This phenomenon has many different names: false or training fights, precursors, Brexton-Hicks fights, but the essence is the same - they resemble the real ones, although they are not. Such "training" can be observed starting from the 20th week of pregnancy, but usually they appear much later. An inexperienced woman may even panic and decide that she is already giving birth, but in fact, such cramps train the uterus, improve her blood circulation and increase her tone.
Real fights are a sign that a significant event is approaching - the birth of a baby. And if this is true, then the upcoming birth can be distinguished from "training" and other signs.
So what are false contractions and how to distinguish them from the real ones? In fact, it can be quite difficult. However, as a rule, a woman has enough time to understand whether she gives birth or not, so you should calm down, lie down or go to the shower, take some kind of antispasmodic and wait a bit. As a rule, precursor contractions take place within an hour or two.
If the pain increases, and the period between spasms is reduced, probably, the
birth process still began. For those who are not too good at this, even there are special “scrum counter” services that will help you easily understand whether it is worth calling an ambulance. True, they also sometimes make mistakes, so if in doubt, especially not too late, you need to go to the hospital and stop the labor.
In addition, women before childbirth often observe some more signs of an early termination of pregnancy: cork exit, the so-called “cleansing” of the body, lowering the abdomen, a slight decrease in body weight, change
the nature of the
motor activity of the fetus and, of course, the most noticeable event, indicating that it is time to go to the maternity hospital - the discharge of amniotic fluid.
Films often show that childbirth begins precisely when the water leaves. In the next frame, the woman is already giving birth in full, so it seems that a maximum of an hour passes from one event to another. In fact, quite often, water is poured out already during childbirth itself, and from the beginning of labor to the so-called stage of "expelling" the fetus from the uterus, a day can pass. Therefore, the fear of not catching the maternity hospital and giving birth somewhere along the road is almost unreasonable, and go to
just in case at the hospital, having felt the contractions, the harbingers, perhaps, are not worth it.
Thus, it is quite easy to distinguish true contractions from false ones: you just need to analyze their nature, if there is no increase in the frequency and strength of spasms, then, most likely, there is nothing to worry about.
Sometimes it happens that the precursor contractions become real. In addition, spasms in the intestine and in general its activity, for example, as a result of poisoning, can trigger the onset of labor. That is why, both in the early and later periods, you should be extremely careful about your lifestyle in general and nutrition in particular.
And if you still have doubts and after a period of rest the fights do not go away, you can play it safe and go to the hospital. In the end, there are different cases, but not everyone wants to give birth in an ambulance .