What contractions are and what types there are?

Gaining an understanding of contractions will improve your ability to explain the various stages of labor and delivery to others. The uterine muscles contract and relax rhythmically during contractions, which are an essential part of childbirth. They facilitate the baby’s descent through the birth canal and ultimately result in delivery.

During labor, there are various kinds of contractions that you might experience. Braxton Hicks contractions, also known as early contractions, are irregular in nature and aid in preparing the uterus for labor. The body prepares for delivery when labor advances and contractions become more frequent and powerful.

Understanding the various contraction types and stages will help you better manage labor and prepare for this crucial period of time. Every type plays a part in the giving birth process, so it’s critical to be aware of this and ready for it.

What is it?

The word "contraction" entered the medical language through popular usage. For a considerable amount of time, women have observed that giving birth to a child causes their abdomens to feel both relaxed and compressed. Women created the formal term for the start of active labor by describing this phenomenon with the verbs "grabs," "grabs." After becoming widely accepted, the description was added to all obstetrics textbooks.

A contraction is the uterine muscles tensing up. The uterus has a round cervix and a smooth muscle body. There are two types of tension: synchronous and fully autonomous. A lot of questions arise for expectant mothers not only about labor contractions, which near the time of delivery, but also about other types of uterine contractions, which reviews state can happen at 37 weeks or later in the pregnancy as well as during the middle of the pregnancy.

The type of contraction, the number of previous births the woman has had, her personal pain threshold, the child’s readiness for its own birth, and a host of other variables all influence when contractions start. Let’s examine the various kinds of uterine spasms, also known as contractions.

Types and differences

A woman can quickly differentiate between different types of uterine spasms if she is aware of their characteristics. It should be noted that because the sensations can vary greatly with each subsequent pregnancy, it can be challenging for both primiparous and labor-experienced women to diagnose what is going on with them at times. Three kinds of uterine contractions—false, precursor (preliminary), and true (labor)—are not pathological and don’t need to be treated.

Training

The English physician John Braxton-Hicks, who worked in a hospital in London in the 19th century and saw these phenomena in pregnant women, is credited with describing them to the female half of humanity. Women frequently refer to false contractions as "training" or "Braxtons," and false contractions were dubbed Bracton-Hicks contractions in his honor.

These contractions are brief, sporadic, and characterized by a highly erratic, intermittent tension of the uterine walls. All a woman feels is that her "tummy is turning to stone." This occurs unexpectedly. Moreover, the tension releases on its own. It is unnecessary to discuss the frequency or intensity of false contractions.

Since this phenomenon defies rational explanation, it is thought that these uterine spasms serve as a kind of body-preparation for childbirth in women. According to some experts, these are caused by the cerebral cortex’s overexcitation, which is common in pregnant women. Not everyone experiences these spasms, not all the time, and not at the same time. It has been observed that in the case of a first pregnancy, they may manifest as early as the twentieth week of gestation. Additionally, training contractions of the uterine muscles typically occur towards the end of pregnancy, just before childbirth, in women who have given birth twice.

These contractions appear harmless and are harmless in and of themselves. They don’t interfere with the fetus’s development, they don’t change the uterine opening, and they don’t hasten the start of labor. Furthermore, it is simple to get rid of any discomfort a woman might experience when her uterus suddenly becomes toned: The uterine muscles can be relaxed and the spasm stopped by using no-shpa tablets, suppositories containing papaverine, a warm shower, a slow walk in the fresh air, a shift in body position, posture, and even, calm breathing.

Precursor

Such uterine contractions have a well-established origin: they mark the start of a woman’s active preparation for childbirth. Pregnancy is typically accompanied by pulling sensations and uterine tension that occurs episodically. The discharge’s characteristics shift: it gets more frequent. Occasionally, the mucous plug that has sealed the cervical canal during the entire pregnancy breaks off in the presence of precursor contractions.

