Talk to me about your false labor/serious Braxton Hicks

[Clpretzel]

This is my fifth, and after a long night of what felt like early labor (that stopped), I'm feeling discouraged. I'm full term, but discouraged because this could potentially go on every night for weeks. My last labor lasted an hour, so when I get the slightest contraction, I'm on high alert. I'm thinking I might be in for weeks of mental games:-(

So tell me about your experiences... Misery loves company:-)

[Dory]

I was so sure that I was in real labor with my dd that I drove the 4 hours to get to the hospital 2 times! She did end up coming early, but not as early as I was scared it would be. I was already 4cm dilated though. I'd tell you to go horseback riding but I don't know if you even have horses there to do that.

Good luck! Where you are was always so miserable to me. I cried during every pregnancy when I was sitting there.

[MomtoCandJ]

My midwife told me if the contraction feels like your nose then don't go, if it feels like your chin then get ready, if they feel like your forehead then get your butt to the hospital (I live about an hour and 30 minutes from the hospital) and I made about 5 trips there before my water broke at home

[trulycrabby]

Well, at first I was tempted to say that since this is your fifth, then you should be an expert, but that's not true at all, actually. Each baby and pregnency is different.

My obgyn stated that if you're not absolutely sure, it's false labour. If you're absolutely sure, then it's labour.

With my two babies, I had bloody show with labour, so that was a big clue. With true labour, I could feel the uterus tightening up as hard as a basketball; this did not happen with false labour.

Hope this helps! Wishing you and your family the very best! :)

[lavender's green]

:grouphug:  You have my sympathies.  I had false labor every night for weeks last year.  But when the real thing came along, I knew it.  It wasn't more painful, and my uterus wasn't harder (it was hard like a basketball for false labor too).  I just knew.

 

I'll just give you the advice of my MIL who was staying with us at the time: "You're 9 months pregnant.  You're totally allowed to be grumpy."

[Clpretzel]

My problem is it felt exactly like 4 hours of early labor for pregnancy 2 & 3. I didn't go to the hospital or anything. I'm just hoping this is not my lot every night for the next three weeks. It's not that it's too painful... It's that it's messing with my head. I just want stories so that I feel like I'm not alone in experiencing this.

[Clpretzel]

I'll just give you the advice of my MIL who was staying with us at the time: "You're 9 months pregnant. You're totally allowed to be grumpy."

Love this! I made sure to read it to dh.

[Plink]

The incidence and severity of Braxton Hicks actually gets worse with each pregnancy, so your body is doing just what it is supposed to. Hang in there!

Looking forward to pics of your little one soon!

[happypamama]

Oh, I am so sorry! I always had just a handful of BH throughout the pregnancies, but nothing serious or even remotely painful until, bam, go time. I'd go to bed with nary a twinge, and then I'd wake up a few hours later in full-blown labor, with a baby somewhere between 4 and 11 hours later.

Except number five. With him, I got contractions, three or four for an hour, stronger than BH, but disappearing with movement and water, off and on for a week or ten days. Very annoying! I had gone a week over three times, but our fourth was a week and a half early, so we thought it would be possible for number five to arrive early as well, so every twinge was like, "it it time???"

The day before he was born, I woke up at about 6 am with the contractions, three or four an hour, and more like the early labor contractions I remembered (in terms of location -- more toward the back and bottom rather than front and up high like my BH usually were), but still, not terribly intense, not anywhere near what I'd call real labor. They went on all day, until about 10:45 pm when I was actually having to breathe through them a bit. But still, pretty mild, not progressing in intensity. By 2:30 am, I could no longer lie still and knew instinctively that I needed to get up and vertical, but at 2:30, I was still only a cm or two dilated, nothing really happening. 30 minutes later, I had bloody show and a bulging bag of waters and several cm, and I was starting to make noise -- all thanks to being vertical. At about 3:30, my water broke, and at 3:45, I was holding my son. FAST! And intense!

In my case, the prelabor wasn't getting me ready; it was probably my body attempting to get my little stinker into a decent position. Big fail there -- his position remained completely funky the entire time. I would have your MW or OB check the baby's position to make sure he/she isn't breech or posterior or something odd.

[Jackie]

I've only had one child. I asked about the contractions I started having at six months along and everyone laughed at me and said that I just didn't know what REAL contractions felt like. Ok, I get that. I asked again around eight months along because I was having what seemed to be many contractions that were... notable. Was still told that I just didn't understand what REAL contractions were like. Ok.

