| Contractions Most women experience period contractions throughout their pregnancy. These are called Braxton Hicks, they are usually painless although you may experience a "tight" feeling in your abdomen. At anytime when your contractions are regular and/or painful, or you have more than five in an hour you should contact your healthcare provider. Frequency The frequency of contractions are timed from the beginning of one contraction until the beginning of the next contractions. If contraction one is at 1:30 and contraction 2 is at 1:35, your contractions are five minutes apart. If your contractions are occuring at about the same interval for an hour they are considered regular. If contraction 1 is at 1:30, contraction 2 at 1:35, contraction 3 at 1:40, contraction 4 at 1:45, they are five minutes apart and regular. If contraction 1 is at 1:30, contraction 2 at 1:40, contraction 3 at 1:55 and contraction 4 at2:15, they are irregulat. This could be the beginning of labor but you need more time for your contractions to get regular and more frequent. Duration The duration of a contraction of a contraction is timed from the beginning to end of the same contraction. If your contraction begins at 1:30 and goes till 1:30 and 30 seconds your contraction is 30 seconds long. True Labor The contractions of tru labor are regular and strong. The frequency will continue to get closer together and the duration will increase. The contractions will be stronger with movement and will not go away with a change in activity. False Labor The contractions of false labor are of changing frequency and durations. They will go away if you change your activiy. home |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~` |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |