During my sister’s first pregnancy over eight years ago, I can vividly remember visiting her and seeing her wince a little as she sat at the dinner table. I was immediately on alert, imagining that I would need to drive her to the hospital, weaving in and out of traffic in a mad panic to get her to the hospital on time. “That was just a Braxton. Calm down.” she’d say to me, after seeing the look of terror in my face. My grasp of a Braxton Hicks contraction, at the time, was a small little cramping that a pregnant woman just knew was not a real major contraction. However, my sister ended up at the hospital a few weeks before her delivery because she was sure she was going into labor, but was immediately sent home because she was only experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions. So, what is the different between a Braxton Hicks contraction and a real labor contraction?
Usually in the middle months of a woman’s pregnancy, she will begin to experience these Braxton Hicks contractions. In a nutshell, a Braxton Hicks contraction is a slight tightening or contraction of the uterine muscles that can last anywhere from a few seconds up to a minute. More often than not, these Braxton Hicks contractions are painless, so there is nothing to be worried about.
You may be wondering how you can distinguish one of these Braxton Hicks contractions with a real labor contraction so you don’t find yourself, like my sister, having your spouse race you to the hospital only to be sent home a few hours later. The one way to recognize a Braxton Hicks contraction is that it is usually a random contraction that comes and goes as it pleases. Meanwhile, a true labor contraction will maintain a rhythm and last quite a bit longer than a Braxton Hicks contraction. A labor contraction will get more painful and intense as the minutes pass. If you notice that the contractions seem to be painful one time and then less painful the next time around, or if you see that there is no consistent pattern to the contractions, more than likely they are simply Braxton Hicks contractions.
One thing to note, however, is that as you advance in your pregnancy, these Braxton Hicks contractions can feel a little painful some of the time. Specialists feel that pregnant women experience these Braxton Hicks contraction almost as kind of a test-run for the actual labor and delivery. They think that it, in a way, helps the cervix practice for the time it will have to efface and dilate during the actual labor.
Keep in mind that if you ever experience any type of contractions that are followed by or coincide with any type of vaginal discharge (whether it is bloody or watery), you should call your obstetrician or physician immediately. If you are anywhere before your 37th week of pregnancy and get regular contractions that are coupled with pain in the lower back and that happen four times in the same hour, you need to call your physician immediately. After the 37th week, your obstetrician or physician may ask that you do your best not to rush in to the hospital or call him until you are experiencing contractions that are at least a minute long and that come at regular intervals every five minutes.
