Is It True Labor … or False?

Your due date is near; your hospital bags are packed and ready. The contractions have begun, and at times, they take your breath away. While still bearable, they’re coming a lot more often and lasting much longer than before. Anxiety and excitement set in. Could this be it? Is it really time to head to the hospital?

According to Jane Courter, R.N. and maternity care coordinator at St. Luke’s Northland, expectant mothers should follow the 5-1-1 Rule to know for sure.

“We tell moms that when their contractions are five minutes apart and last one minute in length for one hour, go to the hospital,” she says. “You also need to get to the hospital if you can no longer walk or talk through your contractions, have nausea or vomiting, your water breaks or bleeding occurs, or if you don’t feel the baby moving.”

Braxton Hicks contractions, however, don’t count. They differ from true labor in that they are a tightening in the abdomen that comes and goes. Typically, they’re not painful and do not occur at regular intervals, and they are considered false labor.

“Braxton Hicks contractions can be irregular and all over the place,” Courter says. “They’re short and only last maybe 30-40 seconds in length, and they’re not really painful. They can be firm and hard, but they’re not ‘take-my-breath-away’ painful and they don’t dilate the cervix. Drinking water can help them subside, because when your uterus becomes dehydrated, it becomes irritable.”

Another way to tell if your contractions are Braxton Hicks is by monitoring how activity affects them. Exercise does not make them stronger, and when you stop and rest, they stop. With true labor contractions, exercise may make them stronger and they won’t go away with rest.

“You’ll know if it’s true labor when your contractions become more consistent. They will get closer together, increase in intensity and last longer,” Courter says.

“I was in labor for 24 hours,” Olathe mom Tammy Muzrall says. “The first 10 hours were like having bad menstrual cramps. I never had false labor.”

True labor contractions can feel different for every woman and also for every pregnancy. While some women may have strong abdominal cramping, others may experience a dull ache in their lower back, pressure in their pelvis or pain in their sides or thighs.

Kansas City mom Carla Peery says she began having Braxton Hicks contractions at 20 weeks.

“The doctors always told me I was fine. However, during my Lamaze class, they went through the signs of labor. I had all of the signs. Luckily, I had a doctor’s appointment the next morning. She noticed that my stomach was tight and I was dilating a little by then,” she says. “They gave me a shot to slow down the contractions, and I was also given medicine. The very next day, I was right back in the hospital because they continued getting stronger. I ended up in the hospital for a week on a magnesium drip.”

For some, the early (or latent) phase of labor can stick around for a long period of time. Courter says some first-time moms will only experience this phase for 5-7 hours, while others may have it for 24 hours or longer.

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In this phase, you can’t predict what a person is going to do,” she says.

Kansas City mom Danell McCulloh says she had several false labor signs with her second pregnancy.

“Unfortunately, I spent two evenings at the hospital only to be sent home. The first time, they had to give me two different drugs to get the contractions to stop; the second time, they just hydrated me,” she says. “There was a third time, and I was certain it was the real thing, but I waited it out and they stopped after two-and-a-half hours.”

McCulloh says while her contractions were a little painful the first time she was sent home, the other two times, they were simply strong Braxton Hicks.

“The day I had Evelynn, I woke up with some contractions (which I thought were Braxton Hicks), but I also had the flu bug. My doctor told me to rest and drink a lot of water to stay hydrated,” she says. “That evening, my water broke, so I think my contractions had been the real deal.”

“I knew it was true labor when my water broke and my contractions got really close together. The pain was sharp and intense, and I couldn’t handle it,” Peery says.

“If you feel like you just need to be at the hospital, follow your intuition. If it’s a false alarm, that’s okay. Sometimes there’s no other way to tell,” Courter says.

Kansas City mom Gina Klein is a writer and photographer who experiencedplenty of Braxton Hicks contractions, an overly irritable uterus andseveral false alarms with both of her pregnancies.