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Braxton Who?
The Facts on False Labor
By Jacqueline Bodnar
After giving birth to five children, Sharlene Crull of Clarkston, Mich., has experienced her fair share of false labor. She explains that she seemed to experience it more with each pregnancy.
"I don't think you could go through five pregnancies and not experience some false labor," says Crull. "With each pregnancy, it seemed to start earlier, and I had them more often. I guess it makes for good practice for the real thing. The upside is that I've become pretty accurate at determining when it's not the real thing."
She could be right about it being good practice. False labor is believed by some to be the body's way of preparing for what's soon to come. Understanding what false labor is, what causes it and what you can do about it will help you feel more at ease should it happen to you.
That's right, while most people refer to it as false labor, the technical term for what you may be experiencing is Braxton-Hicks contractions. They are characterized by taking place mostly during the third trimester. If you haven't felt them before or are experiencing them for the first time, it feels a lot as if your stomach or the baby is balling up, and you may experience some dull, menstrual-like cramping.
The term was coined in 1872 by the doctor who first gave the experience a name, Dr. John Braxton-Hicks. He described what women were experiencing as contractions that take place before the onset of real labor ever begins. Usually the contractions last around 30 to 60 seconds each, although they can last up to two minutes at a time. These practice contractions give your body a chance to try out the breathing exercises you have learned in your childbirth classes.
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