I might be having practice contractions. That's what I call them because that's what they are.
Braxton Hicks is the real name for these "practice contractions" that can start as early as the second trimester. Unfortunately, despite all the descriptions, I have absolutely
no idea what contractions feel like. I liken this to the descriptions of what fetal movement might feel like. Every pregnancy, every woman, every baby is different - so those feelings that people seem so eager to describe for me are really more like descriptions of what
they felt.
Here is what I feel:
- Abdominal aches, much like the stretching-ab-machine-workout feeling I described earlier, when my stomach began to grow
- Slight nausea (okay, not really nausea, but that feeling you get on the way down from the top of a Ferris Wheel)
- Mild gut discomfort (kind of like fart-cramp)
That's pretty much everything, in a nutshell. I know it isn't much to go on, but I also know it isn't "the real thing" because I haven't needed to go to the hospital, and it typically goes away within a couple of minutes. The most annoying part of it is that it happens primarily at night, when normal people like to be asleep. Sometimes it wakes me up, and I get all annoyed because then the Baby starts moving and it all prevents me from falling right back to sleep. Usually Baby movement doesn't wake me up, so this is
something else I get to enjoy!
My dear husband... I cannot talk with him about the physical ailments of pregnancy because he believes every little tweak will result in a trip to the hospital. It's always the first question out of his mouth: "Is this a
'We need to go to the hospital' kind of ouch, or what?" At least I know that when the time comes, he'll be ready!