Since the cervix starts to soften and smooth out during such contractions, it would be more appropriate to refer to them as training. The tissue of this round muscle must prepare for the need for it to open between 0 and 11–12 centimeters during the birth process.

The actomyosin, a unique protein substance, starts to accumulate in the uterus’ structural cells. It will enable contraction of the myocytes when labor starts. And the hormone known as oxytocin, which starts the process of uterine contraction, is produced by the pituitary gland and placenta jointly.

The body typically needs a few days to a few weeks for this preparatory process. A few weeks prior to labor, a woman expecting her first child may experience precursor short-term contractions. If this is not the first pregnancy, precursors can sometimes manifest right before labor starts and are commonly considered to be pre-labor.

Do I need to run to the doctor? Most likely, no, if there are no other complaints. At a routine appointment, it is imperative to mention the appearance of precursors so that the doctor can assess the degree of maturity of the cervix. In addition to periodic spasms in the uterus and tingling in its cervix, a woman may also pay attention to other symptoms of approaching labor, which begin (but not always) shortly before the baby is born: diarrhea, insomnia, nausea, sometimes even vomiting after eating (the body is “cleansed” before an important test), severe anxiety, anxiety, mood swings. If you feel very nauseous, you need to consult a doctor.

In other situations, you should make sure that everything you’ll need is in the bag you’re bringing to the maternity hospital, and you should exercise patience because there won’t be much time to wait.

Labor

For a woman, these contractions are a true gift from nature. They are the reason the cervix opens. The first real contraction triggers the process of its opening, and it is crucial for the baby to emerge from the uterus, where it has grown and developed for nine calendar months. Such contractions are characterized by a distinct orderliness and sequence. They also happen at roughly equal intervals from one another, as well as at a specific time. The primary characteristic that sets real contractions apart from the rest is this.

True uterine contractions start out short and do not repeat frequently. Over time, the spasms lengthen and become more prolonged, with shorter intervals between them. The cervix slowly opens during the contractions. The dilation increases with the strength of the contractions at the end of the period.

After the dilation is finished, the fetus can be born because the baby’s head can pass through the cervix due to the pressure of the uterine walls.

The purpose of contractions is very clear: regular contractions raise the intrauterine pressure, which causes the cervix to open, amniotic fluid to leak out, and the baby to start to expel.

It should be mentioned that the exchange card’s stated date of birth only represents around 5% of births. The remaining individuals are all born either before or after the estimated date of birth (EDD).

Real contractions won’t start a day earlier; rather, they will start when the laborious, multi-stage internal preparation process is finished (from the physiological level to the hormonal background). The process of getting ready is highly personalized. This is the reason why women who became pregnant on the same day can give birth two weeks apart.

How it starts and how long it lasts?

The moment pregnant women are terrified to miss is when labor begins. "If you doubt whether you are giving birth, then you are definitely not giving birth, since labor contractions cannot be confused with others," goes a professional joke among obstetricians. Indeed, genuine uterine contractions are identifiable by entirely different sensations in addition to having a specific temporal pattern that signals the beginning of the labor mechanism.

The genuine episodes of tone are more like ebbs and flows: the pain starts in the middle of the back, travels to the lower back, encircles, and eventually reaches the stomach. The precursor and false episodes of tone are characterized only by pulling in the lower abdomen and a slight sensation of aches. The uterus then relaxes in the opposite order.

Which pregnancy it is will largely determine when labor begins and how long it lasts.

First birth

Due to the lack of elasticity in the uterine and birth canal muscles, a mother expecting her first child should expect longer contractions and a slower opening of the cervix.

We can declare labor to have started as soon as a woman experiences contraction-like episodes and realizes that they happen every 30 to 40 minutes and last for 15 to 20 seconds each. Since labor has started but is still hidden (latent) in nature, these initial contractions will be referred to as latent.

