The expectation of childbirth is at the same time very desirable and extremely exciting for every expectant mother. This is especially true for the first pregnancy.
How to understand that childbirth has already begun? Will I miss a fight? Almost every mommy asks such questions. And the closer the estimated date of birth, the more anxiety intensifies.
But everything is not so scary. Very rarely, labor occurs suddenly. In most cases, they are preceded by some precursors.
About two to three weeks before the birth, the body begins to prepare for this amazing process. The abdomen falls, the baby turns head down and calms down, its motor activity becomes much lower, sometimes the pregnant woman “loses” several kilograms of weight, and the mucous plug slowly begins to depart .
One of the most common harbingers are training fights.
False contractions, as they are also called, are not always an essential part of preparing for childbirth. But in most women, they are, nevertheless, observed.
"Braxton-Higgs cramps" - preliminary, false, training fights, in 20% of 100 cases, are only precursors of childbirth, and not their immediate beginning. Sometimes they appear very early, after 30 weeks of pregnancy, sometimes the expectant mother does not feel them at all.
What are training fights?
These are slightly strengthened, irregular contractions of the uterus that accompany the child's entry into the pelvic area. Their main difference from the present is the lack of dynamism. Those. training contractions appear and subside. Become stronger, and then completely disappear. Therefore, having felt such precursors of contractions, there is no need to go to the hospital headlong. Track the regularity of their repetition for an hour or two, and if you do not see the rhythm and the reduction in the time interval between them, then this is one hundred percent - training fights. And it's too early to go to the maternity ward.
In the last weeks of pregnancy, false contractions sometimes pass into childbirth.
How not to miss the start of fights?
If the preliminary contractions are not very painful, short and irregular, then with the present everything is different. Do not worry, you certainly will not miss them. Real fights are completely unlike precursors. This is no longer a dull, slightly aching pain in the abdomen. Real contractions are more painful. They are characterized by the appearance of pain in the lumbar region, gradually descending into the lower abdomen. The pain intensifies first and then disappears. In the intervals between contractions, the pregnant woman does not feel any unpleasant or painful sensations.
At first, such fights were very short - from 10 to 15 seconds. But each time their duration increases, and the time between contractions decreases.
When to go to the hospital?
If the pregnancy proceeds normally and there are no reasons for early hospitalization of the pregnant woman, then you can go to the hospital when the interval between two contractions is no more than 10 minutes, and their duration becomes 40-50 seconds. Such contractions are the immediate beginning of labor. Therefore, examination and observation by a doctor will not be superfluous.
Usually the first birth is a long process and takes at least 12 hours. Therefore, some young ladies, even in the presence of frequent contractions, try to arrive at the hospital as late as possible. But you always need to objectively assess the situation. If you live 2 minutes from the hospital, then of course you can not rush, but if you need to get to it through the whole city, and there is still a chance of getting stuck in traffic, then you should not postpone departure. It is better to call an ambulance and spend a few extra hours in the hospital than not have time to get there and give birth in unacceptable conditions.