False labor/painful B-H

[carlye]

For the last 3 days, I have had intermittent contractions, and it's
beginning to drive me crazy. It's a low backache accompanied by a
menstrual cramp-type feeling. Since Thursday, I've been getting these
about every 8-10 minutes or so for an hour or so, and the whole
"episode" happens about 3-5 times a day. I can definitely feel my
uterus contracting, and when I go to the bathroom afterwards, I'm
noticing increased mucus discharge, so it seems to be doing
*something*.

Anyway, anyone have advice on ways to either end the episodes or turn
them into real labor (if that's possible)? I have tried shifting
positions, having a cold drink, going for a walk, taking a warm shower,
and none of it seems to do anything.

This didn't happen with DD -- the most I ever had with her ahead of
time was painless B-H contractions, and when real labor set in, we
skipped over the "slow but steady" earlier stages and jumped right into
super-painful contractions that were about 6 or 7 minutes apart, on
average. So this is unfamiliar (and uncomfortable) territory.

Any advice is appreciated.

-Carlye
DD 9-29-04
DS EDD 6-2-06

P.S. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and moms-to-be!!

[Yiddishkeit]

When I had some labour that I thought to be false, my doula always
recommended 1 oz of red wine, and a warm bath. It usually stopped the
contractions. I don't know what you could do to speed it up, but I am
thinking maybe walk a lot might help a bit. I don't have a car and walk
several miles every day, and #5 came two weeks early. I am thining its
because of all the walking. Even though its not comfortable for you,
the contractions are probably softening your cervix and getting you
dilated a bit, so when labour does become regular, it might go faster
for you because your body already did some of the work beforehand.
Good luck! :)

Alison

[hobbes]

"carlye" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> For the last 3 days, I have had intermittent contractions, and it's
> beginning to drive me crazy. It's a low backache accompanied by a
> menstrual cramp-type feeling. Since Thursday, I've been getting these
> about every 8-10 minutes or so for an hour or so, and the whole
> "episode" happens about 3-5 times a day. I can definitely feel my
> uterus contracting, and when I go to the bathroom afterwards, I'm
> noticing increased mucus discharge, so it seems to be doing
> *something*.

Oh, I feel for you. I had similar experiences for a week before DS2 was
finally born. It drove me nuts, because I was constantly thinking that it
was time, and then they'd peter out. I did everything you're trying, and
nothing ever seemed to help. BUT, just to give you some hope, once things
*did* start happening, they happened very fast, and I was 9 cm when I
arrived at the hospital (and DS2 was born an hour later). I'd love to know
how far dilated I was during the week prior, but I'm sure that all that
aggrivation was doing something positive, and that things were happening.

So try to relax with the knowledge that this baby will come soon, and your
body is doing its work to make that happen. It's a roller-coaster ride,
though, that's for sure.

--
Jodi
SAHM to Oliver (5 years),
Arwen (3 years),
and Milo (5/7/06)

[Anne Rogers]

you poor thing, I had stuff like that with my first and never figured out
how to deal with it, other than rest, which did help, but then I didn't get
out of the house for weeks which was a bit miserable!

2nd time around the trouble started much earlier and I discovered keeping
excessively hydrated was the best thing, the thing to remember about that is
that when you are drinking so much water, it washed stuff out of your body,
but apparently that can all be replaced with one banana and one glass of
squash/sports drink.

I think the moral of the story is look after yourself and drink water!

Anne

[Jennin]

Although I have no advice I'm going through the exact same thing right now
and it has been happening for the last week. I had a doctors appoinment last
Monday and was 1 cm dialted. All week I've been having very strong
contractions along with the back pain and menstural like cramps but mine too
fizzle out after awhile. I have another appoinment tomorrow morning so
hopefully all of these BH's have been doing something all week. I never had
any of this with DD #1, the only contractions I had with her was when I went
into labor. Keeping my fingers crossed for both of us!!

Jennin
DD#1 04/98
DD#2 Due May 20th

[carlye]

Thanks, everyone, for the advice. I have some options to try now
(actually looking forward to the wine idea), and I certainly know now
that I'm not alone!!

I am thinking positively, that my body is just doing work now that it
won't have to do later, but I still can't help but think "Cut it out or
let's get on with it!!" every time I start to feel another bout coming
on.

Thanks again to everyone. :-)

-Carlye
DD 9-29-04
DS EDD 6-2-06

[Jamie Clark]

carlye wrote:
> For the last 3 days, I have had intermittent contractions, and it's
> beginning to drive me crazy. It's a low backache accompanied by a
> menstrual cramp-type feeling. Since Thursday, I've been getting these
> about every 8-10 minutes or so for an hour or so, and the whole
> "episode" happens about 3-5 times a day. I can definitely feel my
> uterus contracting, and when I go to the bathroom afterwards, I'm
> noticing increased mucus discharge, so it seems to be doing
> *something*.
>
> Anyway, anyone have advice on ways to either end the episodes or turn
> them into real labor (if that's possible)? I have tried shifting
> positions, having a cold drink, going for a walk, taking a warm
> shower, and none of it seems to do anything.
>
> This didn't happen with DD -- the most I ever had with her ahead of
> time was painless B-H contractions, and when real labor set in, we
> skipped over the "slow but steady" earlier stages and jumped right
> into super-painful contractions that were about 6 or 7 minutes apart,
> on average. So this is unfamiliar (and uncomfortable) territory.
>
> Any advice is appreciated.
>
> -Carlye
> DD 9-29-04
> DS EDD 6-2-06
>
> P.S. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and moms-to-be!!

