Regular practice bouts. Symptoms of false contractions during pregnancy in the last weeks. What to do during training bouts
Pregnancy is probably the happiest period in the life of every woman. At this time, she gets acquainted not only with new sensations, but also with basic medical concepts. For example, in the last weeks of pregnancy, every woman has to deal with training contractions, which are called Braxton-Hicks contractions. They got this name due to the fact that the first doctor who described them was John Braxton-Hicks from England. And since the 19th century, when they first became known, they bear his name.
What are these fights? Such contractions occur when the uterus begins to prepare for childbirth. Of course, there are exceptions and such contractions are not observed in the expectant mother, but most women still experience these harbingers.
As your tummy grows, so does your baby. And the less time remains for the long-awaited meeting, the more often thoughts about the upcoming birth arise. Especially if the pregnancy is the first, then there are several times more emotions. And yet, when there are only a few weeks left before the birth, women begin to catch every change in their body and with every new sensation they are ready to say that they have started giving birth.
But those who have already given birth begin to tell that the beginning of childbirth is simply impossible to miss and when the contractions begin, the pregnant woman will immediately understand everything. But despite this, women quite often come to the maternity hospital much earlier than the allotted time. And such situations mainly occur due to training fights.
When do practice bouts start?
The first training bouts can begin after 20 weeks, but do not be afraid that something is wrong. This is a completely normal process and an integral part of pregnancy. After all, they are just training. During such contractions, a significant tension in the muscles of the uterus is felt with some frequency. They are very similar to short attacks lasting 30-60 seconds. Such contractions are almost painless and do not cause discomfort. In addition, they differ from real ones in irregularity, pain exclusively in the lower abdomen and disappear over time.Only a few know that the uterus trains and prepares for childbirth throughout pregnancy. Only in the early stages, these contractions are not felt at all. But after 20 weeks you can clearly feel them. They look like mild spasms and at the same time the uterus becomes very hard. Quite often, it is precisely such sensations that a woman confuses with the real onset of labor and begins to run to the hospital.
How to recognize training contractions
The main difference between these fights is regularity. If during real contractions the intervals between them are equal and gradually decrease, and the pain increases in the meantime, then this is not the case with training. When the uterus is exercising, a woman may feel several contractions, which are completely mild and do not bring much discomfort. They can go through different intervals of time, or they can go through the same, but then they will calm down.Most often, such contractions are clearly audible in the evening or at night. When the body is completely relaxed, a woman can hear slight tensions and contractions of the uterus without making an effort.
It is also worth considering that real contractions can be accompanied by cramps, lack of appetite, or even diarrhea. Read more about the differences between training and real fights.
How long do practice bouts last?
The fact that it’s too early to get ready for the maternity hospital can also be understood by how long the contractions last. Training contractions can last from a few seconds to two minutes. It is important to remember that the closer the birth, the more often such contractions can occur and at the same time their duration will not increase.It is also worth considering that some women do not pay attention to uterine contractions at all the way they feel them. But if all the same training bouts are very unpleasant for you, then you need to do something to distract yourself from unpleasant emotions and sensations. And by the time they start you need to learn to understand your body. This will help a lot not only during pregnancy, but also during childbirth.
To count the number of contractions, their duration and frequency, you can use our program WE COUNT BREAKS, which will help you decide when you need to go to the hospital.
What to do during training bouts?
First of all, you don't have to worry. It should be remembered that the closer to childbirth, the more intense they can become. But when they are accompanied by lower back pain, vaginal discharge appears, and the number of contractions exceeds four per hour - this means that you can safely pack up and go to the hospital.
There are several reasons why practice contractions may start. For example, a lot of physical activity, the activity of the child and the stressful situation for the mother. There are times when Braxton-Hicks contractions can start even with a light touch on the abdomen. Knowing about the reasons that cause such contractions, you can easily avoid them. Some of the doctors believe that this required process, which prepares a woman for childbirth, but there are those who claim that contractions are caused by the maturation of the uterus.
At the first occurrence of training fights, it is necessary to breathe correctly. There are several ways correct breathing during fights. Such knowledge may well come in handy at the very birth.
- The first method is called economical breathing. This is when the deepest breath is taken and a very slow exhalation.
- The second way is to breathe like a dog: intermittent and very frequent breathing. Most in an efficient way there is breathing when you inhale slowly through your nose and exhale sharply through your mouth.
It’s better to hurry to the doctor if during Braxton-Hicks contractions bloody discharge appears, water breaks, or back pain appears, and the child stops moving. But in most cases, such symptoms can only occur for quite some time. later dates pregnancy and may end either in premature birth or in the observation of a pregnant woman in a hospital until the fetus is fully mature.