This stage during the first birth can last up to 10 hours, until the cervix opens to about 3-4 centimeters. The contractions themselves will increase very smoothly, gradually, they will become longer, the relaxation intervals between them will be shorter. Then the stage of active contractions will begin. The duration of contractions will reach 50 seconds, and they will repeat every 4-6 minutes. The uterus will open by another 3-4 centimeters, and by the end of the stage, the disclosure will be about 7 centimeters already. Active contractions should be more painful than hidden, and this is quite natural. But this stage also lasts less than the previous one – from 3 to 5 hours.

The final phase of combat is a transitional phase. He is a demarcation between attempts and fights. With the first birth, it lasts for thirty to an hour and a half. These cramps are repeated every one to two minutes, and the fights are the longest, lasting roughly a minute each. A woman starts to have intense urges to use the restroom towards the end of her menstrual cycle. This marks the start of the attentive phase, during which the obstetrician will oversee everyone.

For the first time, the fighting phase of giving birth can last anywhere between 10 and 19 hours.

Second and subsequent births

The unusual thing about multiple births is that everything happens a little bit quicker, from the body’s preparation to the fetus’s expulsion from the womb. The uterine and cervical muscles never fully heal after the first delivery; instead, they always stay slightly more stretched and elastic than in women giving birth to their first child. Women also tend to rush, panic, and feel less fear because they already know what to expect during childbirth, which helps to make labor go more quickly and with less pain.

In these women, latent contractions often remain undetected until they attain a specific level of force and intensity. No more than eight hours can pass during the first latent phase of labor; following this, active contractions start and typically last for three hours. The most excruciating transitional contractions during multiple births typically last 30 to 45 minutes, and doctors report that the period typically lasts 15 to 20 minutes before transitioning into pushing.

For women who give birth frequently, the average length of contractions is 8 to 12 hours, and the pain is much less than it was with the first birth.

To the maternity hospital — when it’s time?

When regular, recurrent contractions start, is it necessary to check into a maternity hospital? If the woman’s condition is generally normal and there are no complications, then no, it is not required. A woman in labor will not benefit from arriving at the maternity hospital too early because it is much harder to maintain the Spartan calm required for an easy and nearly painless birth in a hospital ward.

Maternity hospital visits are advised by obstetricians when the dilation of the cervix is 2-3 centimeters. It’s obvious that a woman cannot measure it by herself at home. It is advised to concentrate on the frequency of contractions as a result. This dilation of the cervix is indicated exactly or approximately by contractions that repeat every 5–10 minutes.

When contractions recur every five to ten minutes, first-time mothers should visit the maternity hospital. Individuals who are giving birth more than once should keep in mind that their dilation is faster, so it is best to call an ambulance when there is a 10- to 15-minute gap between uterine spasms.

A contraction counter, a scientific and technological marvel, can be used to measure the interval’s duration instead of a conventional stopwatch. You can download and install this app for free on your smartphone. Different platforms and operating systems have their own measuring applications. Simply press the application’s button if you think there may be a contraction, and repeat the process for a few more spasms. The application will assist in accurately determining the frequency and length of each contraction in addition to selecting the best time to send a patient to the maternity hospital.

In what situation is it appropriate for a woman to visit a maternity hospital without measuring, counting, or analyzing anything? Only when immediate, critical medical attention is required. These circumstances consist of:

• breaking of waters (with contractions, against the background of spasms or without contractions);
• appearance of bloody discharge (before, during or without contractions);
• contractions with an obstetric pessary installed due to cervical weakness or surgical sutures applied to the cervix;
• normal initial contractions, but against the background of a general deterioration in health (unstable blood pressure, severe dizziness, sweating, severe vomiting, loss of consciousness, etc.).

Try not to eat, drink only very small amounts of liquid, and do not take any medications from the moment your uterus begins to contract rhythmically and cyclically until you are admitted to the maternity hospital.

Possible complications

The traditional and ideal scenario is for labor to start with contractions. They are referred to as simple, typical. Contraction of the uterus is the first sign of labor for about 85–90% of women. However, you can never be certain that issues won’t come up. These include premature or early amniotic fluid discharge, premature "baby place" separation, and contractions that are too weak to cause the cervix to open at the rate required for a typical birth.

