Contractions are painful contractions of the muscles of the uterus, without which normal childbirth will simply be impossible.
Can't do without pain
Almost all expectant mothers are sure to ask one and the same question: what will they experience when the contractions begin? The sensations will not be the most pleasant - it’s obvious, but which ones?
We clarify the situation right away: in normal birth, fights cannot be avoided, because they have a very important purpose. These contractions are needed in order to open the cervix, which will become for the baby a semblance of a gate to this world. If this does not happen, you have to go through a caesarean section.
It is difficult to explain in words what the contractions look like; sensations from them are also difficult to convey. Women who went through childbirth claim that every time it was different. In some, pain during contractions begins in the lower back, in many in the abdomen. One moment connects all mothers at this moment: if prenatal contractions begin, sensations in any of them arise correspondingly. That is, everyone immediately understands that the moment X has come, although she was previously afraid that she would not be able to recognize it.
Help breathing and massage
The parturient woman also unites the fact that after some time everyone has pains caused by contractions penetrate almost the entire body, necessarily “running” over the legs. Most compare the sensations that arise with menstrual pains, however, multiplied by tens of times. It is believed that they can be reduced by applying massage and performing breathing exercises.
When a woman in labor feels only the beginning of contractions, the sensations are not so unbearable. Some women compare them to normal abdominal muscle tension, partly reminiscent of Brexton-Hicks contractions. According to them, these sensations cannot be called even painful; rather, they simply cause some inconvenience to the expectant mother.
However, not all representatives of the fair sex agree that they do not cause practically inconvenience to the first bouts, the sensations from them. There are those who feel severe pain from the first minute. But even if you are more fortunate than these women, know that sooner or later the period of almost painless fights ends.
How long are the contractions?
The duration and intensity of uterine contractions gradually increase, and the time between them, when the pain fades, is inexorably reduced. At some point, closer to the minute the baby is born, there will be a feeling of severe pain with virtually no interruptions.
Moreover, shortly before childbirth, attempts to “join” the contractions. Their appearance also does not reduce the pain - it is added to it as if feelings of fullness in the very lower abdomen. From this moment you need to gather your will into a fist - in a couple of hours (or maybe much earlier) your baby will be born.
The period while the contractions last is considered the first stage of labor. It lasts for each woman in different ways - from 6 hours to a day. As a rule, during the second birth, this stage is shortened, because the body works according to a scheme that is already well known to it. It is believed that often in this case the contractions themselves are not so painful, the sensations from uterine contractions seem to be slightly dull.