Crazy long BH Contractions??

Has anyone else ever had a Braxton Hicks contraction that lasted
forever? I'm 29 weeks, and I've had two episodes where a BH lasted for
4 or 5 hours. Not a series of contractions that go on that long, one
single contraction that goes on and on and on... It doesn't hurt, but
it's very uncomfortable. These have both occurred in the evening,
after a busy day, and the usual fixes don't help - drinking liquids,
eating, going to the bathroom, laying down, walking, etc. The only
thing that worked, the one time, was taking a hot shower.

The on-call doctor said that it was more of a muscle spasm than a BH,
and that the warm shower could help relax the uterine muscle. Ok,
makes sense. I called my doctor's office the morning after the second
one, and the nurse said that if it happens again during business hours,
I should head to the OB's office - otherwise I should go to the
hospital for fetal monitoring. She said that contracting for that long
could be "stressful" (I'm guessing that she means in the medical sense,
and not the emotional sense) for the baby. YIKES!

Has anyone else experienced this? If so, was the baby born all bruised
and squished? Can't be comfortable for the poor little bugger in
there, with the walls closing in like that for hours and hours! Did it
get worse or better as your pregnancy progressed?

If BH really are practice contractions, I'll probably shoot this kid
right across the delivery room when she's born!

Thanks, in advance,
Amy

Amy Austin wrote:
Has anyone else ever had a Braxton Hicks contraction that lasted
forever? I'm 29 weeks, and I've had two episodes where a BH lasted for
4 or 5 hours. Not a series of contractions that go on that long, one
single contraction that goes on and on and on... It doesn't hurt, but
it's very uncomfortable. These have both occurred in the evening,
after a busy day, and the usual fixes don't help - drinking liquids,
eating, going to the bathroom, laying down, walking, etc. The only
thing that worked, the one time, was taking a hot shower.

The on-call doctor said that it was more of a muscle spasm than a BH,
and that the warm shower could help relax the uterine muscle. Ok,
makes sense. I called my doctor's office the morning after the second
one, and the nurse said that if it happens again during business hours,
I should head to the OB's office - otherwise I should go to the
hospital for fetal monitoring. She said that contracting for that long
could be "stressful" (I'm guessing that she means in the medical sense,
and not the emotional sense) for the baby. YIKES!

Has anyone else experienced this? If so, was the baby born all bruised
and squished? Can't be comfortable for the poor little bugger in
there, with the walls closing in like that for hours and hours! Did it
get worse or better as your pregnancy progressed?

If BH really are practice contractions, I'll probably shoot this kid
right across the delivery room when she's born!

Too funny. I think it might not hurt to go in, just
to find out if it's really what you think it is. Sometimes
you can get a similar feeling from the baby stretching out,
e.g.

Best wishes,
Ericka

"Amy Austin" wrote in message
ups.com...
Has anyone else ever had a Braxton Hicks contraction that lasted
forever? I'm 29 weeks, and I've had two episodes where a BH lasted for
4 or 5 hours. Not a series of contractions that go on that long, one
single contraction that goes on and on and on... It doesn't hurt, but
it's very uncomfortable. These have both occurred in the evening,
after a busy day, and the usual fixes don't help - drinking liquids,
eating, going to the bathroom, laying down, walking, etc. The only
thing that worked, the one time, was taking a hot shower.

The on-call doctor said that it was more of a muscle spasm than a BH,
and that the warm shower could help relax the uterine muscle. Ok,
makes sense. I called my doctor's office the morning after the second
one, and the nurse said that if it happens again during business hours,
I should head to the OB's office - otherwise I should go to the
hospital for fetal monitoring. She said that contracting for that long
could be "stressful" (I'm guessing that she means in the medical sense,
and not the emotional sense) for the baby. YIKES!

Has anyone else experienced this? If so, was the baby born all bruised
and squished? Can't be comfortable for the poor little bugger in
there, with the walls closing in like that for hours and hours! Did it
get worse or better as your pregnancy progressed?

If BH really are practice contractions, I'll probably shoot this kid
right across the delivery room when she's born!

I'm about 20 weeks and if I'm a bit bloated (fizzy drinks particularly) then
I get exactly what you're describing. Hot baths help relieve it for me. I
don't think (for me) it's a contraction, but it does feel like one.
Debbie

On Jan 26, 11:25 am, "Amy Austin" wrote:
Has anyone else ever had a Braxton Hicks contraction that lasted
forever? I'm 29 weeks, and I've had two episodes where a BH lasted for
4 or 5 hours. Not a series of contractions that go on that long, one
single contraction that goes on and on and on... It doesn't hurt, but
it's very uncomfortable. These have both occurred in the evening,
after a busy day, and the usual fixes don't help - drinking liquids,
eating, going to the bathroom, laying down, walking, etc. The only
thing that worked, the one time, was taking a hot shower.