Weakness of labor forces

If regular contractions do not worsen, do not result in the cervix opening, or have completely stopped, this phenomenon is said to occur. There are two types of weakness: primary and secondary, depending on when this occurred. In the first instance, we are discussing weak contractions directly; in the second, we are discussing weak pushing, which happens when the fetus does not expel itself with full opening.

Hypotension of the uterine muscles is the cause of this kind of complication in every instance. It may arise as a result of endometritis, congenital abnormalities in the uterine structure, hypoplasia of the reproductive organ, fibroids, or other neoplasms inside or outside the cavity. There are several indicators that a woman may develop primary weakness, including a history of numerous abortions, scars from prior surgeries left on the uterus, and previous erosion treatments using cauterization.

Hormone imbalances (oxytocin, progesterone, estrogens), obesity in the mother, gestosis, first-time parenthood at a young age or after the age of 36), large fetus, post-term or premature pregnancy, and pregnancy with a history of polyhydramniosis all increase the risk that labor will end abruptly or that contractions won’t be strong enough.

Physicians identify psychogenic primary weakness separately. If a woman has good health, clear tests, and no pregnancy-related illnesses but, for some reason, her uterus does not contract normally, labor does not start. Experts generally agree that this occurs in women who experience panicky fear of giving birth, leading them to unintentionally "slow down" their own labor on a psychosomatic level.

Women who are in labor but do not want to give birth are said to exhibit psychogenic weakness (the child is unwanted, needless, the woman was raped and became pregnant, her husband abandoned her, etc.).

A woman cannot handle the weakness of labor without the assistance of doctors. There is a chance that the mother and child will pass away, that the baby’s hypoxia will cause irreversible brain cortex changes, and that a systemic infection will start. If the contractions are weak, medical professionals will take every precaution to make them stronger, including stimulating labor, giving an oxytocin dose, and puncturing the amniotic sac if the waters do not break naturally.

However, there will only be one option available in the event of no effect: an emergency cesarean section. There is only one option when dealing with secondary weakness: immediate surgical delivery.

Anhydrous childbirth

The amniotic fluid can prematurely rupture in one out of every ten women. It is difficult to overstate the importance of amniotic fluid for the developing baby since it serves as a shock absorber and shields it from infections and shocks. The baby is at risk during the anhydrous phase due to a variety of pathogens, viruses, and fungi that can enter through the cervical canal and acute oxygen deprivation from a prolonged period without amniotic fluid.

Premature water breakage prior to the onset of contractions is typically caused by infections of the mother’s genital tract and/or infections she contracted while giving birth. A clinically narrow pelvis, improper baby positioning in the uterus, isthmic-cervical insufficiency, reckless, rough sex just before childbirth, multiple pregnancies, severe anemia, gestosis, and the woman’s bad habits, which she did not want to give up during her pregnancy, are additional contributing factors. Obesity is another factor. Before the deadline, the water may also burst due to falls and abdominal injuries.

Though only in half of the women in labor, contractions typically start within 24 hours of the water breaking between weeks 29 and 37 of pregnancy. For the others, labor should start under medical supervision and may take up to one week to begin. In 50% of cases, full-fledged contractions can start after 12 hours if the amniotic fluid leaks after the 38th week; in the remaining cases, spontaneous labor can start after 72 hours.

In cases where a full-term pregnancy does not result in labor starting within 24 hours of the water breaking, medication is used to induce labor. Usually, a decision to induce labor is made between six and nine hours after the water breaks on its own. A cesarean section is done if there is no outcome. If the pregnancy is premature, each person’s circumstances may determine whether to continue it. The baby will be given as much time as possible by the doctors to mature.

