HOw can you tell early contractions

This is probably complete and utter paranoia, but I've had a lot of lower
back pain the last few days. Most sites say it's a normal part of pregnancy
(and I have a slight scoliosis, so it's even more expected), but there are a
few which list back pain as a sign of premature labor! YIKES!

I've never gone into labor naturally, so I have no idea of what really early
contractions feel like, and I do know several mothers who had labor start in
the 2nd trimester (and that if it progresses too far, they can't stop it).

I'm coming up onto the point where I've never had a pregnancy go this far
before, so I'm super paranoid, especially with my husband out of town. I
have a call in to the CNW for this panic attack, but I'm wondering what else
I should look for (especially in the hours after the office is closed).

In article ,
"Donna Metler" wrote:

This is probably complete and utter paranoia, but I've had a lot of lower
back pain the last few days. Most sites say it's a normal part of pregnancy
(and I have a slight scoliosis, so it's even more expected), but there are a
few which list back pain as a sign of premature labor! YIKES!

I've never gone into labor naturally, so I have no idea of what really early
contractions feel like, and I do know several mothers who had labor start in
the 2nd trimester (and that if it progresses too far, they can't stop it).

I'm coming up onto the point where I've never had a pregnancy go this far
before, so I'm super paranoid, especially with my husband out of town. I
have a call in to the CNW for this panic attack, but I'm wondering what else
I should look for (especially in the hours after the office is closed).




Look for timing. If you have back pains that are fairly regular -- say,
every 20 minutes -- it may be early labor. If you just have random
backaches, or steady pain or discomfort, it is less likely to be labor.

For what it's worth, with my first I figure I was in labor for about 5
hours before I realized that's what it was -- just early labor. I was
already at work, and finished my shift, and went home and had supper
before the contractions were close enough (or even distracting enough)
to go to the hospital. So even not knowing you are in labor in the
early stages isn't necessarily that big a deal.
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

I know how you feel! With my first pregnancy I never had any real
back pain till one day I had contractions that felt like a gentle yet
firm squeaze around my middle section all around. They were steadily
coming every 15 minutes for the entire day. They weren't too
distracting though, I went through the whole day with my feet up as my
feet were sooo swollen that day for some reason. They were not painful
till that night then it was very noticable and I was in real labor.
But with my second pregnancy starting in the second trimester I had
constant back pain that was caused by an old injury and the weight on
the front of me and the fact that I had two pregnancies 6 months
apart.
If you have any pains that are different than what you are used to
feeling (keep in mind that pregnancy is not the most comfortable time
of life) then I would reccomend that you call your doctor's office and
talk to one of your nurses and tell her your symptoms as they will
know your case better and will be able to tell by your voice if you
are needing immidiate attention. Hope this helps. Good luck.