimes slightly crampy pains radiating from my hips to my pelvis... this isn't regularly of course so I'm assuming its BH???

I'm scared to feel the 'real' thing if I'm just going to know LOL. I'm completely ready for labour and I'm actually looking forward to it but it is definately going to be interesting to feel these contractions LMAO....

[2CheekyMonkeys]

no i havent been having them. i was just curious as to what they feel like. i am almost 29 weeks and the reality of giving birth is starting to kick in. i have just been ignoring the fact so far. i was trying to get a feeling for how much pain there is going to be.

[simone]

honestly, you will never be able to prepare yourself for how much pain you will feel. But you will get thru it, and you will forget the intensity of it. And you will more than likely be foolish enough to do it again!! Blame it on baby brain.

[Coolabahdee]

I really don't think anyone can tell you how your contractions will feel , but everything the girls have mentioned is true. With me, I labour in my back, I have Posterior babies (their back on mine) I do get the tightening across my belly, but honestly can't say that I feel pain from that but the pain across my lower back and upper pelvis is excrustiating(sp??). The pains can start off like period pains, mine starts with mild back pain and they build up and up until your in full on labour. At the end mine just plain run into each other with no real break in between. It is the most intense pain that only us lucky women get to feel, (Damn Eve and that snake, lol) I love to push, for me the pain goes with each push. OMG why am I doing this again!!!! Lol. Oh that's right because as soon as it's over you start to forget how Blo ody painful it all was. It funny though it kinda starts to come back to you at this stage, lol, way too late to change your mind. Have I scared you enough, lol. This is only my experience, I know two women who say that it really wasn't painful at all so you see, You have to remember that pain is subjective and relative to oneself.

[hannanat]

I actually think it feels like period pain. You can feel the tightening, but it is accompanied by that pain right inside your lower belly. ROFL at the remembering at the end of pg what the labour feels like. Im starting to remember already, but I know when I get in there Im going to be bawling about how stupid I am to have such a bad memory and warning DH what will happen to his pride and joy if he comes within 10ft of me EVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!

[Lea13]

Thought I'd pop back in now that I've had my little man and comment again! Mine was exactly like period pain only alot more intense. Started in my pelvis and radiated out to my hips and eventually banded around my back.

I think later you look back on it and wonder how you coped with such intense pain but it builds up without you even realising it!

[JustJack]

Thanks to Rayla72 and Lea13, for a minute there I thought I was nuts because all I remember of my labour was that it felt exactly like period pain. Even from when I first went into labour (but wasn't sure at the time) it felt like a faint period pain that kept coming every 1/2 hour. Then it kept coming at shorter intervals and increasing in strengh until I had the urge to push aswell. I can't remember the tightening or anything else....

[~Kim~]

Thanks to Rayla72 and Lea13, for a minute there I thought I was nuts because all I remember of my labour was that it felt exactly like period pain. Even from when I first went into labour (but wasn't sure at the time) it felt like a faint period pain that kept coming every 1/2 hour. Then it kept coming at shorter intervals and increasing in strengh until I had the urge to push aswell. I can't remember the tightening or anything else....

Totally totally agree, but I had the synto drip and they just keep on coming! Faster and faster and more and more intense.

[BellyBelly]

This article on early labour might help HERE.

I had synto with my first and I also had the experience of contractions coming continuously, faster, harder and on top of each other. Below is an extract from our induction article (which you can read here) in relation to effects of artificial oxytocin (labour hormone):

These effects may be partly due to the high blood levels of oxytocin that are reached when a woman labors with Pitocin. Theobald calculated that, at average levels used for induction or augmentation/acceleration, a woman’s oxytocin levels will be 130 to 570 times higher than she would naturally produce in labor. Direct measurements do not concur, but blood oxytocin levels are difficult to measure. Other researchers have suggested that continuous administration of this drug by iv infusion, which is very different to its natural pulsatile release, may also account for some of these problems.