How do contractions feel? How to recognize contractions
How do contractions feel? When do exercise contractions occur? How do Senkwehen feel? We explain to you which types of contractions there are and how you recognize the respective contractions. You can also find out when it’s time to go to the maternity hospital or birthing center.
What are contractions and how can I recognize contractions?
During labor, the muscles of the uterus contract and become hard. These muscle contractions help the baby get into the right position for birth. Just before birth, they prepare the protectivecervixfor the opening of childbirth and push the baby in the right direction during birth. Labor earlier in pregnancy usually serves as a “training” of the uterus for the strenuous birth. In exceptional cases, however, it can also be premature labor, which can lead to a premature birth in an emergency. We now introduce you to all types of labor, their tasks and distinguishing features in detail, so that you know how to recognize labor.
Exercise contractions from the 20th week
It may well be that you feel light contractions a few weeks before birth. These are the so-called exercise contractions. They are also known as so-called trial contractions, wild contractions or Braxton-Hicks contractions. With them, the uterus “trains” from the20th week of pregnancyfor childbirth. Pregnant women usually hardly feel the first exercise contractions, but they can become stronger and stronger until the end of pregnancy. They are quite normal and harmless. These contractions do not open the cervix, in fact the opposite is the case: the cervix cramps during these contractions and closes even tighter.
How to recognize exercise contractions
Exercise contractions are rather irregular and not very painful. Often the abdomen hardens for a minute, sometimes once an hour, sometimes a few times a day. Only if they occur more frequently is there cause for concern. If they occur more than three to four times an hour or more than ten times a day, it is advisable to contact the doctor. Also, a feeling of pressure or pain in the abdomen or back or heavy discharge or bleeding must not occur in combination with these contractions. If you observe this, inform your doctor immediately. Because then it could be premature labor.
Detecting preterm labor
Premature labor is difficult to distinguish from exercise contractions in terms of their severity. In general, you should pay attention to how regularly your stomach hardens during pregnancy. If you are unsure, always ask your midwife or doctor to be on the safe side. If your contractions occur more regularly before the36th week of pregnancy, i.e. more than three to four times per hour or more than ten times a day, it could be premature labor. In this case, apremature birthmay threaten and you should talk to a doctor immediately for safety. If the contractions are accompanied bybleeding, discharge or severe abdominal or back pain, this may also be an indication of premature labor.
Reasons for preterm labor
When and what exactly contractions are triggered has not yet been sufficiently researched. Therefore, it is not entirely clear why preterm labor occurs in some women. However, it is assumed that the following points are related:
- Urinary tract infection
- Infections in the genital area
- Diseases or malformations of the uterus
- Placental insufficiency (undersupply of the baby)
- Chronic diseases, such as diabetes or asthma
- Hormonal disorders
- Infections, malformations or diseases of the baby
- Multiple pregnancies
- Alcohol, cigarettes and other drugs
- Stress
- Premature rupture of the bladder
- Deficiency symptoms, such asmagnesium deficiency
What helps against premature labor?
If you are really in preterm labor, your doctor can give you anti-labor medication to stop the birth so that your baby has enough time to develop. Sometimes it can also help if pregnant women allow themselves more rest and avoid stress.
Detecting Senkwehen (Vorwehen)
You usually get contractions in the last weeks before birth. They are therefore often referred to as “Vorwehen”. They push your child deeper into your pelvis so that he can take the right starting position for birth. Your belly lowers down with the baby. Your lungs have more space again and you can breathe better again. Even if you can eat more again, this may be a sign that your baby is slowly entering the pool. If you are pregnant for the first time, the contractions occur about four to six weeks before birth. If you have already been pregnant, your child may slip into your pelvis just before birth. This is also quite normal.
Senkwehen must be distinguished from exercise contractions. They are two different types of labor, but they merge into each other. Exercise contractions are noticeable much earlier than contractions and can occur as early as the middle of pregnancy. What both have in common is that they do not open the cervix.
Recognizing labor pains
One mother tells of stabbing back pain, another says she felt the birth pangs like a tight band that constricts the stomach. Yet another describes labor pains as a very bad menstrual cramp. Birth pains open the cervix and shorten thecervix. However, the first birth pangs do not come abruptly or out of nowhere. The tension builds up and falls slowly. First, the muscles tense in the upper part of the uterus. This contraction spreads like a wave throughout the uterus down to the cervix. At the peak of this wave, your whole stomach is tense. The relaxation then takes place in reverse order, i.e. from bottom to top.
Signs of labor pains
Especially with your first pregnancy, it can be difficult to properly recognize contractions or other signals from your body. However, if you observe the following signs in you, you may be experiencing the first birth pangs.
- You get severe back pain or a strong pulling in the groin area.
- Your uterus begins to tense rhythmically.
- You feel a tension in the stomach, which slowly increases and decreases again after a climax.
- If the contractions last longer than 30 seconds and recur at regular intervals in this strength, this indicates real birth pains.
- Often birth pains have an interval of about 20 to 30 minutes at the beginning. If the breaks between contractions are shortened to less than 10 minutes, then the complete opening of the cervix is imminent.
A safe way to test if you’re experiencing real labor pains is to take a warm bath. Exercise contractions become weaker when relaxing in warm water, birth pangs get going properly.
Types of labor pains
Depending on whichphase of birthyou are in, you feel the contractions differently. A distinction is therefore made between the following types of labor pains:
- Opening contractions: Childbirth is initiated with the expansion of the cervix to about ten centimeters. The end of opening labor, when the cervix opens completely just before the contractions begin, is felt most painfully by most women.
- Bearing down pains: In the expulsion phase, the child is pushed out to the pelvic outlet and then through the vagina. Although the pressure is greater at this stage of childbirth, the pain during contractions is perceived by most women as more bearable than the opening contractions because they can actively support the birth by pressing.
- Postpartum labor: After the birth of the child, the placenta, which is called “afterbirth”, is rejected and excreted. Many women hardly feel the afterbirth pains anymore, because endorphins are released during childbirth, which make them feel the pain less strongly.
- Aftermath: These contractions in the first days and weeks after birth support the regression of the uterus and silent bleeding. The aftermath is usually stronger in multiple mothers than in first-time mothers. Breastfeeding also promotes this contraction through its stimulation of the hormone oxytocin. However, this also means that the uterus of breastfeeding women regresses faster.
Birth pains: when to go to the hospital?
If the contractions become so severe that you can’t talk or do anything else on the side, it’s time to go to the maternity hospital orbirthing center. Even if the birth pangs occur within half an hour about every three to five minutes, it is high time to get going. If you are not giving birth for the first time, you should drive even earlier, because the second birth is usually faster than the first.
Of course, you can always go to the maternity hospital if you are unsure or cannot find peace at home. The midwife will then clarify with aCTGand a palpation examination whether you already have real birth pains and how wide the cervix is already open. If you actually came to the clinic way too early, she will send you home again. But you don’t have to be embarrassed, because this happens to many women who give birth for the first time. It is better to go to the hospital once too often than too late.