Are these actually contractions?

I'm trying to time these "contractions " but I honestly don't know if they're actually contractions 😭😭

The views expressed in community are solely the opinions of participants, and do not reflect those of Peanut.

For me Braxton hicks feel like really bad cramps and they make your stomach tighten but aren’t consistent I THOUGHT I WAS IN LABOR until I was in actual labor and the contractions I had were nothing like Braxton hicks I couldn’t even think straight when a contraction hit. When you’re in labor you will KNOW 😭🥴 just my opinion though ! If you are concerned I would go in ! You know better than anyone girl ! Good luck !! 🩵

It could be early labor, cuz that is what mine looked like when I decided to go into hospital

I'm going to take a shower and see if that helps 😭

If it doesn't help and they go back to consistently 3-5min for at least an hour I'd go in. Cuz mine looked similar to what yours did and I went in, and I was at the hospital for 3 hours before they admitted me, and then I really started to progress, they broke my water and after 10 hours of early labor and 10 hours of active labor, I had my baby girl in my arms.. good luck mama! No matter what happens. You got this!

@Moira thank you thank you! I'll definitely go in if it keeps this up because even in the shower they didn't stop 😭

You sound like me when I was in labor 😂😂😂 I was like wait what I’m really waiting for …. Went to birthing center and was 6 cm

@Samantha I'm literally still home and they haven't stopped 🙃 atp imma just have a home birth cuz im not tryna get sent home after driving 20 mins to get there 😭. But imma get up in a hour to go if they still haven't stopped I just wanna go to sleep!!

I went in and they were like "do I think you're in early labor? Yes.. do I think you could go home and labor for 6-7 hours? Yes" and I was like "do I want to? No. If I'm in labor I want to stay" and they let me..

In those early hours I went from 1cm to 3cm before getting admitted.. I got epidural at 5cm.. they broke my water at 6cm, and then 4 hours later I was ready lol

Update I was definitely in labor! 😂😂 and baby is here and happy. Thank you everyone

Congrats mama!

in our community

Oh my God, oh my God I hope this is not true!!!! I’m kind of scared

I’ve been throwing up and taking a shit all night!!! I just hope that it’s not what I think it is

Small head reported following 20 week scan

Has anyone else had it flagged that their baby is in the bottom 5th percentile for head size?

They said everything was fine whilst we were in the scan and then I got a phone call the next day saying that it’s on the small side and we’re being referred to a paediatric specialist at St George’s. Has anyone else had this and how did things go??

Would you bring 9 week old to a family party of 35+ people?

These are also people who will want to pass the baby around and get a turn to hold him. He just got his 2 month shots two days ago

Exercise 6 weeks after c section

What movement did people start to introduce? I won’t do anything too vigorous until I’ve seen the pelvic physio as I don’t want to compromise anything that may have been extremely weakened through pregnancy! But just wondering what types of classes/movement people started off with?

Induction experience

I just wanted to share my experience with being induced as I wasn’t sure what to expect and thought it may help others.

I opted for the foley balloon which was inserted at 8am Saturday morning, I had to stay in hospital due to hypertension and protein urine however usually you can just go home once this has been done. The insertion of the balloon was not painful, was slightly uncomfortable as there was slight pressure. I actually found having the cervix checked prior to be worse (again not painful at this point just uncomfortable) The balloon had little effect and after having it removed I was still only 1cm. Removal also was pain free and hardly even noticeable.

I then had my first dose of the gel and definitely noticed a difference, I started experiencing period like cramps almost immediately however they were light and manageable. After 6 hours I had another cervix check and although my cervix was soft it was still only 1cm and was only open at the front. I had another dose of the gel and felt an increase in pressure and more intense cramping where I now required pain relief (codeine). After another 6 hours I had another cervix check and I had now dilated to 2-3cm however was still quite difficult to get all the way through so a third gel was recommended which I agreed to.

Almost immediately I noticed the difference and was in considerable pain, I had paracetamol and codeine however the contractions had now become intense and a lot closer together (around 3 minutes apart). After a couple of hours I had my last cervix check and was 4cm and taken down to the Labour ward to have my waters broken and an epidural.

I had been in my room for approx 20minutes when my waters broke by themselves and I was now 10cm and actively pushing…. There was no time for the epidural and my beautiful girl arrived into the world within 2 minutes of pushing.

All in all I would say the cramps/contractions were manageable up until the third gel where it became pretty unbearable however it was for a very short time a gas and air helped take the edge off. The worst part about any of it was actually the later cervix checks where after stimulating the cervix my contractions were at their most painful.

If I had to be induced again I would skip the balloon and opt for the gels immediately as thy had a quicker effect and I would have been out a lot sooner if I had done this to begin with.

One more thing, I’ve never believed when people say “you forget the pain once they’re here” but I can honestly say this is true. It’s been 4 days and I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

Anyone else experiencing this?

Gave birth (vagina) 5 days ago and yesterday morning and this morning getting lot of pain in my right bottom side and lower back