What will contractions feel like?

As your due date approaches, you may want to know how labour contractions will feel compared to Braxton Hicks contractions. While practice contractions are short, uncomfortable, and irregular, real contractions feel painful, regular and increase in intensity and frequency. It's common for labour contractions to feel like bad period pain with pulling, cramping and aching sensations coming in waves. Second stage contractions have a different purpose to them, as they usually make you want to push, while third stage contractions can feel different again. Find out more about what happens during the different stages of contractions and what you can do to cope.

Are labour contractions always painful?

How contractions feel for you depends on different things such as the position of your baby, the strength of your labour and how you feel physically and emotionally (Schwartz et al 2015, Whitburn et al 2017). The environment you are labouring in and whether you have good support also play a part (Jackson et al 2020, Simkin et al 2017).

Every person's birth experience is personal to them (Whitburn et al 2017). But most agree that the contractions feel stronger as labour progresses (Jackson et al 2020). They can be overwhelming, intense and very tiring (Capogna et al 2010).

(Power et al 2017, Whitburn et al 2017). And when you feel in control and supported, they can feel positive (Powers et al 2018, Whitburn et al 2017). Your body also naturally helps you to cope by releasing endorphins. These natural, feel-good chemicals can help to change your perception of pain (Simkin et al 2017).

Your womb (uterus) has a powerful muscular wall that tightens and then relaxes. If you put your hand on your belly during a contraction, you may feel your womb harden as the muscle contracts. You'll probably feel each contraction as a wave-like cramping that builds in intensity to a peak, before fading away again. As your contractions lengthen, the peak will also lengthen so that you have to pace yourself through a longer period of intense cramping or aching before it starts to fade (Jackson et al 2020).

After birth, the memory of those exhausting contractions may evaporate as you hold your new baby for the first time (Power et al 2017). The experience may give you a feeling of empowerment and achievement, alongside the elation of becoming a parent (Simkin et al 2017, Whitburn et al 2017).

What can I do to cope with contractions?

If the prospect of contractions is making you feel apprehensive and you’re worrying about how you're going to cope, remember that your midwife will be there to help (Power et al 2017, Whitburn et al 2017). They can support you to work with the pain or provide the pain relief you need, such as gas and air or an epidural (Jackson et al 2020, Simkin et al 2017). Extra support from a volunteer or paid-for doula can make a difference too (Jackson et al 2020), particularly on a busy labour ward.

It may also help you if you have an understanding of what an amazing job your body is doing while you're having contractions (MoD 2018, Whitburn et al 2017).

What are the different stages of contractions?

There are different types of contractions depending on how far into your labour you are. They have different purposes:

• In the first stage of labour, your contractions gradually open up (dilate) your cervix.
• In the second stage of labour, contractions ease your baby down through your vagina (birth canal) and out.
• In the third stage of labour, contractions detach the placenta and your womb (uterus) contracts down to stop heavy bleeding.
  (NHS 2023)

Early contractions

These may feel like period cramps. You may have tummy pain or backache, or both (MoD 2018). Or you may just have aching or heaviness in the lower part of your tummy. You may feel the need to poo or just feel uncomfortable, and not be able to pin down why (NHS 2020).

You may feel the pain pulling up and tightening across your womb or it may be focused in one or two areas. You may feel an aching or heaviness in your back, in your vagina and labia, or low down in your tummy (Jackson et al 2020). They’ll feel different to Braxton Hicks contractions – for a start when it’s the real thing, they’ll become regular and won’t fade away when you move or change activity, unlike practice contractions.

For some, contractions are regular and painful from the start, from when the cervix starts to open (dilate). Others go into labour without really knowing it. Some have unrelenting back pain during early labour and find it very hard to get comfortable and to rest (Jackson et al 2020, Simkin et al 2017).

First stage labour contractions

Active first stage labour contractions may feel crampy, achy and exhausting (Capogna et al 2010). Some women describe them as really bad period cramps that come in waves or like gas pains or a really bad tummy ache from food poisoning.

As your labour progresses, your contractions are likely to become more powerful and more frequent. Contractions may come one on top of another, so you have less of a break in between (Jackson et al 2020). You may feel this as one long contraction with a double peak. When this happens the sensation of tightening builds to a peak, starts to fade, and then builds to a second peak before fading (Spinning Babies nd, Wood et al 2015).

You'll probably feel back-to-back or double-peak contractions when your cervix is almost fully dilated and your womb is working hard to position your baby ready for the birth (CBE 2019, Ghali nd, Wood et al 2015). This is called transition, because it marks the end of the first stage and the beginning of the second stage of labour. Transition contractions can feel so raw and unbearable that you'll just want them to stop (Powers et al 2017). When you reach this point, the pain can still be positive, though, because it means the end of labour is in sight and your baby will be born soon (Powers et al 2017).

Second stage labour contractions

During the second stage your baby will be born, usually through a combination of contractions and your pushing, which moves your baby down your vagina and out into the world.

The contractions of the second stage of labour have a different feel to them because they have a different purpose. They often become longer and stronger but less frequent, giving you time to rest and recover. As your baby descends the birth canal, you may get a strong urge to push as the contractions force your baby down (Downe and Marshall 2020).

But don't worry if you don't feel the urge to bear down – it might be due to having an epidural or because your contractions have lost their strength. Your midwife can encourage you when to push and for how long, and to remind you to push down into your bottom. As your baby is born, you're likely to have hot and stinging sensations as your baby moves down and out of your vagina (Capogna et al 2010).

Third stage labour contractions

Contractions during the third stage of labour detach the placenta so that it can be pushed out. These will be over very quickly and will be less powerful than labour contractions. But you'll still be aware of them and they may make you want to change position (Begley 2020).

Get ready for labour:

Read what BabyCentre parents say about contractions.

Use our hospital bag checklist to help get yours packed.

Find out how to find a doula to attend your birth.