I have no advice on how to end the episodes or turn them into full blown
labor...but I can say this -- they may be sporadic, but they may also be
productive. So, ignore them as best you can, and maybe by the time labor
actually starts for sure, you'll already be 6-7 cm dilated!
--

Jamie
Earth Angels:
Taylor Marlys, 1/3/03
Addison Grace, 9/30/04

Check out the family! -- www.MyFamily.com, User ID: Clarkguest1,
Password: Guest Become a member for free - go to Add Member to set up
your own User ID and Password

[Anne Rogers]

> I have no advice on how to end the episodes or turn them into full blown
> labor...but I can say this -- they may be sporadic, but they may also be
> productive. So, ignore them as best you can, and maybe by the time labor
> actually starts for sure, you'll already be 6-7 cm dilated!

or at least your uterus is good at having contractions, I didn't start
labour at all far on, but when it did start it sure went fast, none of this
1cm per hour business!

Anne

[Zaz]

I had that for three weeks for Mlle C...

I could never speed things up, but a warm bath would stop everything for a
few hours. I took in the habit of leaving the bath half full, and only
refill it with hot water whenever I needed to.

Good luck! - I'm right behind you!

Isabelle
Mlle C 2004-11-27
Guillaume EDD 2006-06-07 or 2006-05-31 (no one knows for sure)


"carlye" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> For the last 3 days, I have had intermittent contractions, and it's
> beginning to drive me crazy. It's a low backache accompanied by a
> menstrual cramp-type feeling. Since Thursday, I've been getting these
> about every 8-10 minutes or so for an hour or so, and the whole
> "episode" happens about 3-5 times a day. I can definitely feel my
> uterus contracting, and when I go to the bathroom afterwards, I'm
> noticing increased mucus discharge, so it seems to be doing
> *something*.
>
> Anyway, anyone have advice on ways to either end the episodes or turn
> them into real labor (if that's possible)? I have tried shifting
> positions, having a cold drink, going for a walk, taking a warm shower,
> and none of it seems to do anything.
>
> This didn't happen with DD -- the most I ever had with her ahead of
> time was painless B-H contractions, and when real labor set in, we
> skipped over the "slow but steady" earlier stages and jumped right into
> super-painful contractions that were about 6 or 7 minutes apart, on
> average. So this is unfamiliar (and uncomfortable) territory.
>
> Any advice is appreciated.
>
> -Carlye
> DD 9-29-04
> DS EDD 6-2-06
>
> P.S. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and moms-to-be!!
>

[carlye]

Zaz wrote:
> I had that for three weeks for Mlle C...

Three weeks! Oh my goodness... I don't know how you did it. I don't
know how I'm going to do this -- just getting through the day
(especially a day of work) is just getting to be so hard. Ugh.

-Carlye
DD 9-29-04
DS EDD 6-2-06

[Zaz]

Mmm... Maybe it would be time to get off work? You now need some rest!


"carlye" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Zaz wrote:
>> I had that for three weeks for Mlle C...
>
> Three weeks! Oh my goodness... I don't know how you did it. I don't
> know how I'm going to do this -- just getting through the day
> (especially a day of work) is just getting to be so hard. Ugh.
>
> -Carlye
> DD 9-29-04
> DS EDD 6-2-06
>

[carlye]

Zaz wrote:
> Mmm... Maybe it would be time to get off work? You now need some rest!

Yeah, that'd be nice. I keep telling DH that it's not so much that I
want the baby to be born a little ahead of schedule -- it's that I
don't want to go to work anymore for a while! :-) But I only get
about 3 or 4 weeks of maternity leave, so if I left now and the baby
came late... well... I'd have run out before he'll have come out!

Besides, work is a desk job -- it's uncomfortable and awkard sitting
all day, but it isn't exactly "tiring." The contractions distract me
from what I have to get done, and the days feel like they last forever,
but I have to admit this is probably loads more "restful" than I'd be
at home.

- Carlye
DD 9-29-04
DS EDD 6-2-06

[Zaz]

Where do you live?

I forget that not everyone is as lucky as we are here in Canada (and
especially in Québec) with regards to maternity leave. I have 15 weeks of
maternity leave at 75% of my revenue, followed by another 25 weeks split
between DH and I at the same rate (75% of his revenue and 75% of mine)...
I could go up to a year, with less revenue, if I wanted. I can't imagine
having only 3 or 4 weeks!

Isabelle

"carlye" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Zaz wrote:
>> Mmm... Maybe it would be time to get off work? You now need some rest!
>
> Yeah, that'd be nice. I keep telling DH that it's not so much that I
> want the baby to be born a little ahead of schedule -- it's that I
> don't want to go to work anymore for a while! :-) But I only get
> about 3 or 4 weeks of maternity leave, so if I left now and the baby
> came late... well... I'd have run out before he'll have come out!
>
> Besides, work is a desk job -- it's uncomfortable and awkard sitting
> all day, but it isn't exactly "tiring." The contractions distract me
> from what I have to get done, and the days feel like they last forever,
> but I have to admit this is probably loads more "restful" than I'd be
> at home.
>
> - Carlye
> DD 9-29-04
> DS EDD 6-2-06
>

[carlye]

Zaz wrote:
> Where do you live?

I live in the US, specifically North Dakota. Many employers give 6
weeks or 12 weeks of paid or partially paid leave, though more than
that is almost unheard of, from my experience. Decent paternity leave
seems to be all but nonexistent. DH will only be permitted to take
time off while baby and I are still in the hospital. For my
profession, three to four weeks paid is actually -very- good.

Kinda sucks, but then again, we don't have universal healthcare,
either, so it's par for the course down here! (I may be in a red
state, but I'm definitely "blue"!)

-Carlye
DD 9-29-04
DS EDD 6-2-06