Recognizing labor pains and the types of labor pains
How to recognize birth pains? This is what many women ask themselves at the first pregnancy. Find out in this article how to recognize whether you have birth pangs or just exercise contractions, what types of labor pains there are and what exactly happens to your body.
Recognizing labor pains
“You can tell that.” or “If you’re not sure if you’re in labor, then it’s not!” – many pregnant women get these answers when they ask other women how they can recognize 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 contractionsbecome 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 should you go to the clinic?
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.