Braxton hicks or something else?

[Flossie_Aus]

Hi ladies,

First pregnancy, 22 weeks. It's 4am and I've been awake in pain for an hour and a half, my abdomen is really hurting and I'm breathing through it. It feels tight and overstretched and aching. I figured I was having BH yesterday as my stomach kept tightening up hard, but it wasn't painful like this. Not worried about Bub as I can feel him kicking away (helpful, lol). Could this be braxton hicks also? The pain doesn't really ease off. Should I be concerned? Any tips? I'm really hesitant to call maternity and speak to a midwife, I've been such a anxious ant this pregnancy they've already seen way too much of me.

If this is braxton hicks, god help me in labour.

 

[xSweetTartx]

It's unusual for BH to cause that much pain in my opinion. Have you tried drinking water to see if they go away? I hope by now that they have for you!

In any case, I would give someone a call to mention it to them and see what they say

 

[Flossie_Aus]

I drank water, tried different positions, went toilet, used heat pack, nothing worked. I eventually called maternity and they asked me to come in to make sure I wasn't in early labour. My cervix wasn't dialated thank god, but they did witness the tightening contraction things and diagnosed me with an irritable uterus. It's still going on, but not nearly as frequent or painful as early this morning thank goodness. OB said he couldn't promise it wouldn't progress into something more real, but just to monitor and see how I go.

 

[Kitteh_Kat]

Good luck, Flossie, hopefully it turns into nothing

 

[xSweetTartx]

Oh man, hopefully your uterus gets a hold of itself! Bad bad uterus.

I hope it eases up. Try to get as much rest as you can and avoid super woman activities.

 

[laila 44]

I had irritable uterus at 32 weeks last pregnancy! Lots of water and warm baths help a lot! Mine were so bad that dr would recommend I drink a half a glass of wine to get them to calm down. Ironically it was the only thing that worked!

 

[Spiffynoodles]

Flossie, sorry to hear you've got an Irritable Uterus, too! That's why I'm taking 17P shots, since my IU actually causes my babies to come early. So make sure you keep an eye on it. My OB (who also had IU in her pregnancies) always tells me to lay on my left side for an hour and drink a ton of water, and if they haven't calmed down after that, it's time to head to L&D. Usually, though, that combination will always settle things down a little, or at least space the contractions out. After dealing with this in 3 pregnancies now, I can tell when the contractions are actually affecting my cervix, because the pain wraps all the way around to my lower back. If it doesn't do that, I'm usually just fine.

 

[Qmama79]

I've had the glass of wine mentioned to me as well as I sometimes have an irritable uterus. For me so far, I've had two episodes that lasted 2-3 days. Lots of fluid & rest helped ... Not sure if the wine did.

 

[Flossie_Aus]

Thanks ladies!

Spiffy you have me thinking now, I thought it was all over and then I woke at 4am with horrible lower back pain, and it's now 10:30am and still there but also hard lower belly like a contraction that never goes away :/ seeing my OB at 2:45 so will see what happens.

Healthy pregnancy vibes to everyone xxx

 

[Spiffynoodles]

How did your appointment go, Flossie?