How do I Know If I Am Having Contractions?

During the first trimester of my pregnancy, I asked my doctor "how do I know if I am having contractions?". Her answer was surprising bleak and braud. When you're having contractions, you will know. Ofcourse, to her I was only two months in so I had no reason to even be asking this but the two things that had been running through my mind were delivery of the baby and contractions. What would they feel like? Would I be in a type of pain that would make me regret ever getting pregnant? Either way, once you have realized that you are about to have a baby, the only way out is forward. And by the time that my last month came around, I forgot to ask my doctor because I assumed... when you know, you know.

After asking my doctor, I stopped worrying about contractions until the last month of my pregnancy. My doctor scheduled an appointment for my due date incase the baby did not come yet but everyone just knew that the baby would come early. I had already had it in my mind that the baby would come at least two weeks early. However, when the due date came around and I was still big and pregnant, all of the worry from the beginning begin to wash all over me again. How do I know whenever I am having contractions? They say you know whenever you know but I had also heard women say that they were having contractions and did not even know. My biggest fear was becoming so dialated that I would not have time to get to the hospital. The last thing that I wanted was to have a baby at home. That would mean the worst thing in the world would happen........ no epidural. I was way too afraid of the pain of a natural birth to have a baby without an epidural.

I started feeling contractions two days after my due date. Laying down in the bed and watching tv, the lower of my stomch started to cramp. These cramps made the worst of the worst period cramps look like a walk in the park. Even though they were ridiculously painful, I assumed that they were braxtion hicks.

They lasted for about three hours before I realize that they were coming every fourty five minutes to be exact. I started to write down the time of whenever they would come in my iphone notes. By time I reached five hours of having contractions, I could no longer take the pain. So I decided to go to see my doctor and see if I could go ahead and deliver my baby. However, the doctor told me that I was still not dialated enough so regardless of the pain, I would have to go home until my contractions were at the most five minutes apart. WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL? FIVE MINUTES APART?

Once they sent me home, I assumed that it was just braxton hicks and I would have to deal with it until it eased. After they sent me home, a couple of hours passed and then all of sudden my contractions went from being 45 minutes apart to being 10 minutes a part. I did not realize that I was in real labor. Next thing you know, I am in the tub trying to ease the pain and my contractions are three minutes apart. If I would have waited any longer, I would have had that baby at home.

If you want to know what contractions feels like... imagine someone squeezing you down there... extremely hard and holding tight for about thirty seconds. As time goes on, the squeeze gets harder and harder. The worst part is that not only do you feel that hard squeeze on the outside but you feel as though the squeeze has traveled to your utereus. Contractions feel EXACTLY like period cramps but 125x worst. It was only this way for me because I did not know what contractions felt like, therefore I did not prepare myself for them mentally. My fear made the pain of contractions worst than they actually were.

My suggestion would be to start preparing youself for contractions a month early. Spend your mornings doing yoga and easing your mind. In my opinon 85% of everything leading up to the delivery of your baby is mental. You have to get yourself into the right state of mind and then everything else will just happen. If you spend your time worrying about everything and how it will feel... you will feel it 10x more.

So, first thing is first, REAL contractions will be consistent. If you start feeling as though you may be having contractions, keep a note of what time they are coming for at least an hour or two. If they are coming in every thirty, fourty or fifty minutes, more than likely your contractions are starting. Do not run to the hospital unless you start bleeding or can no longer bear the pain of the contractions. Being as big and pregnant as I was, it made me very upset that I drove all the way out there to the hosptial just for them to tell me to go home. So it is best to wait AT LEAST until your contractions are 10-15 minutes apart. If you want to go in beforehand, call your doctor and let them know.

One thing that no one told me until I went in for the pain is that false contractions can be eased with a warm bath, getting comfortable in certain positions and the pain medicine that my doctor was prescribing. If you start to feel as though you may be having contractions, try sitting in a warm bath or get on all fours and focusing on your breathing. Also, if you have not been drinking enough water or haven't used the bathroom regularly, false contractions can be triggered. So before you assume that you are going into labor, try different ways of easing the pain because real contractions do not go away. They are here to stay untily you deliver your baby.

So just to wrap it up:

1. Contractions are consistent.

2. Real contractions last from when they start to the time that you deliver your baby.

3. The time between real contractions will get shorter and shorter as you get closer to the time for delivery.

4. False contractions can be triggered.

The truth is that, you won't always know whenever your contractions are coming and you may not even feel ready whenever they do start. However, once they come and you do realize that... this is it... it does not matter whether or not you think you are ready because regardless of how you feel, a baby is coming. Prepare your mind mentally and know that the ONE thing you HAVE to give to your child no matter what is love. Give that love to your child and everything else, includin your fears of delivery and everything in between, will be over before you even have the time to be afraid.

Good luck mama.

You got this.

As always, thank you guys for reading and all tips are greatly appreciated! All tarot reading requests can be sent to my email [email protected]. To submit a question/info to the advice column section, you can send it through my ask.fm/influencedbylex to be anonymous or to my email for regular submissions.