Placental abruption

Normally, during the last stage of labor known as the "afterbirth period," the placenta should separate and emerge after the baby is born. However, detachment can happen at any point during pushing or contractions, which will show up as severe vaginal bleeding and a change in the fetus’s condition (you now know why CTG sensors are attached to the abdomen during childbirth).

This is the most dangerous of the complications. A woman may experience significant blood loss, and a child may suffer from acute, severe oxygen deficiency, die, or remain severely disabled as a result of hypoxic brain and central nervous system alterations. There aren’t many choices left in this situation, so the doctors quickly perform a cesarean section.

The likelihood of saving the lives of the mother and the fetus increases with the timing of the procedure.

How to reduce pain?

In many ways, the mechanism underlying the occurrence of labor pain remains incompletely understood. However, when we consider that the uterus lacks nervous sensitivity, the belief held by many experts that the pain originates solely in the head rather than the uterus makes sense: the pain center becomes activated due to increased receptor excitation. Fears, extreme stress, and the expectation of something awful and horrible all have an impact on this process. These types of pains are known as corticogenic in medicine.

Since pain stems from brain mechanisms, it is very possible to prevent it. This assertion serves as the foundation for nearly all painless childbirth techniques, many of which are employed in contemporary maternity hospitals.

Learning a few techniques that are well-known throughout the world will make contractions less painful. Thus, the Lamaze birth technique is a sophisticated approach that was outlined in the middle of the 20th century by French obstetrician Fernand Lamaze. It includes breathing techniques that must be used during contractions, toning exercises, yoga, aromatherapy, meditation, techniques for applying hot and cold contrast compresses during labor, and contraction-specific exercises performed on a fitball.

You can significantly lessen or even completely avoid pain by coordinating the activity of the cerebral cortex’s cortical and subcortical zones by using the Lamaze technique during strong contractions.

The "Hypnotic Birth" technique, which was created by Soviet scientists Platonov, Velvovsky, and Bekhterev and was further enhanced by Professor Lurye, entails adjusting certain settings in a pregnant woman’s head, which is where the primary labor pain is believed to originate. Word therapy during pregnancy makes it possible to reduce labor discomfort and get rid of a woman’s pathological fear and horror before she gives birth.

The program is titled "Childbirth without pain and fear" and is based on research conducted by Soviet scientists. These days, hypnotists and psychotherapists work in medical facilities to perform it, so any expectant mother who desires can see a psychotherapist roughly a month before giving birth.

Breathing

Free classes at a school for expectant mothers teach women how to breathe correctly during contractions and pushing at a women’s clinic. According to Kobas, expectant mothers are typically taught the breathing technique. The method bears the name Alexander Kobas, an obstetrician who greatly enjoyed the scientific writings of the previously mentioned Fernand Lamaze.

Kobas’ breathing exercise system is predicated on the body being saturated with oxygen and maintaining a specific level of relaxation during different phases of labor contractions. Endorphins, which have an analgesic effect, are produced by the body when it is saturated with oxygen, and the ability to relax specific muscle groups reduces the physical intensity of pain.

Throughout the latent phase and during the initial contractions, Alexander Kobas advises taking deep breaths and exhaling even more slowly. This technique states that during active contractions, one should "breathe out" quickly using short, jerky breathing exercises ("Locomotive", "Doggy", "Candle"). Only during the height of the spasm are short, repeated exhalations advised. In between contractions, breathing should remain deep and relaxed for an extended period of time to prevent oxygen deficiency in the baby and to allow the mother’s body to continue producing endorphins, which are a special kind of pain relief.

When needed most, proper breathing will help you relax, and when circumstances call for it, it will help you mobilize strength. The woman will focus her inhalation in her chest and her tension below while pushing by employing Kobas breathing. This will help the baby arrive more quickly and guard against ruptures and birth traumas.

Poses

Both the "single program" and joint births, where the partner of the woman in labor is assigned a special role as an assistant, rather than an outside observer, can help a woman more easily survive the period of contractions.

