contractions--should I worry

Hi,
I'm a first time pregnant person, which makes me feel so incredibly unsure about BH and preterm labor. Just one week ago I had my first couple contractions. It was on the weekend and the on-call OB said not to worry since by morning (they happened in the middle of the night) I wasn't having them anymore. Just now I napped--since I couldn't sleep last night, partially because I was having them again and didn't want to fall asleep and miss them--and when I woke up my belly was hard again. It always happens when I'm sleeping, or at least that's when I notice it. No pain, just a rock hard belly, moreso on the right but sometimes most of the belly. I don't really know how often it happens since I don't notice it unless I happen to touch my belly. It just happened three times in 30 minutes.
Now my OB office is closed again What do you guys think? I just want to know my cervix isn't doing anything....
Would I know if I were in preterm labor???

 

Sounds like BH to me. I have been having them the last couple nights too, and like you, only when I lay down or try to sleep. I saw the OB today and she said there was nothing to worry about and everything seemed fine. Hope this helps!

Heather

 

I would ABSOLUTELY call the on-call OB and let them know. This is exactly what happened to me at 26 weeks. I was having painless, but tight, contractions every 10 minutes or so and my doctor said to come in. Turns out my cervix was already dilating (dilated all the way to 3 cm) and that's how I ended up on hospital bedrest, which is where I still am to date.

 

I would also call an OB, better to be safe then sorry. I had couple of incidents like that during 23-27 weeks, so everytime I would get my belly hard, I would call my OB and he would send me to L&D for monitoring. Good luck

 

Thank you!!
Much to my husband's dismay, we went into L and D since I had about 8 in 50 minutes. He thinks I'm such a drama queen. Anyway, they were more frequent when I first got there and mellowed to sporadic and less strong by the time we left. It was reassuring, I wouldn't have slept if I thought these babies were on their way!! Thank you all so much, it was the right thing to talk to the OB and follow his advice

 

when i asked my ob about my braxton hicks he said that they cannot bring on labour, and for me not to worry cos i know what having a baby feels like...

but some of the girls in here are dialating with them, so does that mean that they are real contractions, not bh, or does that mean my dr is wrong and bh can change your cervix eeven if they are painless hardenings of the tummy...

 

Yeah, I'm confused too. On some medical websites it says real preterm labor could be painless (at least at first), and it's more the frequency that matters. I'm still having them this morning all the time. Whereas the OB last night said to come back only if they get stronger/more painful or abrupt/ or I have other symptoms like bleeding, discharge. It's so stressful not knowing what they mean.....

 

jenanne - did the OB check your cervix last night?

truly in my experience I have never had painful contractions and am now dilated to 3 cm. I say that if you are feeling them regularly again this morning (like at least every 10 minutes) you should probably go in again. You're very preterm right now and would hate to miss the early signs of preterm labor. Also make sure you're drinking LOTS of water.

 

I'm at 32 weeks and have been having contractions since 23 weeks. I'm talking no less than 5 an hour, every hour (or pretty close to!), and that frequency has increased as time has gone on.

Up until about 2 weeks ago, my cervix hadn't changed a bit. After the first couple of days of it, we set up a new "reason to call" list that sounds like yours - if the quality of the contractions changes, call. So if anything got crampy or seemed different than it had since the last time my cervix was checked, I would call and go in to get monitored and checked again.

The logic was that once we established I could HAVE x number of contractions per hour over a number of days without my cervix changing, then they were pretty confident my cervix wouldn't change from that frequency/variety of contraction. It was just my "baseline" - what my body was going to do. Any changes in the contractions could signal a shift from harmless BH to preterm labor.

They did gradually change, and I got checked several times, without my cervix changing. (And yeah, sometimes I felt stupid, because by the time we got there things had calmed down.) It's only been in the past couple of weeks that my cervix is starting to shorten (and yes, I DID notice a difference in the contractions when that started to happen).

It's been hard ... and stressful. Never knowing what IF something is changing and you're missing it. And being a first-time mom, with twins, it's harder to know because no one knows what your body does with pregnancy. Even NOW, 9 weeks later, I'm never quite sure when I should call them just in case, and when I should stay home and wait it out.

If you're unsure, call your doctor. Get checked. Better safe than sorry, for sure. You're so early, and it's so NEW that you need to get comfortable with knowing what's "ok" and what's not - and the only way to do that is to find out for sure that everything IS ok! Good luck!

 

Did they give you a shot of Brethine or anything before sending you home? I've also heard/read the whole idea that braxton hicks don't cause preterm labor, but I will tell you that what I thought seemed pretty insignificant did cause cervical changes for me. Don't ever feel embarrassed to go get checked out, no one will consider you a drama queen at the hospital for wanting to make sure everything is okay. I work in an NICU and I am telling you that no matter what anyone thinks, even your husband, if you ever don't feel something is right or just need reassurance. . . GO get looked at

 

Thank you so much. I know I shouldn't feel like an over-reactor when I call or go in. If my husband wasn't the extreme under-reactor I wouldn't think twice. But whatever, I would go no matter what if I felt uncomfortable or worried. He did check my cervix last night, only manually, not via u/s, and it was good. Is that reliable? The peri always measures the length on u/s and it has always been very long. Once I started chugging the water this morning they mellowed out but I get them only on one side whenever my bladder gets full (which is like every 20 minutes!). I'm bummed this seems like a new stage for me...I hadn't had anything like it til once last weekend when I felt it in the middle of the night, and then yesterday evening, night, and this morning when it was almost constant.

Cat419 it is good to know that you have been having them so long without any changes til recently. I hope that will remain the case with me. Makes sense about the "new protocol." Allboys, thank you for the push to take them seriously, it is so scary to me that they could be not painful and yet be real.

As if it wasn't stressful enough with all the other pregnancy worries

 

Hang in there. I'd just really try to take it easy today and keep yourself well hydrated. And yes, a manual check of your cervix is considered quite reliable.