Braxton Hicks or Contractions?

[Aquarius93]

Keen to hear other experiences!

Currently 34+3 and I woke during the night to some cramping and back pain, which was coming and going. Initially I thought it could be Braxton Hicks, however the Braxton Hicks I’ve been having up to this point haven’t been painful at all - just an uncomfortable sensation of my bump going completely solid, lots of pressure etc.

This is more like period pains - achey/crampy but not painful. Enough to keep me awake though. I decided to time them and they are almost exactly every 10 minutes. This has been going on for 2 and a half hours now.

As this is exactly how labour started with my daughter I called PAU for advice but they have just said it sounds like Braxton Hicks. So I’ll continue to monitor but I just wanted to hear other experiences. Has anyone else had Braxton Hicks like this?

It sounds more like prodomal labour than Braxton Hicks. I've been having these on and off since 34 weeks. I had a mega one last night... and then nothing 🙄

At that gestation I’d still go to triage if it doesn’t settle after some rest and paracetamol. Like the poster above, I’ve had prodromal labour several times in both pregnancies but my first actual labour developed from what I was told was prodromal labour too so I’m always cautious before 37 weeks.

good luck ❤️

Thank you! It helps to hear other experiences. Still going and a little more frequent now but still not painful. Baby has been quite active too so may just ring again for peace of mind!

I thought Id been having braxton hicks, and was carrying on as normal, when, during a routine appointment, at 31 weeks, they put me on a CTG monitor and it turns out my contractions are NOT BH, but prodromal/pre labour ones.
They are regular and strong. They are not painful either, and, as it turns out, I dont even feel the BH ones. At all. Only the "proper" ones.

I would maybe go and get checked out, just in case! Worst case scenario, they are just prodromal and you are sent home!

Yeah another prodromal labour sufferer here, with weekly false labours from around 35 weeks onwards. Starting as period cramp level and building up to every 4 mins and moaning over a hot water bottle!

With each false labour my reasoning was "if this is the real thing, will the outcome for baby be affected if I do nothing?" So, 37 weeks and near a hospital? No worries, lie on the sofa. Or, 34 weeks and miles from a hospital? Risky, get checked out. So at 34 weeks if you're near a hospital I would give it maybe two hours and if the contractions don't start to fade I'd go in. If you're a long way away I'd go in now.

Thanks for the responses.

I went in to be checked as they increased to every five minutes and I was concerned that baby has been moving pretty much non stop since 4am. They monitored me, did a swab to test if I was in pre-term labour and a scan too. They weren’t concerned so sent me home saying it must just be Braxton Hicks and to keep taking paracetamol.

Still getting them every 5 minutes with cramping pain like period pain and backache but as long as baby is okay I’m a bit more reassured.

Not sure if I’ll be able to tell if I’m in labour moving forward though - this is exactly how it started with my daughter and I didn’t really feel any pain with the contractions with her until I was in established labour and 5cm dilated.

Are you reasonably close to hospital? If yes, it seems reasonable to watch and wait. Did they do a ctg and decide they weren't 'real' contractions?
I don't think they would normally give steroids for preterm birth after 34 weeks? Assuming that's the case I can't see what benefit there would be to going in early even if you are in labour. Theres nothing needing done in advance iyswim. So long as you definitely CAN get there in time to give birth, if it came to that?

Yes I’m around 30 minutes from the hospital. They did a CTG and the contractions / BH were peaking around 85-90 on the toco but they didn’t really comment on that.

Also not really sure what else they can do at this stage so just trying to get some rest at home and hoping things ease off. Not expecting baby to make an early arrival, especially as my first was 8 days overdue but just wanted to be sure baby was okay, as the poor guy isn’t getting any rest today!

Definitely a good shout to get checked out! Don't hesitate to go back every time you are worried about movement.

Good luck! If it's any help, in my experience prodromal contractions make for nice speedy labour when you finally get to the real thing!

@Aquarius93 85/90 are NOT BH. They might be prodromal, but they are not BH. BH should not really go above 30 ish (obviously depends on baseline, which should be 0, but might not be)

Mine were peaking at 65, and were apparently regular, and they told me to take it easy, not walk, lift weights, basically almost bed rest for me, to try and stop the contractions, as these intense contractions will likely shorten the cervix, in time (my is still at 4cm, so they were reassured I wasnt gonna go into premature labour anytime soon)

@ASGIRC thank you. I don’t think they are Braxton Hicks either but it didn’t seem like the midwife or doctor were open to considering it was anything other than BH.

@Aquarius93 what was the plan put in place when they discharged you? It sounds like it might be worth you going back in to get checked in again if they're still continuing in to this morning.

@GoingToInfinity absolutely no plan at all! They handed my notes back and said I could go home. I asked what am I supposed to do if the contractions/BH continue and they just said take some paracetamol.

They are still continuing but back to around 10 minutes apart now.

@Aquarius93 what happened to yours ? In a similar situation now :(

@Coffeemadness I had regular episode of mild but regular contractions once/twice per week following this post. As I wasn’t in pain I just stayed at home and tried to rest when I could. Baby didn’t actually arrive until 39 weeks and first sign of labour was my waters breaking. Baby was born around 2.5 hours later so perhaps the earlier contractions I had felt were my body getting ready.

I think it’s really important to trust your gut and advocate for yourself. Everything was okay for me and baby in the end although I wasn’t prepared for such a fast labour (was booked for a planned c-section but baby arrived quicker).

Have you been to get checked?

@Aquarius93 Thanks very much for replying xx

yes I have been checked in MAU. I am 34 weeks.
I had mild bleeding + whitish discharge. So went to MAU and they picked up the contractions - i couldnt feel anything initially. They admitted me and monitored for 2 days and was discharged last Saturday. I started feeling the tightening on last Friday & Saturday, but no pain - it was picked up on CTG but it was not regular on rhythmatic to be declared as labour pain - which I am very glad about.

Since being discharged, I’ve still been experiencing tightenings (without pain) over the past few days, occurring at random times.