Braxton hicks at 21 weeks?

[jdear]

This morning when I woke up I was bursting for the toilet (both ways, sorry tmi!) and I noticed my tummy/uterus was sticking out and hard! No pain, no changes in anything else, baby still jumping around afterwards as normal. Didn't last long. I've noticed this a couple of times before over the past several weeks but only after sex (Sorry again for tmi!). I'm wondering if these are braxton hicks? They don't hurt at all, maybe a slight tingling. Dr Google says you can potentially feel them from 20 weeks especially if it's not your first. This is my first baby however I seem to be a few weeks ahead of the books for everything - I felt movement from 14 weeks!

Please reassure me, my anxiety from the early days is returning today in the form of worrying about preterm labour!

Yep sounds like Braxton Hicks - I am 25 weeks and have been having this for a few weeks now, I asked my doc 4 weeks ago why my stomach is sometimes hard and he said that's what it is, apparently we get them as early as 6 weeks but we don't feel them until later. I got a photo of my stomach looking very weird the other day - was rock solid and much higher on one side than the other, bizarre!

Oh thank god - you have no idea how much that has reassured me! It's really freaky isn't it! I suppose there will always be a new thing to worry about

I had them a lot from 20 weeks, at least one lot a week for an entire evening. Totally normal and I didn't go into real labour until 39+4.

Yeah it's really weird and doesn't feel normal at all! I first noticed it after sex too and it freaked me out a bit as I thought it was a result of upsetting the baby somehow!