Ended up in the hospital needing to have my water broken. Nurses kept asking me how I was doing and I said I was fine, just the same Braxton-Hicks contractions I'd been having for three months, nothing new. After my daughter was born I was able to confirm that the contractions I'd been having for three full months were full strength contractions. Nothing ever did change until I hit transition.

[Tammi K]

Misery loves company, huh? So, you want to hear a good one....With my second child I had serious, hard B/H for over a week before she was born. Every night just after I went to bed, they would start. Finally, after the 4th or 5th night of this, I determined to just ignore them as much as possible figuring that when it was real labor I would know! 

 

Another night of ignoring for hours when finally, after pretending it was still B/H contractions DH decided that it was the real thing. I resisted every step of the way. I was determine that I was not going into the hospital only to be told to go back home. DH dragged me kicking and screaming into the car for the 20 minute ride to the hospital. We almost made it. She was born in the parking lot!!! :laugh:

[VeganCupcake]

I had many nights of contractions with my twins! I was 4 cm dilated for several weeks and thought for sure they would come quickly. Finally one night when I had contractions for 4 hours or so, 4 minutes apart, we went in to the hospital, determined to have the babies that day or I was going to burn the house down. :lol:

[gardenmom5]

with 2dd, I started constant b-h at six months (there was no dilation) .  I had to do things to get comfortable, breathe through, etc.  she was two weeks late.  she was also my *easiest* labor.

[Jann in TX]

With my middle dd I had BH for weeks-- lasting 1-2 hours mostly in the evening/night.

When I had them during a party at a friends house (a bit earlier in the day than 'normal' she forced me go in for a check-- I was almost a 6 and Dr sent me straight over to hospital.  DD was born a few hours later-- no real hard labor until the last 15 minutes!

 

 

[LostSurprise]

I only consider them BH if they go away with rest/water/etc. and if they are not timeable (they should be every X minutes, last only a minute or two, and be getting closer together). Otherwise my BH and my early labor are indistinguishable. 

 

With my first son I had a lot of BH, when I went in to my 'starting the last month appt.' I was 7cm dilated and completely effaced.  :001_rolleyes:

 

With my third son I had a lot of BH and then a lot of real labor (timeable, would not stop, got closer together) and it would not go anywhere! I now know he was wedged into my pelvis in a posterior position (face up instead of face down). I think my body kept stalling with him like that. They had to push his head out of there and break my water (the poor guy still had a tiny cut on his head from the knitting needle thingy) to get anything to happen. 

 

No advice. It will happen when it will happen. Sometimes B-H are helpful. Sometimes they are a sign of stress for your body. Sometimes labor is helpful. Sometimes it isn't. Welcome to the overwhelming psychological uncertainties of being a parent...again.  :laugh:

[kbutton]

I've had only two labors, but I had short labors with the second being shorter. My grandmother gave birth 8 times, and the longest labor time was 3 hours, so I totally understand why your predicament would be irritating.

 

My painless BH with #2 felt just like my painless early labor with #1. With #1, I didn't have false labor, and I "knew" when I changed from pre-labor to "go now," but I had nothing real to base it on, just a feeling. Since I had no pain for a long time, I drank a bunch of water to see if it would stop the contractions--nope, and then I spent a lot of time in the bathroom during labor, lol.

 

With #2, I had false labor that went away when I laid on my side. It happened only once. The real thing began when I woke up from a gush of water--my water broke like a balloon (I just leaked a bunch with #1). I would definitely try laying down and drinking a LITTLE water. If that doesn't help, then you can drink more water. They say false labor has irregular timing with contractions sometimes; mine was not, but that could help you determine it as well if you have that dynamic.

 

:grouphug: and best wishes.

[Heather in OK]

It's really pretty normal.  Annoying…but normal.

And it's NEVER false labor.  Those contractions are beneficial for both your uterine muscles and for the baby.  Even when they aren't coordinated enough to be labor, they are doing something. 

Sometimes prodromal labor happens because baby isn't positioned well.  If you don't already you might go see a chiropractor to help make sure everything in your pelvis is aligned so baby can get where he/she needs to be.  Also, when you have those contractions do some hands/knees positioning.  That can help encourage baby to rotate around with the help of the contractions.  

 

And just because your last baby came quickly it doesn't mean this one will.