Contractions

for me, they felt like extreme tightness in my stomach and pain in my lower back. however, i found the contractions were the least painful part. so good luck! if your unsure, theres no harm going in to the triage to get checked out.

Keep an eye on it I have Braxton hicks and they are similar to that I’m 31 weeks. I’ve also heard that can be a sign of preeclampsia. Idk how far you are I would check in with your ob or midwife just in case because preeclampsia can be bad. Are you having any other symptoms

It may be a contraction. They didn’t hurt for me until I was on Pitocin hours in. It felt like a tightening in my belly all the way across and went in waves when I first went into labor

period cramps! the doctors didn’t fully believe me at first because i wasn’t screaming or crying but i didn’t throughout all my labor process. everyone’s different i also have a high pain tolerance but i remember they got really close together about 3 minutes apart. when i was having them 5 minutes apart i got sent home but i was back the next day and had my girl!

everyone said "you'll know when it's contractions" and it annoyed me cos how could that possibly be true
but honestly you'll know
it feels like a wave building and then breaking
the cramping contracting feeling builds to a peak and then subsides
I thought I was having a few times before I actually had my baby and when I was having real ones I was like how did I think those other times were it??
it's crazy but if you have to ask it's probably not contractions

Mine just felt like the achy period pains, but I also didn’t really feel any tightening when I had them, just the period type pains that came in waves, wasn’t exactly painful just more uncomfortable until I got put onto pitocin then it started to really hurt

For me they felt like my period cramps but worse, like even Tylenol couldn’t help me. I couldn’t move when I felt them and when they were over I could move freely

It feels like period but x10 times. When I had my first contractions I didn’t realise it, it was okey and more in back. With time this pain wave from back was getting to front, I understood it’s time go to hospital. When they checked me I was open for 3 fingers. Than pain was getting more intense. But I wouldn’t say it was very bad, didn’t make any screams. Maybe also have high pain tolerance😅

I was only able to feel mine after 8cm dilation, and even then they only felt like mildly worse period cramps than my normal. I only got an epidural because my dilation stalled and they wanted to try to relax my pelvic floor (I have a super overactive pelvic floor, I was in pelvic floor PT for years prior to pregnancy) which worked a little too well 😅
I think the experience is different for everyone, so it's hard to explain precisely what to expect. My sister said the only pain she had in labor was almost like lightning crotch from dilation, but my other sister said her contractions were super painful and more like sharp pains than cramping.