# can you describe your braxton hicks contractions to me?



## justjill

Hi ladies. I'm 38 weeks pregnant, and so far I haven't had any braxton hicks contractions, at least I don't think so. What I do get sometimes is my stomach feeling tight and hard, but it's higher up, above my belly button. 

Aren't braxton hicks supposed to be felt lower down, like where you would feel period cramps? 

I'm not sure if what I'm feeling is braxton hicks, or if it's just the baby pushing her butt out or something? It gets pretty hard, it's a good portion of my upper abdomen, and seems like a larger area than what her butt or back would be able to take up!

If any of you ladies could try to describe to me what your braxton hicks contractions feel like it, I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks bunches :)


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## alasia

Mine personally either come as feeling like a belt is tightening around the top half of my bump; where my actual stomach doens't feel hard to touch (it's pretty firm all the time anyway) but makes me feel like I need to sit really upright and take deep breaths to get a proper lungfull of air, or as a slight crampy-feeling under my bump along with tightening down there and in my lower back, that builds to a peak over 10-15 seconds, to the point where it's just on the verge of being painful; then stays that way for 5-7 seconds before releasing. 

My stomach doesn't feel hard to the touch with either of these BH, but as I said my bump is all tight and stretched anyway! Lol.

HTH a bit.


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## Becky9384

I am getting them, they are tightening. I started to get period cramps when I get one and my doctor said thats an actual contraction not a BH. So now I don't really know.


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## yourstruly10

hey just popping by from second tri. I had them from 17 weeks with my first. When I was 38 weeks they were my whole tummy. It would go tight and hard and then a few seconds later it would release and go normal again. I never had any pain with them.


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## LockandKey

for me, my entire bump will get rock hard, sometimes with menstrual like pain in my lower front region, and sometimes with no pain at all. They are really irregular, and last anywhere between 1 min to 5 mins. Sometimes they will come a couple times an hour, and sometimes they will come once every hour or every few hours. The only thing I can bank on is that lately they've been more frequent


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## suzie7

I'm due May 27th too! OMG....I am getting SOOOO impatient, it literally brought me to tears tonight! I want my baby here NOW!

I've been getting bad menstrual cramps off and on for two weeks now. My doctor said that BH become stronger as you approach delivery and my cramps are just bad BH contractions.


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## Dibbles

I had my first painful BH contractions at 4:30am last night (I'm 29 weeks) and panicked because I thought I was going into preterm labor >.> 

My stomach was rock hard and painful and my back hurt and I was getting what felt like menstrual cramps. They lasted what seemed like forever and went on for about half an hour. Nothing helped I tried moving, resting, drinking water, nothing. Then they slowly started to get milder and I began to breath through them, I was exhausted by the time I was done and collapsed back in to bed and fell asleep.


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## Babynumber1

Hi hun this is my 2nd baby and bh came around 17 weeks and got more frequent and stronger as time went on.Mine are in my lower belly and now i find them rather uncomfortable my bump goes hard and its like an ache tightnings but mine can last 20 mins at a time the other day i had them for 3 hours,but iv read if your dehydrated you can get them bad.xx


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## lindsayscoob

I've been having them since around 35 weeks, and I wasn't sure that was what they were or if it was baby making big movements. But I had one whilst midwife was examining me and she confirmed BH. Like you I got them more over the top of my bump and top half of tummy, not sure in my case if its cos I've got horrible saggy bit at bottom of bump and too much fat there!! Now they're a lot stronger, more whole tummy and are getting mor uncomfortable and tight.


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## punk_pig

I've had my baby and I'm still confused by this issue. My community midwife said my pain free hardening sounded like BH (from about 14 weeks onward) but hospital midwife dismissed me and said didn't I know what my baby moving around felt like!

Then at 34 weeks I had two days where for a couple of hours I had bad painful BH on and off with pain down the back of my legs just like a period, but it kept going away so I didn't worry and didn't go in to labour till past 40 weeks!

Certainly when I wad bigger every time LO moved her bum it would take my breath away and my bump would be hard at the top but I knew it was her moving as my shape would change from her pointing her bum to the right to pointing it left etc.


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## jellytot3

I never had braxton hicks with my first, with my second i got them right near the end. Wioth this pregnancy i have had them since about 20 weeks! My tummy goes hard and feels uncomfortable, i dont get any pain though. I think all women are different, some women feel pain/period cramping. x


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## Nikki B

I've been getting some little pains in my lower abdomen, not super uncomfortable but noticable... Maybe that's what they are? It's hard to know, since it sounds like every woman is different.


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## Finsmummy

You know about it when you get them. The uterus is the largest muscle, and squeezes and thickens around the baby when it contracts. Your tummy expands slightly and hardens like a big rock, making it really uncomfortable to move! It fades after a minute or so. I have them constantly, and it happens when baby moves or I go to the loo!


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## mamaraha

I didn't notice them with my first baby. I thought the baby was pushing his rear out at times as the OP described and those were probably bh but I never had pain or discomfort either. I definitely knew when my first labor contraction hit :).


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## Sketcher

I have same as finsmummy, it's not painful just a lil uncomfortable, like a pressure build up, and goes hard, sometimes it's just on one side. Now it's starting to give me breathless feeling chest, still not too bad though. And I get lots of them. 
I wouldn't say lower abdomen pains are them, that sounds more like stretching, or baby pushing down. But what do I know ;)
Xx


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## xBabyGoose

my tightenings have been all over my belly, now im a bit later on i get backache/pcramps with them and feel short of breath and get a funny head pressure when it happens. Every person seems to have a different experience with them though :shrug:


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