Can contractions last 20 minutes? Interval between contractions

Many women already know that in order to distinguish false contractions from real ones, they need to count frequency of contractions before childbirth. Before learning how to determine their frequency, you need to clearly understand what it is.

Uterine contractions are called contractions. They occur when the pregnant woman’s body and the uterus itself are prepared for childbirth. During this process, the cervix opens to allow the baby's head to pass through. The release of water occurs due to increasing intrauterine pressure, which ruptures amniotic sac.

Every woman should be able to distinguish real contractions from false ones. During such training contractions, the uterus does not open. They occur around the 20th week of pregnancy. With the help of training contractions, the body prepares for real childbirth. The pain from fake contractions quickly appears, lasts about a minute and also quickly disappears. But this pain causes virtually no physical discomfort and its frequency or intensity does not increase.

Real contractions are different for every woman. But their periodicity changes approximately the same.

How does the frequency of contractions change during childbirth?

To determine the stage of labor, a woman in labor must recognize the current duration of contractions and the interval between them. From the first attack of pain, you need to immediately time it. To do this, you can use any device with a built-in stopwatch. Signs of contractions during and before labor are different. They differ according to several criteria:

1. Contraction intervals;
2. Regularity;
3. Duration of the fight;
4. Intensity of the fight.

At the very beginning, the interval between contractions can last from half an hour or more. As labor approaches, the interval between contractions decreases significantly. When the uterus contracts at intervals of 1-2 minutes, labor is coming to an end. Also, unlike preparatory contractions, during childbirth there is a constant rhythm of uterine contractions. Initially, the contraction lasts 5-10 seconds. As labor progresses, the duration of contractions becomes longer. And before the second stage of labor begins, they last about a minute. The intensity of contractions during childbirth increases and ultimately exceeds preliminary contractions many times.

Contractions cannot be controlled. They occur involuntarily, regardless of the mother in labor. You can go to the maternity hospital if the interval between contractions is not yet clear, and the pain becomes severe and prolonged.

When you see bloody discharge, don't be alarmed.. This indicates the release of the mucus plug. She blocked the entrance to the uterus. If when it leaves there is a heavy bleeding, an urgent examination is required.

What phases of contractions are observed in a pregnant woman?

When a woman is pregnant for the first time, labor usually lasts 12-15 hours. After the first time, the second and subsequent births last six or eight hours. The birth process is divided into three phases:

1. Primary phase - latent. Lasts approximately 7-8 hours. Uterine contractions occur every five minutes for 45 seconds.
2. Secondary phase – active. Lasts from 3 to 5 hours. Contractions occur every 4 minutes and last a minute.
3. The third phase is transitional. Lasts from half an hour to 90 minutes. At this stage, contractions last from 70 to 100 seconds. The interval between contractions decreases.

Expectant mothers are looking forward to meeting their baby. Many of them begin to listen to their body long before the signs of labor appear. This is due to the fact that first-time mothers cannot fully imagine what contractions before childbirth feel like and how they feel, so they are often confused with training ones. In the last trimester, the expectant mother needs to know how to recognize contractions when pain occurs.

Contractions and their functions during childbirth

After 36 weeks, expectant mothers begin to study in detail articles about childbirth. At this time, the realization comes that the time of birth is approaching. Primiparas who attended courses for young parents at children's clinics have a clear understanding of the signs of onset labor activity.

What are contractions during pregnancy? This term should be understood as contractions of the muscles of the uterus, which contribute to the correct and rapid opening of the cervix. As a result, it becomes possible for the fetus to move through the birth canal. The woman in labor feels cramping spasms not only just before the birth of the baby, but also in the last period of labor, when the placenta is expelled.

True contractions are involuntary, repeated contractions of the muscles of the uterus. Main function contractions is to prepare the birth canal for the advancement of the baby. If labor contractions have just begun, the pain will be barely noticeable. Then it increases and reaches its peak after the outpouring of water. Short intervals between strong, unbearable contractions leave the pregnant woman exhausted. At this stage, women in labor often ask doctors to numb them for at least some time. Rest is necessary for the expectant mother so that she has the strength to push and expel the fetus.

Obstetricians usually inform about how contractions progress and manifest themselves in pregnant women. In some cases, they advise contacting perinatal centers for training in special program. At the same time, expectant mother the correct attitude towards childbirth will be formed and the realization will come that contractions and attempts are a natural process. It is thanks to this that the entire body is seriously prepared for the unhindered passage of the baby through the birth canal. Adequate awareness of everything that happens at the “X” hour is the key to successful childbirth.

Classification of contractions:

1. true;
2. false (Braxton-Hicks, or training contractions);
3. pushing.

