Who the hell is Braxton Hicks?
Saturday, March 6, 2010
26 weeks, 6 days pregnant
So I got punched in the stomach yesterday. Nah, not really. But I did experience my first Braxton Hicks contractions — crazy, huh?
When I woke up yesterday morning, my stomach felt tight. Not good tight, like taut, but like stretched waaaay too tight, in an uncomfortable way. It continued off and on all day. It was only on the front of my stomach, and felt almost like my stomach was going to explode from being so tight.
I have felt that before, but just figured it was round ligament pain. Or indigestion. Or something. Because really, I have no idea of my anatomy anymore — is my stomach above my uterus? Behind it? No clue. Everything’s all mashed up in there now.
When I was still uncomfortable by the early afternoon, I decided that it could be Braxton Hicks contractions, and started madly Googling.
I learned that Braxton Hicks contractions …
- Feel like tightening in the front of your stomach
- Are “uncomfortable” for some women, “painful” for others
- Don’t get stronger, or closer together
- Can be caused by dehydration
- Can be eased by drinking water and putting your feet up
It made sense. I’m sure I was dehydrated. I hadn’t had much water on Thursday night, and was so busy on Friday morning that I didn’t have much more than a decaf tea and some OJ.
I started chugging water mid-afternoon, and they eased up, but didn’t go away. It wasn’t until about 6 or 7 p.m. that they went away, once I had my feet up (and was still chugging glass after glass of water).
Lesson learned! I have instructed Darling Husband to harass me about my water-drinking habits from now on. I don’t want to do anything to encourage more of those, for sure.
So far today, I have downed tons of water, peed approximately 94 times, and have not had any Braxton Hicks. Of course, I will probably run out of toilet paper very quickly at this rate.
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