Okay, stupid question of the day here....

[breezykc2]

Yes, this will be my 2nd kiddo...but I don't have any idea what contractions feel like!! No joke! I had TERRIBLE back labor with my first and I didn't even know I was in labor until I went in for my OB apt and they just hauled me upstairs! After that, all I remember is that my back was in major pain, no recollection of every having contractions and when they were obviously there, they in no way compared to the pain in my back so they didn't get felt much........
SO, can you feel the baby move during contractions normally? How would you personally describe contractions in your experience? Did you feel like you had back/butt pain at the same time too?
Just wanted some real life experience here so I know a little more what to look for if it's not back labor again....because "tightening of the uterus" listed on the websites is OH SO helpful! :shock:
Bree

[RhysMom]

Contractions... :? ..something I would rather forget. Mine felt like really bad cramps. The easiest way to know if it is a contraction is to put your hand on your stomach. If your belly feels hard as a rock then it is a contraction. I never felt Rhyanne move during contractions. I felt when she was moving down into the birth canal though. That almost hurt worse then the contractions.

Hope this helps.

Sara

[Cheeseburger]

Mine felt like sharp pains down in my pelvic area... they would last for awhile and then go away.... i mostly only had pain down in the very bottom of my pelvic area, I never felt it in my back or belly. But it hurt terrible. I thought it would be more achy like cramps, but it was really sharp instead.

[stephwhiz]

My tummy tightened really tight and the pains felt like menstrual cramps x's 100. The pain radiated down my legs too. Stephanie :D

[EvaS]

I too had back labor. But I also felt my contractions. They just felt like period cramps. They didn't really get too bad until like 7cm dilated.

[MomFromCanada]

I would agree with the others, I had some Braxton Hicks also prior to real contractions, but with a bit of walking around they went away, that is how I knew they were not real. I also had false labour for a while, but the pain didn't intensify and they didn't stay regular so that is how I knew they were false. My contractions came on (sounds funny but I don't know how else to explain it) as fast a sneeze, just real sharp pain that also felt like bad menstral cramps. I had some back pain too but moreso when I was about 8 cms. I didn't necessarily feel the baby move though.

[love2bmom]

Boy this is going to scare you.. Contractions are not fun. I will not lie. They are 100 x worse than the worst cramps you have ever had. You have to move to find the best position. Sorry about this ... but I opted for a good ole' epidural for both of my babies. I was high risk with both (pre-eclampsia) and had to lay on my left side... well then the epi ran to the left and didn't work in the right. Boy does that tick you off... Oh I love telling my labor stories. With DD I had this intense pressure & told the nurse that I felt I had to *poop*... really bad.. she said that is probably the baby. I said no I have to poop... needless to say 1 hour later - DD was in my arms.

It will be fine, it is the best pain I ever had!!

[buttercup_97140]

Honestly I don't rememer what the contractions felt like much...I did have pretty bad back labor, but I remember feeling something up front, I just don't remember what. I labored for about 5 hours (most of my active labor) in water, and I had to be on my hands and knees rocking to make it through it, but it wasn't that bad. I do remember always telling everyone to stop touching me when my contrax started and that I talked to myself in my head about what my friends had told me about how to get through a contrax....LOL!

From what I hear back labor is way worse than regular up front contractions...so for those of us that had back labor, if we are blessed with only regular contrax, then it's a bonus!!

Amber

[~Tara~]

hmm best description?
mega menstrual cramps
abdominal tightening...a wave that would go from one side, around belly to the back
I also had back labor with all of mine..I cannot sit or lie during contractions.
Sometimes a strong tightening, sometimes a crampy kind of feeling, other times..just a pain.
If it stayed the same or intensified when I walked..it was the real thing. Or my biggest give away that it was 'time' ... I would find a position on hands and knees and rock and moan :)

[BlessedMommy]

To me it felt like a wave of pain that intensified, tightened my uterus, and then lessened after a bit. Transition was definitely the roughest time, contractions 90 seconds long and 2 minutes apart, but it was SO temperorary. The second hardest time was maybe second stage when I felt the excruciating pain and pressure as she moved down lower. All of it was definitely worth it and I was already starting to think about doing it again soon after her birth! :)

[Crissyanna]

I felt my b/h contraxs. Then, when they induced me, I didn't feel my uterus contracting. I felt the baby being shoved down lower and lower (she was low to begin with, my midwife kept saying that she'd not see me at my next appt. for a month, then it was, if she gets any lower, she's falling out). When I had my false labor, I felt them in my abdomen. It was just a tightening for me (I have a high pain tolerance). I was sore the next day after that experience. I didn't have any soreness in my abdomen from the contrax. after delivering. I hurt elsewhere farther south after that. Sorry I couldn't help much. Guess I'm just weird or something.

[breezykc2]

Thanks a million for all the insight...gee, sounds fun, yikes! LOL

[EmJo]

My BH felt like mild cramps, but my real contractions felt quite different, like I had this giant rubber band inside my belly that would tighten as hard as it could across my abdomen. The feeling would peak at 30 or 40 seconds, then begin to subside.

My problem was--we think--that Ben's head was not quite in the right position at my cervix, so that when the stronger contractions started I had a horrible backache as well. I could have dealt with the "normal" contractions--or even the backache if it had only been a few hours instead of 27 :shock: --since they (w/o backache) felt like an extreme tightening that made it difficult to breathe, more like intense discomfort than pain per se.

Don't be afraid. Every labor experience is different, and yours won't necessarily be fraught with unbearable pain (pain, yes, most likely, but possibly not beyond your tolerance level). And as I learned, there's always coventional medicine (which I normally shun) to fall back on if you're desperate (which I was).

And the best thing is, after Baby comes, the pain and hard work is suddenly all worth it. :)

PS It's not a stupid question. I asked the same thing after I got pregnant. :wink: