Braxton Hicks vs the real thing

[grey12]

Hi!

It's my 3rd pregnancy but believe it or not this is something I don't really know.... Both my kids were born nearly 2 weeks overdue and were induced (not fun, I'll tell you....).

Looks like the 3rd is showing more signs than the first 2. I keep having something like period pains about once or twice a day for a few days already. First midwife said it was BHs, second midwife said they weren't. What is your experience? My memory of contractions is a bit more intense.

Is this baby going to give me grief like the other 2, or is it almost here?! I'm not the kind of pregnant lady who wants the baby out ASAP, I just would like to avoid going through the anxiety with medical staff and family members that I did before

I'm 3 days overdue so far.

Hi OP. I had really bad BH but the difference between those and proper contractions is quite profound in my opinion!
You can usually work through BH but actual contractions are pretty brutal and stop you in your tracks. You just have to breath through them as in my case I couldn't even speak!

I don't think I got proper Brixton Hicks. I would get the occasional tightening across the bump though. My contractions started exactly like period pain. In my first labour they came and went for a day or two before gathering pace and intensity. I could talk and breathe through them ok up until transition. I hope all goes well!

Labour pains are like a count down where the time reduces between, Braxton Hicks are all over the place with their timing

Thanks for the replies :))

(Tbh with you I'm not too keen on this midwife, I prefer my usual one....) midwife said that if they were painful they weren't BHs and that this close to labour you wouldn't have BH. But that doesn't make sense from what I read..... So I got a bit confused.

Proper labour contractions made me stop in the spot and crouch and not speak and just get through it (why am I doing this again???!!!!). This is just period pain and a bit of tightening. Painful but I can still read bedtime story for the kids, for example.

When I started contracting they came every ten minutes ish from the beginning. After around 5 hours of contacting they stopped me in my tracks and I needed to breathe through them.

@grey12 let me know how you get on. I'm 5 days overdue and also have same symptoms

I just had my third. Took me a while to realise I was in early labour as I thought I was having strong Braxton Hicks..... Turns out they were contractions. In hindsight I felt off... I was very aware of each one, unlike BH which I could ignore and they started to become more regular - every 10/15 mins or so. They also didn't disappear when I changed position.

I was confused as it felt so different to my previous labours which started more clearly with regular obvious contractions.. i ended up having a much longer first stage.

Good luck both of you!