It is very rare that training contractions cause pregnancy complications. To a greater extent, everything ends relatively well for both the woman in labor and the newborn.
But be that as it may, you must remain calm and understand that training bouts are created in order to prepare you and the whole body for the complex changes that will occur in it and for very hard physical work, which will certainly end in joy.
When and how do practice bouts start?
Training contractions in pregnant women, otherwise they are also called Braxton-Hicks contractions or false ones, are a matter of concern for many expectant mothers. Will they lead to premature dilatation of the cervix? How does the child feel about it? And how to distinguish the moment when training contractions begin and real, generic ones?
Yes, in fact, many women attend unscheduled antenatal clinics, call ambulance, they go to the maternity hospital themselves because their stomach suddenly began to turn to stone. And, as you know, a relaxed, painless uterus speaks of the well-being of pregnancy.
However, the sensations when practice contractions begin are usually very different from those experienced during real contractions. And women who are not pregnant for the first time treat such phenomena more simply and easily, they panic less and less often. So, some signs by which you can understand that training bouts have begun:
- the stomach stiffens painlessly or aches quite a bit when it “lets go” - this is due to the tension of the muscular layer of the uterus;
- sensations occur irregularly and in a certain position, which seems to contribute to the tension of the uterus;
- cervical dilatation does not occur (diagnosed by ultrasound and when examined by a doctor of the cervix);
- everything goes away if you take No-shpu or use a Papaverine candle;
- in order for the contractions to pass, it is enough to lie down to rest or sleep, as a rule, they are the result of overwork, for example, if the expectant mother walked that day more than usual.
How long after training contractions does labor begin, when should I be ready? In fact, it may not even be hours, but weeks. In some women, false contractions appear as early as 25-28 weeks, and do not lead to any labor activity. But if training contractions start so early during the first pregnancy, it is advisable for a woman to go to a specialist in ultrasound so that he vaginally using a sensor to measure the length of the neck. In general, it is desirable to periodically control it for all expectant mothers, and especially for those who often have uterine hypertonicity or abdominal pain.
Normally, the cervix is from 35 mm long, dense and closed throughout. If it begins to shorten, soften - this means a threat of termination of pregnancy. In this case, the period of time before delivery, training contractions begin, can be short, just a few hours or days. And then the doctors put the woman in a hospital (usually with a cervix less than 2.5-3 cm) and begin tocolytic therapy - they remove the uterine hypertonicity as much as possible so that it does not provoke an even greater expansion of the cervix.
At the same time, sutures are placed on the cervix (usually up to 20 weeks) or a pessary is put on it - a special ring that reduces the pressure of a heavy uterus on it, excluding mechanical opening. The ring can be put on the neck at any stage of pregnancy. And it is removed at 37-38 weeks, or earlier, with the onset of real labor.
If you are 38-40 weeks old and training contractions are actively going on, you should not wait for the real ones to begin - go for an examination to the doctor. Perhaps you are already in labor, or they are about to begin. If not, then doctors may recommend taking antispasmodics to remove discomfort, due to which sometimes even weakness of labor occurs, and there is a need for drug stimulation.
Now you know how to recognize training contractions and when they begin during pregnancy, we hope you will not immediately panic. If the cervix does not respond to such preparation for childbirth ahead of time, you just need to find ways to improve your well-being, relieve spasms. In addition to antispasmodics, light sedatives of plant origin - valerian and motherwort - are actively used for this purpose. And if training contractions occur during physical exertion, a bandage will help.
Training contractions are not accompanied by pain and do not cause discomfort, but they can alert a woman to a certain extent. Training contractions are not direct signals of the onset of labor, they prepare, as if training, the birth canal for the birth process. For this, this phenomenon has received its interesting name.
How to recognize contractions
Before giving birth, there are always signs (harbingers) both day and night - the stomach becomes stony, the tone of the uterus, trial, premature, preliminary painful attempts are felt, which means childbirth will begin soon. Such a phenomenon as contractions has different reviews and descriptions. Usually, after the second attempts, the third ones appear, within a week before the birth days. At what time they can often, how to determine what to do, how they appear, distinguish, look, whether true ones differ from false ones, whether they can be confused with real ones, how long they feel, what they look like, how long painful sensations can last and last, with how often, how long it takes (number of contractions per hour) - these questions torment all expectant mothers.
Not all women notice training contractions, as they are painless.
It is not difficult to learn and compare attempts when preparatory contractions occur in both primiparous and multiparous (the whole day in the month of childbirth is possible). Some women are caught off guard, because the time of childbirth has not yet come, and some may not encounter them at all, or not notice them.
