What was THAT?!Your due date is fast approaching and you've heard all this talk about contractions. "Don't call the doctor until your contractions are x minutes apart ... Don't go to the hospital until your contractions are x minutes apart." But you've never been pregnant before so how the heck do you know when you're having a contraction or when it's something else? You've got to know so you don't end up giving birth in some crazy place. Plus, you want to know how bad they hurt and whether you'll be able to take the pain. (You will! You will!)
So here's your handy dandy guide to what a contraction feels like (as told by moms who have been there, felt that).
Image via oksidor/Flickr
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Comments 45
none of my contractions hurt until I was transitioning... its so different for every woman.
I think it's a cross between a bad menstural cramp, knocking the wind out of yourself, and having to take a really big poop, all at the same time. o.O
I was on the max level of pitocin through my most (10 out of 12 hrs) of my labor. So for me, they were pretty intense... and I have a very high pain tolerance. It was like having a massive sudden charley horse all over my belly, crotch, and mid-back. I couldn't speak and I clutched the bed so hard I bent my IV needle 90 degrees. That was the point at which I opted for the epidural. I'm curious how things will be with this labor. This time there will be no pitocin, I will be encouraged to move around, and I'm going to do a water birth at home.
I didn't think I was in labor.....regular interval tightening in the belly but that was about it. No pain at all. I was actually 7cm when I arrived at the hospital....only because my midwife urged me to come in. At the final transition it felt like I had bad menstrual cramps and had an overwhelming urge to push. Everyone is different and every birth is different. I got really lucky i'm sure.
im only 17 weeks and i get like menstraul cramps and once in a while a cramp that feels like someone stepped on my crotch... i went to the docter and he said it was normal just my baby growing
Mine were similar to Jeska. I also had prodromal labor. Total labor was 49 hours, but about 12-14 hours of hard labor. It felt like a bad charlie horse. Mine would double peak and the longest contraction was 4 minutes straight through. It would start as a tightening and quickly become a charlie horse feeling, and it would slowly relax away. Eventually when I approached transition, my head went somewhere else and I don't remember any pain.
Here it is simplified.
The worst case of diarrhea you've ever felt. That's a contraction. Only without the diarrhea. It's the terrible cramps. The kind of diarrhea cramps where you're wishing for death.