I had my first Braxton-Hicks contractions yesterday! Well, maybe I've had some before, too, but I wasn't sure what was going on until yesterday.
I mentioned before how sometimes Elise stretches out and I can feel a baby butt poking in my side. When she does that, I can feel with my hand right where her little butt is-- there's a hard lump but the rest of my belly is soft. I rub on her butt to try and make her move.
Yesterday, I thought Elise was stretching again. My belly just felt different. Didn't hurt, just felt a little uncomfortable. I tried to find her butt so that I could rub it and encourage her to reposition herself. But my whole belly felt hard. It relaxed after 30 seconds or so. Then, about 5 minutes later, I got that same feeling again. And my whole belly got hard. That's when I realized what was going on.
Of course, this happened at the end of my work day, and on a day when I had to run certain errands after work. They say that if you start to have Braxton-Hicks contractions you should change your activity level to see if they go away. Sit down if you're up moving around or go for a walk if you've been sitting. If you have more than 6 in one hour, you should call your doctor or go to the hospital so that they can make sure that you aren't in early labor.
Well, I was busy. And I couldn't stop what I was doing. I definitely had more than 6 in one hour. I kept telling myself that if they got more intense, THEN I'd consider it an emergency and go to the hospital. But they never did. And by the time I was done doing the things that I had to do, they had tapered off.
Elise must have felt them, too, because toward the end she'd have a little kicking fit after each one was done.
Oooooh. My body's getting ready! 9 more weeks!
If only my abs would feel that rock-hard AFTER the baby arrives.
I've been having those every few days for the last month or so. My doc said they are a positive sign that my uterus is flexing its muscle, so to speak. It's learning to make coordinated movements for the big day. She also said that if they become regular to let her know, but I've only ever had 2 in one day and they only last 10 to 20 seconds each.
ReplyDeleteyou're lucky, having short ones. my first contractions are looooong. i had one today that must have lasted a couple of minutes. then they get progressively shorter.
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