Braxton Hicks

I am amazed at my ability to find and feel stress. This week I am feeling angry at John Braxton Hicks, the English doctor who first described the painless contractions in 1872 (named for him) that I am experiencing all week. Braxton Hicks contractions are totally common in pregnancy, and usually don't indicate anything negative unless they are happening very frequently, have a pattern and/or have pain associated with them. However, they are contractions and I was clueless about their existence in my body (they can be subtle) until our appointment on Monday where Peri noted I was having a contraction after I confidently jumped up on the exam table. I said, "really?" and she said "feel" and then I felt my tight tummy. A minute later she had me feel again, and the tummy was all soft. She appeared unconcerned about the contraction event and gave me the guidelines for normal contractions verses going into labor contractions. After my lesson, I now recognize that I have these Braxton Hicks contractions...um...frequently. Not enough to change my guidelines into pre-term labor contractions, but still.

Every online description of them starts out totally, "oh! It’s so normal!" But then the description always finishes with caviates indicating all sorts of things that could possibly apply to me: if you are before 37 weeks you never can be too careful so if you are unsure call in and usually they don't cause cervical change, but if you have a lot they CAN cause cervical change then it is pre-term labor. I am surely at risk for cervical change, and with my bitchy non-working stitches, I don’t like to consider that possibility. Now every time a ligament stretches I wonder, is that pain with my contraction? How do I know if they are causing cervical change?

This is mostly causing me anxiety because of my big trip that will take me an hour and a half out of the city this weekend. I was so happy to be up and about more, but now with all my damn contractions, I am back on the couch all day fearfully grabbing my belly and gazing like a scared rodent (I don't know why that is the image that comes to mind, but there you go)at whoever interacts with me.

Am I being dramatic? Quite possibly yes, I think. Since my lesson in recognizing them, I realize they have been there for a while and I just didn't know that John Braxton Hicks had named them so I thought they were just called "being pregnant." Knowing that they have been there, and that I haven't really had cervical change I should feel fine. But I like to ruin a good thing. I was just going to be fancy free “oooh la la look at me in the wine country,” and now I am trying to figure out how to make my newest anxiety stay small so it doesn’t take up too much room on my big trip.

The good new is that I am 31 weeks tomorrow, and every second baby is warm inside is another day towards safety.