How do I tell when a contraction ends and another begins?

[Lantiis]

I am 37 weeks and 3 days with my first. On Friday, I was checked - firm cervix, not dilated, no contractions, water not broke. Over the weekend, I started getting cramping and having lots of soft BMs. This continued through Tuesday when I went back to the doctor and was checked again: soft cervix, not dilated, BH contractions, water not broke.

Wednesday (yesterday), at around 5pm, the BH got really intense again and I was going to the bathroom about once every 20 minutes with soft stools. At about 8:30 last night, the general discomfort centered in my right lower back and became really painful. By 9pm, the pain was actively radiating from my lower back around my right side into my lower abdomen. Every now and then, I would feel a sharp almost stabbing pain which would go all the way up my abdomen and almost make it feel like my chest was on fire. Nothing helped with the pain.

By midnight, I called the on-call nurse who said to come to the ER if the contractions were 5 minutes apart. The problem was the pain never stopped. At around 1am, the pain started to subside, and by 2am, I was able to lay fairly still with only intermittent intense feeling BH again. It bothers me that from 8:30 last night to almost 2 this morning, I was having an 8 out of 10 pain from contractions but could not tell when one ended and one began. The pain was just constant.

Today, I have continued to have BH contractions, loose stools, and 2 episodes of the same pains I had last night - again without me being able to tell where one contraction ends and the other begins. The longest episode today was 11 minutes in total, the first one just under 5 minutes. I know a single contraction isn't supposed to last that long. Help?

When the pain is that intense and constant, how am I supposed to tell where one ends and one begins? I was just seen a day ago and felt silly even calling the on-call nurse last night, but should I go back in and get checked again??

[byeager09]

Honestly, sounds like braxton hicks to me. With my first i had similar pain to that, i was actually at work. I felt so bad i left the other girl all alone but nothing i could do, just had to go sit down and wait for the pain to subside.

[Lantiis]

Bank fully since this post, I've had no further issues. When I went in on Tuesday before the pain began, they did a urine test and found no evidence of kidney stones, bladder or kidney infections. I do have chronic kidney stones but I have never had pain with them... Even 5mm and larger stones. Just bloody urine. And I never had bloody urine. I have had no other issues with my pregnancy - that night with the pain was a serious surprise especially since I have a higher tolerance for pain than most people.

[Elaine Brown, MD]

Hi!
If you were my patient, I would advise you that the pain doesn't sound like contraction pain--it sounds like something else might be going on.  Gallstones or kidney stones or appendicitis can cause similar pain.  I would suggest that you go back in and be re-evaluated.  Contractions last about one minute, never much longer.  They are usually not closer together than every two to three minutes.
Better go get checked out.  If you are in--ask the nurse to show you a contraction on the monitor so that you can correlate it to your pain.
Good luck!
Dr B

[havincinco]

Saw you posted this on the 11th, hope you've gotten some relief - or a baby! Did you have any nerve issues throughout your pregnancy? Figuring that may be a cause for the constant pain, aggravated by the BH.