Many experts note that training contractions are caused by a number of reasons:
- high physical activity pregnant and heavy physical exertion;
- Increased activity of the baby;
- Lack of fluid in the body;
- Excessive anxiety and unrest of the pregnant woman, as well as stress;
- Sleep disturbance;
- Diet or malnutrition;
- Drinking alcohol or smoking;
- The use of strong drinks (for example, coffee);
- Bathing in a hot bath or shower;
- Full bladder;
- Having sex.
Training contractions are irregular and intermittent, as well as painless. Their intensity and frequency do not decrease or increase both during movement and at rest, remaining stable. These contractions are designed to soften and shorten the cervix, as well as to train the uterine muscles. Also, thanks to them, the placenta is saturated with oxygen and nutrients, in addition, blood circulation and blood flow to the fetus increases.
Feelings during training bouts
Basically, training contractions manifest themselves in a situation of overexcitation of the mother's body (smoking, stress, strong tea, orgasm, alcohol), as well as in multiple or large pregnancies. A woman can understand quite easily that training or false contractions have begun, since they are accompanied by sensations.
Elena Zhabinskaya
Hi guys! This is Lena Zhabinskaya! From the moment of conception to the moment the baby is born, 280 days or 40 weeks pass. For the convenience of monitoring a pregnant woman, doctors conditionally divided this period into three trimesters. In each of them, characteristic changes in the body of a woman are noted, which indicate the presence or absence of problems. One of these changes is training bouts.
Sooner or later, all pregnant women hear about them, but not everyone experiences them. Is it correct? Why is this happening? Today there will be no white spots: we will find out what training bouts are: sensations and their differences from real ones.
For the first time, British gynecologist John Braxton-Hicks spoke about training fights in 1872. Approximately at the same time, the mechanism of their appearance was described.
The uterus is a muscular organ that can spasm during pregnancy, in other words, periodically contract. This usually happens in the following way: at one moment, the belly of the expectant mother tenses, stiffens, to the point that she can even feel the uterus, and then relaxes.
At the same time, the sensations are unpleasant, but simply because the woman is afraid for the unborn baby. Soreness is absent, but the fears themselves disappear only at a consultation in the doctor's office. He just explains that such phenomena, so frequent in the later stages, are a variant of the norm. So the uterus prepares for the upcoming birth. Moreover, this happens almost from the first weeks of pregnancy, it’s just that initially the contractions are insignificant and the woman does not feel them. 
But things change for primiparas in the third trimester. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule when the expectant mother does not notice spasms. Doctors explain everything by the individual characteristics of the body. Judge for yourself: each person has his own pain threshold. In addition, each woman has her own frequency, intensity and duration of training contractions. If she does not have them, then they are insignificant for her, and she does not notice them.
Other names for training bouts:
- false;
- braxtons;
- harbingers or harbingers;
- Braxton-Hicks contractions.
It is worth noting that in European countries the condition in which a woman feels uterine spasms is not of great importance. In our country, on the contrary, the doctor listens attentively to the complaints of the patient, if any. And in rare cases, it can even send it for preservation if an increased tone is diagnosed and the threat of miscarriage and premature birth increases.
Reasons for the appearance
According to scientists, training contractions occur in response to:
Note that for some women, training contractions appear when a stranger touches their stomach.
Feel
How to recognize false contractions? It turns out that everything is simple here: they represent a sharp, uncomfortable contraction of the organ. He himself tenses up, mainly in the lower abdomen, which sometimes entails the appearance of unpleasant sensations even in the lower back. Pain does not occur, although everything is individual here.
In general, doctors distinguish the following symptoms of Braxton:
- periodic tension in the abdomen, something like spasms;
- the difficulty of probing the fetus at the time of its compression (it seems to turn to stone);
- viewing the clear contours of the uterus (in some cases, but this is not necessary).
Immediate consultation with a doctor is necessary if the harbingers:
- accompanied by watery or spotting from the vagina;
- pronounced pain in the lower back;
- fading of the fetus (the reason for the appeal should also be the fact that he began to move less often or weaker);
- while the waters broke.
And it doesn't matter how many days until the birth is left. All these factors may indicate a danger to the child, therefore, they must be reported to the doctor.
The first contractions are called Braxton-Higgs contractions, they begin in the middle of pregnancy and resemble what we call tone in the first trimester, that is, the uterus turns to stone for a while, holds on like that, and then lets go. It is painless for you, towards the end of pregnancy there can be a lot of such contractions, which sometimes becomes tiring, and then you can just lie down in a warm relaxing bath with herbs, sea salt or relaxing essential oils.
