Many pregnant women are affected by what is known as silent labor. Silent labor is when a woman is in labor, but does not feel the pain of the contractions.
Most pregnant women that go into labor can feel their contractions. They feel the tightening of their belly and the baby pushing down. The contractions feel like menstrual cramps. Others go into labor without warning. This affects more women than most know about, usually first time mothers. So how can you tell if you have silent labor and not just Braxton Hicks?
A Braxton Hicks contraction is a sporadic uterine contraction. What is that? It is where your belly tightens up a little, but you have no pain. They happen sometimes far apart or close together, but usually go away.
Drink an 8 ounce glass of water and lay down flat on your back on your bed or couch. Monitor the contractions. If they go away or subside, they were just Braxton Hicks contractions. If they do not subside or continue to come closer together, start to monitor them in hour intervals.
For this you will need a stop watch. You can get a cheap stop watch at your local mega discount store. It does not need to be fancy. Just one that has a start and stop button.
Keep your hand on your belly while you are lying back flat on your back. When you feel your stomach tighten, click the start button on your timer. Write down the time your contraction started on a piece of paper. When you feel your stomach start to soften, click the stop button. This method measures how long your contraction lasted and how far apart your contractions are. Keep this up for an hour.
Call your doctor if you have more than 6 contractions that are thirty to sixty seconds long. Explain to the obstetrician your symptoms. They may advise you to go to their office first or tell you to go to the hospital right away depending on your health history.
Another sign of labor is lower back pain. If you are having contractions, painful or not, and having lower back pain that is painful, call your doctor and let them know.
The closer you are to labor, the more your feet and hands will swell up. The swelling of your hands and feet can be a sign of the start of labor. Your feet and hands may swell up days before you are ready to go into labor. This is your body getting itself ready for the stress it causes.
If you are having signs of silent labor, call your doctor preferably during office hours if that is when your symptoms start. Do not wait until night time to call. Even if your symptoms are not too severe yet, place a call to the office. They may want you to come in and check to see if you are dilated, effaced or if your cervix has shortened.
If they find you are dilated and effaced, depending on how far along you are they may send you home or send you to the hospital right away. Do not drive yourself to the doctor’s office if you suspect you are having silent labor. Have someone else drive you you do not want to get into an accident.
Dilation is measured in centimeters. This means that your cervix has opened and your body is preparing to give birth. Effaced is measured in percentages. The higher your percentage, the closer you are to labor. It means that your cervix has thinned out and your body is ready to deliver the baby. The shortening of your cervix is also measured in centimeters. The shorter your cervix is, the closer you are to giving birth.
This is not to say though, that there are some mothers that are dilated, effaced and their cervix has shortened for weeks before they give actual birth to their baby.
Only your doctor can tell you if you are ready to give birth or not. If you have these symptoms late at night, call your doctor’s late night answering service and have them page the doctor on call. Let them know what symptoms you are having and make sure to tell them how far apart your contractions are and if they are painful or not or you have backache that is painful. Follow your doctor’s orders.
If you feel that something is wrong, you know your body best. Just place a call to your doctor and let them know how you are feeling. If you feel you need to go to the hospital, let your doctor know. Make sure to tell them so that they can call the hospital to expect you.