Yes, this happened to me, under almost the same circumstances. I was
way further along though - it was around Thanksgiving in 2001, and my
daughter was born at 40 weeks on 12/12/2001.

We were out christmas shopping, and I was tired; it was after work,
etc. My belly would contract and stay that way for long periods of
time, basically as long as I was standing up. Like you, it wasn't
painful exactly, but VERY uncomfortable. It would stay that way for
20-30 minutes, and wouldn't let up, until I sat down.

I didn't think to mention it to my midwives though - and my daughter
turned out fine.

Cathy Weeks

"Amy Austin" wrote in message
ups.com...
Has anyone else ever had a Braxton Hicks contraction that lasted
forever?

I had several *somethings* at 31 weeks when I was in hospital waiting to
have Abby. But mine were excruciating. The midwife kept telling me it
wasn't a contraction and she didn't know what they were. To me it felt like
something was ripping inside me it was terrible. I would love to know what
they were.


--
Pip

My girls :
DD1 Jasmine - 5 weeks early - 21 March 02 -
Still as small as a peanut but as smart as a whip!

DD2 Abby - 8 weeks early - 3 Feb 05 -
I am very polite and say "Ank Ooooooo" whenever I'm given something.

"Yes you can drive me insane just by talking to me!"


--

I wonder if it's the muscles around the uterus spasming, rather than the
uterus itself, in which case it would make sense that none of the tricks
work, but instead, it might mean some kind of support garment would help,
but preventative, rather than curative. The heat helping, also points at
that, a hot shower would not usually help in stopping contractions, BH or
otherwise, more that it helps manage the pain of them.

I think it was unhelpful of the doctor to say it might stress the baby out,
yes, it is true that some babies get stressed out by contractions, but even
if this one stuck around for a long time, it's was unlikely to have been the
intensity of a labour contraction and even in labour, it rarely seems to be
the early ones that stress the babies. Even if it did cause the baby some
stress, is that a problem? probably not, unless it goes on and on (the
stress not the contraction), and that is unlikely and you'll know about it
soon enough, keep monitoring movement. Towards the end of pregnancy it might
mean they pass meconium in utero, which can make labour more difficult as
they might insist on continuous monitoring, my DD had old meconium in her
waters and at 39+3 that was unlikely to have been gut maturity, so she must
have been distressed at some point prior to labour, how, or why I do not
know, but she was fine (though not perfect, just good enough) during labour
and a picture of health as a newborn. If you do continue to have episodes
like this, you might want to get clued up on managing labour when meconium
has been passed, lots of providers insist on continuous monitoring without
any regard to any other factors, some even insist on delivery within a
certain time frame, sometimes one or both is merited, but sometimes is
overkill and you might want to be prepared for the moments when you would
say "I don't give my consent for continous monitoring". Btw, coming out
bruised is almost impossible, it sometimes happens if baby has been in a
poor position, such as brow presentation, but mostly only if they've been in
that position for a while, during labour, with waters broken when they are
being pushed by the contractions onto bones they are not getting past in
that position, amniotic fluid is an amazing thing, you have heard the odd
story of a mother being killed and baby being fine if they are delivered
fast, having survived the trauma of whatever injured the mother.

Anne

Anne

Thanks, girls, for all the replies! They've helped!!

On Jan 26, 4:03 pm, "Anne Rogers" wrote:
I wonder if it's the muscles around the uterus spasming, rather than the
uterus itself, in which case it would make sense that none of the tricks
work, but instead, it might mean some kind of support garment would help,
but preventative, rather than curative.

Aren't you smart. I have been wearing a tummy sleeve thing - it's a
spandex one-size-fits-most doo dah from the Motherhood store, and it
has been helping. I need to go get a second one, because I only have
one and I don't want to take it off long enough to wash it, and
eventually it will get crusty.

Btw, coming out
bruised is almost impossible, it sometimes happens if baby has been in a
poor position, such as brow presentation, but mostly only if they've been in
that position for a while, during labour, with waters broken when they are
being pushed by the contractions onto bones they are not getting past in
that position

I was mostly kidding... My daughter was born bruised, though. It
looked like she got punched in the nose on the way out. She had
bruising all over the center of her face from the position she was in
when she came out, or from coming too fast. I am not sure if it was a
"brow presentation" but she had one hand up by her chin, too, so I
know it wasn't an ideal presentation (hello, stitches).

I figured that even though it *feels* strong enough to hurt the baby,
that it wouldn't actually hurt her. She'll probably just really,
really like being swaddled. Hahaha...

Thanks again!
Amy