should Braxton-Hicks be painful??

[josiemack]

Hi

I am 24w6d pg, due 16 February. My other 'baby' has just turned 10, so I am a bit out of practice with this pregnancy thing.

Last night I woke up with my stomach feeling very tight and really painful, lasted for a minute or so and then subsided. Later, when I got up, I had shooting pains in my pelvic bone for a couple of minutes, then nothing for the last 8 hours or so. Baby is kicking beautifully, everything else feels find.

I am assuming this is a Braxton-Hicks contraction, but my baby book says that these should not generally be painful - can anyone offer some advice / share their experience.

Thanks
Jo

[LittleP]

Jo

What you are experiencing could be Round Ligament Pain - this is a stretching pain that can continue for several weeks on and off and is very, very painful.

I saw my GP a couple of weeks ago about mine and he said that it was fine - it might be worth just having a quick word with either your GP or Midwife to give yourself some reassurance.

Hope you feel more comfortable soon.

Little P

[BelB]

Hi my aussie friend!,

Saw your post while I was lurking over here and thought I would respond. I had braxton hicks contractions and yep, they hurt. My stomach would go hard and then relax after a while (can't remember how long sorry). My obs put me on some sort of monitor which measured the heart beat as well as any uterine activity. We could see definate braxton hicks and some were painful and some I didn't feel at all.

My obs said that this was all fine. The round ligament pain is certainly a possibility, as is pubic symphisis dysfunction (psd) which is more hip based pain. My thought though is that if you are expereincing a stomach hardening it's probably more braxton hicks than anything else. Can you push forward your obs appointment if have concerns and need some reassurance?
Belinda