The horizontal position is not optimal for a woman experiencing contractions, as numerous natural pain relief techniques have demonstrated and documented for a considerable amount of time. It is convenient, but only for those who perform obstetrics. The laboring woman will find it much easier to deal with uterine spasms while standing, sitting on a ball, or standing on all fours.

Women claim that the vertical stand and the "cat pose" are the best. In the first instance, the woman stands with her knees and elbows bent slightly and arches her lower back during a contraction, making sure to breathe correctly. In the second scenario, she supports herself with a wall, the back of a chair or bed, or a partner, from whom you can also hang if you clasp your hands around your neck.

Pregnancy classes can teach pregnant women labor-inducing poses as well as the vertical labor technique—which involves pushing instead of just contractions when they happen horizontally.

Massage

Self-massage or professional massage of a specific area that is particularly stressed during childbirth can help to reduce pain and enhance blood flow. This is the sacrum region, also known as the Michaelis Rhombus. It is situated exactly in the middle of the lower back, straight behind the tailbone. This minimal program involves turning your fists and rubbing this area to lessen the pain of contractions.

It is beneficial to have someone nearby who can complement these methods with a gentle, soothing massage of the shoulder girdle and back in between contractions.

Medicines

You shouldn’t be afraid of contractions because laboring women can always count on the assistance of medical professionals. The woman can rely on epidural anesthesia starting during the period of active contractions if the techniques and exercises are unfamiliar to her or if the desired pain relief effect is not achieved.

An injection of anesthetic is administered into the spine’s epidural space. The space between the lumbar vertebrae is punctured. An experienced anesthesiologist performs the procedure, and the injection is essentially painless. Following it, the woman’s lower body becomes less sensitive, she experiences uncontrollable contractions, but her feelings become dulled and smoothed out. She maintains her ability to walk and sit at the same time because this type of anesthesia differs from epidural anesthesia in that it uses a lower dosage of medication and does not include muscle relaxants in its administered mixture.

Whenever a contraction gets too painful for a woman to bear, she can ask for help. However, because lumbar punctures have their own set of contraindications, you should be ready for a rejection. Additionally, since contractions can completely weaken, women in labor who exhibit signs of labor weakness cannot rely on an "epidural."

What are Contractions?	Contractions are shortened forms of words or phrases where one or more letters are omitted, often replaced by an apostrophe. They are commonly used in everyday speech and writing.
Types of Contractions	Common Contractions: Includes words like "can"t" (cannot), "won"t" (will not), and "isn"t" (is not). Negatives: Formed by combining not with a verb, e.g., "don"t" (do not), "haven"t" (have not). Pronoun Contractions: Combines pronouns with verbs, e.g., "he"ll" (he will), "she"s" (she is).

Knowing what to expect from a contraction can make expectant parents feel more ready for giving birth. These muscular contractions are essential to the labor process because they direct the body through every phase of delivery.

Understanding the various types of labor contractions can help identify when labor is about to start, from Braxton Hicks to genuine labor contractions. During pregnancy, it’s critical to pay attention to your body’s signals and learn to trust it.

Do not be afraid to ask your healthcare provider for advice if you are at all unclear about the type of contractions you are going through. As you get closer to delivery, they can reassure you and boost your confidence.

Contractions are abbreviated versions of words or phrases that are frequently used in written and spoken language to enhance naturalness and fluidity. Usually, they consist of merging two words into one, like "it"s" from "it is" or "don"t" from "do not." There are several different kinds of contractions: negative contractions (like "can"t" from "cannot"), pronoun contractions (like "you"re" from "you are"), and auxiliary verb contractions (like "isn"t" from "is not"). Knowing these varieties can make it easier to identify and employ contractions in speech.

Video on the topic

Braxton Hicks contractions. How to distinguish false contractions from real ones? Nika Bolzan

What do training contractions feel like?

WHAT IS A CONTRACT? HOW TO DETERMINE THAT YOU NEED TO GO TO THE MATERNITY HOSPITAL?