What Do Contractions Feel Like

What do contractions feel like? That was the question I kept asking every mother I talked to when I was pregnant. By the way, my name is Andrea Edwards.

This website is about weight loss surgery, but some things are universal. Whether you are dealing with pregnancy after weight loss surgery, overweight pregnancy, or a "normal pregnancy", the labor pains are the same. In most cases, the early signs of labor are a relief after 38 to 40 weeks of pregnancy. If you are less than 36 weeks pregnant those same signs of labor can cause worry, panic and fear. No woman wants their baby to be premature.

That was my story. I was just about 34 weeks pregnant with my twins when my mucus plug came out at 10:30 in the morning. So I rush to the computer. When does labor start after you lose your mucus plug? What do contractions feel like? Up until that point I had no signs of labor that I was aware of.

Then 2:30 in the afternoon, on that same day, my son gives me a kick that makes me grab my stomach, and it breaks my water. I still wasn't having any contractions. So, I finish the load of laundry I was washing, take a shower, and then my husband and I are off to the hospital.

In the beginning, the contractions did feel like menstrual cramps, like a lot of women describe. But they keep intensifying as time went on. I was admitted to the hospital at 6:30 pm, and by that time I was struggling to walk while having a contraction.

Since I was carrying twins, they connected me to a monitor in order listen to the babies' heartbeats. I was suffering from preeclampsia, so the doctor decided to give me a c-section. I was wheeled to the operating room at around 10:30pm.

So, what do contractions feel like? All I can tell you is that those 4 hours passed by like it was a few minutes. Not because the contractions were so easy, but because they were so painful. It felt like a menstrual cramp multiplied ten times, or more. The labor pain extended past my pre-pregnancy uterus area, and engulfed my entire mid-section.

Painful Contractions Lead to Labor and Delivery

Labor pains hurt enough to make you want to scream out. But because you can feel it building up, or coming to a head, you are able to counteract the peak pain points by breathing deeply, squeezing the railing on the bed, rubbing your stomach, or low grunts. Rubbing my stomach helped me a lot, because that really brought the purpose for the pain into perspective, two beautiful babies.

Every limb and organ of my body seemed to succumb to the pain during my contractions, by this point. During the rest periods in between contractions I just tried to mentally prepare myself to endure the next one, which was sure to come. So that's what contractions feel like. And I was only in real labor for a few hours.

Is there just one answer to the question, "What do contractions feel like?" No, some people feel the contractions/pain in their lower back, while others say it didn't hurt at all. If you have a pregnancy, or labor and delivery story you'd like to share, please feel free.

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