When women undergo the sensations of false labor it can be quite confusing since the effects are pretty much the same as an actual one. Learn how to tell the two apart when undergoing pregnancy…
Those who’ve seen how pregnant women sometimes react to a sensation in their abdominal area, will know that it is quite misleading when one feels things that seem like one is ready to deliver. While this may be true, there are helpful ways on how to tell the two apart by paying attention to how true labor and false labor signs show forth.
Women and the family can be thrown into a state of panic when she screams that she is about to have a baby, but once you know how to tell the difference between what is real and what isn’t, then you can calmly assure yourself that you aren’t going to deliver, or probably that it is finally time for the big day.
True Labor Vs. False Labor in Pregnancy
It is vital for women to read about the differences of these two kinds of labor, and also ways on how to take care of themselves during this time.
True Labor
- True labor contractions do not discontinue when a pregnant woman shifts her position while in bed or when walking about.
- The pain involved in true labor resides in one’s lower back, and moves to the front of the abdomen.
- Contractions occur about 5-7 minutes apart depending on varying mothers and how they experience this, where the intervals are regular as your contractions start to take hold.
- Contractions increase in intensity and the time it takes for it to subside increases with every contraction.
- The gap between each contraction lies between 30-70 seconds, growing closer to one another as time lapses.
- There could be blood spotting which signals that your mucus plug has released itself and caused bleeding.
- A brief spurt of water could exit your vaginal area, which could mean that your water bag has just broken.
- The pain when it escalates feels like menstrual cramps and the feeling in your lower back will fail to ebb away.
False Labor
- The pain you feel will start to fade away when you take a walk or shift your position while sleeping or sitting.
- The pain involved in a false labor decreases in intensity as time shifts, where it can be severe at first and then lessen in strength with each wave of pain.
- The time between each contraction is limited, where they do not get closer with time like that of true labor.
- The pain resides around the abdominal and pelvic area, where it is absent from one’s lower back. This is known as the Braxton Hicks contractions, which is quite common among expecting mothers.
How to Deal with the Effects of False Labor
It isn’t easy to put up with the false contractions, so finding ways to ease the painful sensations is your only solution. If the pain falls upon you in the middle of the night, get up and pace the room and read the signals your body is sending to you based on the above symptoms. As you wait to understand the contractions as part of a false or true labor, listen to soothing music or drink a glass of warm milk or cool juice.
If the pain is experienced during the day, change the position you’re in while you either lie down or sit. Take a warm shower (not a hot one) to ease the sensations, and take deep breaths to relax your muscles. Gently place yourself in a rocking chair if you have one, and move yourself to-and-fro to help your body with the pain, or lie against a birth ball while going slowly down on your knees and supporting your pelvic region against it as you move to and for again. Even using a warm water bottle compress against your stomach will help with the fake contractions. Visit a masseuse to give you a gentle and careful massage to work through tense muscles and bundles of nerves.
Pregnant women should remember that if bleeding or gradual and persistent sensations is evident, they should visit their doctor immediately or be taken to the nearest hospital to be attended to at once.
