Saturday, December 4, 2010

Braxton Hicks = Anxiety

Okay, I need the advice of all my formerly pregnant friends out there again. Today I had a strange sensation that the baby was stretching out in all directions and I felt a pressure/tightness in my low belly. No pain. This happened to me last night while driving home from work too. So I hopped on google and read through many different descriptions of Braxton Hicks contractions and determined that's what it was.

At 17 weeks, I felt like it was a bit early to have BH. So I called my Dr. and he assured me it is okay at this point if I only have one or two per day. He is so nice but my anxiety level is still through the roof! My pregnancy has actually been quite an uphill battle since day one and every little "ping" puts me in high alert.

I did read that BH can be brought on when the baby is very active. Well we know this little lady is quite the mover, at 3:30am it felt like she was having a dance party in my belly. I really hope the BH are just a result of all her activity.

If you could please share you stories of when you started to experience BH, how frequent were they, what you did (if anything) to keep them away....or any helpful/reassuring info you might want to share. I would greatly appreciate it.

2 comments:

The Cali Family said...

Braxton Hicks scared the heck outta me when I first felt them! I was 20 weeks, and to me, the BH felt like a strong tightening of my tummy. It felt like squeezing, no pain, but super uncomfortable. The thing that eased my anxiety somewhat is I had been really active walking around Disneyland all day. It was still scary because I thought I had overdone it and that they were contractions. Most likely your baby is active or growing and your tummy/muscles are just stretching out! It can be scary if you haven't felt it before. Plus, I know everyone says this, but if they are really contractions, there is no mistaking them for anything else. Good luck! Hang in there...so exciting you are having a girl!!! :)

B, the medical student said...

Having not been pregnant, but done an ob/gyn rotation (with the caveat that I'm not a doctor, though I play one on a daily basis)...this sounds more like the possibility of round ligament pain. Could possibly be braxton hicks, but round ligament pain is *extremely* common at 20 weeks and can feel like a tightening, especially around the sides of your abdomen from groin area up to flanks and is caused by the stretching of the round ligaments as the uterus expands, and can be worse with baby's activity. If I'm right, it's a completely benign condition and tends to go away in a few weeks... Maybe ask the doctor about it? Hoping they go away and things continue to go well!

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