In general, according to its meaning, Braxton-Higgs contractions are not contractions. They do not dilate the cervix and are nothing like labor pains.
And, of course, you don’t need to be treated for them, they don’t harm the child, and what we in Russia call uterine tone, and then “brextons” - is not just not considered a diagnosis in the rest of the world, but they even have words there is no such thing - “tone”. The uterine muscles simply learn to tighten and relax, this is literally training - after all, she must know how to do it before childbirth.
But there are other fights, also training ones. They come already really closer to childbirth, for some weeks from 30, for others from 36 - this may also depend on what kind of pregnancy is in a row. When you are expecting a second, third child, training contractions come quite early, and when you are expecting the first, you may never even encounter such a phenomenon and still not understand what they were talking about when they talked about training.
And each of these options - from not at all to eating every day for several hours - has the right to be and is normal.
It is characteristic that these training contractions are NOT braxtons, but the second type of training contractions is really similar to birth contractions, so much so that in connection with this there are curious cases both in my practice and in myself when I was expecting my first child.
Well, that is, here they are your 38 weeks, from which you have every right to give birth. You wake up from contractions, and they go so briskly for several hours in a row with the same interval, and everything is as it should be - both a wavy nature with a gradual increase, peak and release, and intervals, and you are so right - you work, breathe, things I collected it already for childbirth or, on the contrary, took it apart, took everything out (depending on where you are going to give birth), called the doula home, pulled my husband off work, and they were so raaaaaaz !, and suddenly extended the interval, and now everything is assembled houses around you, looking inquiringly - well? - and they are so two! - and there are no contractions for you, and there is no trace of them left, that very “dissolved” has come, yeah!
But I’m still describing this hilarious version, in it the only thing that can be stressful is the disruption of people’s plans and an awkward feeling in front of them for this, but, in general, “not a single rabbit was hurt during the filming of this film.”
Much sadder than the story when a woman who does not understand the difference between true contractions and training ones, or who does not know at all that training ones can also be, took them at face value, packed her things and went to the hospital. And there they are, let's say, that's how they all go. And there is already an opening of some 1 cm (and it can be the last month before the birth, it happens, and this does not yet mean the birth process).
And then they won’t let her out of the maternity hospital and they will give birth to her there (by the way, I didn’t invent the word at all, the doctors themselves say so cynically). In the sense that training contractions will soon end, which in the maternity hospital can be interpreted as a weakness in labor activity, which supposedly will need to be stimulated. Where there is stimulation, there is often hypoxia in the child, and hello to caesarean section. Or stimulation and no disclosure (and really, why, if the child was not going to be born today?) - and again a caesarean.
Or, finally, they will reach for attempts, and then squeezing, ruptures and memories of childbirth as a terrible nightmare. I'm not intimidating, really, I'm just describing real scenarios that come to me quite often to close (live through) traumatic childbirth.
Therefore, it is really important, unless you are going to give birth at home solo with your husband, whether you have training contractions or real ones. (In the case of solo ones, as it was, for example, for me the second and third time - it becomes unimportant whether this is childbirth or not, because it is clear that everything is about childbirth, and it is clear that it either clears up or not, and this is not so fundamentally.)
So, let me list the key, fundamentally significant differences between training and real labor pains.
Differences between training and labor contractions
Training contractions do not get longer over time. (Meaning the duration of the fight itself.)
Generic - become longer.
The interval between training bouts is not reduced.
In childbirth, the interval between contractions becomes shorter and shorter (though not immediately).
The interval between training bouts will either be stable and not change, or chaotic.
In labor pains, the interval, although it must be stable, will begin to decrease over time, and there is no contraction in them after 5 minutes, then after a minute, then after 7, then after 15. There the pattern will be 7,7,7, 5 ,5,5, 3,3,3... (In some cases, it is allegedly non-rhythmic, but if you think about it, the “pattern” will be there anyway. For example, the interval is 5 minutes, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 2 minutes and etc.)
Once again: training contractions do not lengthen themselves, the interval between them does not decrease, and the interval between them is chaotic, or does not change at all.
A good test of whether you are in labor or not is taking a bath. It is believed that premonitory contractions in the water subside completely or subside significantly (in short, weaken), while generic ones do not. It is also believed that with the harbingers you can fall asleep and then it’s not childbirth, but you won’t fall asleep in childbirth.
I would not speak so categorically, childbirth is very cunning and unpredictable, but still, I think this is a weighty enough and statistically confirmed argument to rely on it.
