Contractions are not always what they seem to be.

The first kind of contraction that we learn as English speaking people is to take two words and make them into one. I do not want to go into detail because I don't want to bore the non grammar lovers. I find it ironic that I enjoy speaking without contractions but today I want to blog about contractions in the medical sense.

Braxton Hicks contractions are named for the doctor who "discovered" them. They are described as:
Braxton Hicks are described as:

• Irregular in intensity
• Infrequent
• Unpredictable
• Non-rhythmic
• More uncomfortable than painful
• They do not increase in intensity, or frequency
• They taper off and then disappear altogether 

The nurses at the hospital, when a prego momma is hooked up to a fetal monitor calls them "tightenings". have been putting up with them since my second trimester but since week 35 they have been increasing in frequency, intensity and pain every time they start up. As inconsequential as they seem to be they actually (for me anyway) do make things happen as they do the work of making the baby go down and sort of training the uterus to do it's job of contracting when the time is right.

Contractions need a few hormones: oxytocin is what makes the contraction happen and protaglandins are what make the cervix soft enough to open and disappear as the contractions get stronger, pushing the baby down into the birth canal. Why do I know all this without even having to think about it?
I have been reading and reading and studying and studying documents, other mom's comments about contractions, pictures and diagrams of the anatomy, edumacating myself on the subject which makes it that much more likely that I will understand when it happens for real.

NOT!
My title says it all, contractions are not always what they seem to be...

There are also so many things that people say can bring them on but it seems that it really does all boil down to timing.

With all of that said, I will add that I am sitting here with my belly going rock hard every 10 minutes and causing pain in my back and making my eyeballs pop out just praying that they go mega painful because experience and now some edumacation has taught me that I will KNOW when its the real deal.

So along with my prayers for a hurry up and let me see my baby, I do ask for this one too (which is why my house got cleaned by yours truly)

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the patience to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.