Contractions a labour of love for your baby
Janine Gard is a diploma-qualified birth educator (2005) and founder of Bellies to Babies antenatal and postnatal classes. She has helped more then 3700 parents prepare themselves mentally, emotionally and physically for their journey to parenthood and loves what she does. This week Janine talks about what labour contractions feel like.
As you near your due date, you're probably starting to worry that you're not going to know a labour con traction when it happens. We have the answers to all your most pressing questions about what contractions feel like.
■ What is a contraction?
A contraction is tightening of your uterus. The uterine muscle can contract any time from mid pregnancy on, and those contractions might feel like nothing at all, or they might be completely overwhelming.
Your uterus is a large muscle, and just like any other muscle inyour body, it will flex when it's stimulated. Hormonal changes can start contractions, but how you experience contractions depends on your pain threshold and what type of contraction you're actually having (yep, there's more than one kind). In the first stage of labour, your contractions gradually open your cervix. In the second stage of labour, they ease your baby down through your vagina and out. Inthe third stage of labour, they dislodge your placenta and seal off blood vessels, as your uterus contracts down. ■ What causes labour contractions?
Well, the potentially disappointing truth is that the precise cause of labour is one of them any medical mysteries that scientists still don't have a real answer to. The best we cando is share a few theories that scientists are considering for possible causes of labour.
Researchers have found there is something that tends to be present in a greater quantity in the amniotic fluid as a woman starts labour: telomeres. These are a part of our DNA that respond to ageing and could potentially work to signal to a fetus that it's time to be born.
Another theory has to do with fetal lung development. At around 32 weeks of pregnancy, your baby's developing lungs start to produce something called surfactant protein, (SP-A), which helps your baby breathe once it leaves your uterus. During late pregnancy, SP-A activates immune cells that are busy clearing theuterus of viruses and bacteria. Those immune cells, also called macrophages, make their way over to theuterus wall where they stimulate aninflammatory response that is thought to begin the process of labour.
■ What do labour contractions feel like?
Ask several people this question and you're likely to get a variety of answers as everyone experiences pain differently.
This is when your body works to open up your cervix so that your baby can come out. This happens when your uterus presses down on your baby, whose head then presses downon your cervix. This, and the release of the hormoneoxytocin, will trigger contractions. Contractions will probably feel like physical discomfort, dull ache, and pressure in your pelvis, back and lower abdomen. Alot of people compare them to strong period cramps. Generally, near the beginning of labour, they'll start out as weaker, shorter and farther apart from one another. They'll become longer, stronger, and more frequent.
Howlong and intense the contractions are, and what phase of labour you're in can affect your overall perception of the pain too!
■ Where do you feel contractions?
There's no definitive answer. You may feel labour contractions in a variety of places, including your abdomen, back and pelvis. Many people compare themto menstrual cramps, while others liken themto bowel movement cramps. The pain can extend through your thighs and down your legs and some mums even report feeling contractions throughout their entire body.
■How long do contract ions last?
The length and frequency of your labour contractions are often determined by the stage of labour you're in. Labour contractions can last anywhere from 30to 90seconds and their frequency will increase as you get further along and closer to the birth of your baby.
■ First stage early labour contractions: These are felt at regular intervals in the initial stages of labour.
■ Active labour contractions:
Typically happening 5-7minutes apart, they're associated with your cervix thinning and dilating.
■ Transition contractions: These contractions are the ones often mimicked on TV. These contractions are hard and fast, usually lasting around 70-90 seconds. These mark the end of the first stage and the beginning of second stage.
■ Second stage contractions: The contractions of the second stage of labour have a different feel to them because they have adifferent purpose. You may feel a strong urge to bear down as the contractions force your baby down to be born. These contractions last around60 seconds.
■ Third stage contractions: Contractions during the third stage of labour detach the placenta so it can be pushed out. These will be less powerful than labour contractions but you'll still be aware of them.