What Does a Contraction Feel Like?

I remember spending hours searching books, websites, and asking friends what exactly a contraction feels like.  After reading countless tales, I came up with the same answer: every woman is different and therefore feels contractions, or labor pains, differently.  I tried asking my mother to explain it to me, and she couldn't.  She tried several times, but her best answer was "you will know it when you feel it".

Well, as a first time preggo, let me tell you, I did NOT know it when I felt it.  So every weird movement, every pain, and every little bit of discomfort that I got from my 8th month on, I sat and thought to myself, is that it?  Was that a contraction?  Looking back on it now I laugh at myself.  But in the moment, even though I had read as much as I could on the subject, I still had no idea what to expect.  Some women say it is excruciatingly painful.  Others say its just a little discomfort, that your tummy hardens at the top and moves downward.  For someone that had never experienced it, that did not clear it up any for me.

The icing on the cake was when I would go to the doctors office for a fetal monitoring appointment and the nurses would point to one of the spikes and say "oooh, look at that one.  That contraction had to hurt!"  Unfortunately, I didn't feel anything.  I told them so and was given the response that I should count myself lucky.  Um, ok.  I guess.

So, here's what they felt like for me when I finally started going into labor.  You know when you would try to put on a pair of jeans that were just a little too snug and you'd have to suck in your tummy to put them on?  THAT is what it feels like.  Only you aren't sucking in your tummy, its doing it all by itself.  When I called my mother to explain what was going on, she clapped her hands and said YES!  That's exactly what it feels like. 

I started timing them, and called my substitute doctor's office (that is a funny story that will be explained in another post).  The woman who answered asked what was going on and then told me to go to the hospital IMMEDIATELY!  Her exact words were "hang up the phone and go NOW, I will have the doctor meet you there".  I went from calm to slightly panicked at warp speed.

I'm beginning to ramble.  Basically that is what a contraction felt like for me.  Care to share what yours felt like?