Hello, Mr. Braxton-Hicks

I have met Mr. Braxton-Hicks. You know how one day you'll meet someone for the first time, and then suddenly you'll see the person everywhere - grocery store, public bathroom, sidewalk? Well, that's a good assessment of my newfound relationship with Mr. Braxton-Hicks.

Braxton-Hicks contractions are pre-labor contractions. They are the body's way of warming up for the big event. They do not mean you are going into labor, although many a person has freaked out and driven to the hospital just to be told that she has been visited by Mr. Braxton-Hicks. Not to worry.

Last week I started getting cramps in weird places, like around my belly button (still an innie - probably never destined to be an outie, much to Dave's disappointment). They didn't last long, but they were powerful little buggers. A couple of times I gasped. They don't hurt, but they are startling to experience. Involuntary cramping can do that. I'd compare them to menstrual cramps, but again, they occur in strange places.

But then I was leaving school yesterday afternoon, carefully maneuvering through the icy parking lot and sliding a little bit, when suddenly, BAM! Contraction. My body cramped so severely I stopped walking, grabbed the nearest vehicle's side-view mirror, and practiced my yoga breathing. Whoa. After about 45 seconds, I was able to slide over to my car and take a break behind the steering wheel. The whole episode made me nervous. Please, please, please, I thought, we cannot go into labor now. It is simply too early for this. And then... nothing else happened. I wasn't in labor at all. I had been visited by Mr. Braxton-Hicks.

Later that afternoon, we had our 32 week check-up, and the Nurse Practitioner confirmed that those mysterious cramps were Braxton-Hicks contractions. The big one and the little ones. And I've already had two today. So it seems that Mr. Braxton-Hicks and I are destined to be friends for the remainder of the pregnancy. I am welcoming him because I like to think that his presence shows that my body knows how to do this. We are getting ready.