How to identify the first contractions during childbirth and not confuse them with other types? Prenatal contractions (or training contractions) differ from real contractions in that they are irregular and do not contribute to the dilation of the cervix (more details in the article:

Phases and duration of labor contractions, intervals between them

During the appointment, obstetricians tell women in labor how to determine the onset of contractions, what symptoms appear, and where the pain is localized. To count them, you don’t need to have a pen and notebook next to you; a smartphone is enough. There are many free applications that help calculate the duration of contractions and their frequency. Thanks to automatic calculation, the smartphone will accurately tell you whether you need to call a doctor. If the rest between contractions is 15 minutes, then you should not call ambulance.

How long do you need to wait for contractions to intensify and last longer during natural childbirth? If the intervals between contractions are reduced and become equal to 7 minutes or less, then the very moment has come when the primigravida should go to maternity hospital. If the interval between contractions is reduced to 5 minutes, it is recommended to hurry up to avoid the onset of rapid labor.

The appearance of the first contractions indicates a contraction of the muscle fibers of the uterine walls. It is quite difficult to recognize them. The mother's body begins to actively prepare the body for imminent birth. The initial phase of labor begins.

Uterine contractions become rhythmic. Time begins to decrease. The frequency of spasms increases and the sensation of pain increases. With an interval between contractions of 5 minutes, discomfort continues to increase not only in the lower back, but also in the lower abdomen ( abdominal cavity). During the latent stage, opening occurs at a rate of about 0.5 cm per hour.

According to statistics from obstetricians and gynecologists, the period in labor between contractions is 10-15 minutes. The faster the duration increases (20 seconds, 30, 40, 1 minute), the more pain the woman in labor experiences. Every 3 minutes the sensations will only intensify. With a break of 2 minutes, a positive attitude will help the expectant mother cope.

In subsequent phases, the duration of contractions during childbirth will increase in time, and the interval will decrease. The frequency of contractions increases. Obstetricians advise calling an ambulance for a woman in labor when the intervals between contractions are 5 or 7 minutes. Each new period of contractions will gradually increase, so doctors recommend doing breathing exercises to make it easier painful sensations.

During the active period, the cervix becomes smoothed, its opening will proceed faster than during the latent period (see also:). The approximate speed of opening is 1 cm per hour. Then labor begins to weaken, and the expectant mother’s body moves to the second stage of labor – expulsion of the fetus.

The total duration of contractions in first-time mothers ranges from 9 to 15 hours. These numbers are halved for multiparous women.

How does a pregnant woman feel during labor pains? Are they painless?

Women in labor experience different sensations from the first contractions. Someone has low pain threshold, and for some it is high. Accordingly, it is impossible to know in advance before childbirth how intense the pain will be during contractions. There is an opinion that during a spasm, pain directly depends on a woman’s ability to relax. Muscles that are tense increase pain. To reduce it, it is recommended to attend yoga classes, where they teach how to cope with stress by relaxing the body.

The sensations a woman receives during childbirth cannot be confused with anything else. First, the primigravida experiences discomfort in the lumbar region, then the pain covers the abdominal wall and groin area. If you ask women who have already given birth about pain, they will most often compare it with the sensations when menstruation occurs. Some would describe it as a prolonged muscle spasm. Someone is “covered by a wave” in the area of ​​the upper hips and lower back.

How to relieve pain during labor?

There are several dozen methods to relieve pain. However, the most reliable and in a fast way is anesthesia. A special anesthetic is injected into the mother’s body, which immediately begins to act. Obstetricians-gynecologists in their practice often use antispasmodics to help relax the body.

When choosing a method for complete pain relief or temporary relief, do not forget about spiritual practices. Proper breathing can not only calm you down, but also relax your muscles. You need to know how to breathe correctly during contractions; yoga classes will help with this. Such lessons have been particularly popular among first-time mothers in the last decade.

Correctly selected posture of the woman in labor and massage can reduce pain from regular contractions. lumbar region spine, which can be performed by a nurse or midwife. What position will be comfortable? Here you should remember the frog pose. To do this, you need to sit down and spread your knees to the sides, while leaning on a chair. To reduce pain during the first birth, standing on all fours or lying on an exercise ball can help.

During prolonged true contractions during childbirth, you should inhale and exhale air correctly. You need to breathe deeply and calmly (4 seconds – inhale, 6 – exhale). When symptoms occur severe pain It is necessary to alternate slow breathing with fast breathing. This helps you stay conscious and avoid fainting when contractions begin to increase in frequency.

If one of the methods helped a woman during childbirth, then she should try to fall asleep. This is necessary to accumulate strength.

What to do if your water breaks, but there are no contractions or they are weak?

If your water breaks and contractions are absent or very weak, then first of all you should calm down and call an ambulance. Before the doctors arrive, it is necessary to monitor the baby’s activity, and also remember the color of the water and its approximate amount. Clear or light colored waters are considered normal. It would be useful to measure your body temperature - it should not rise above normal.

After spontaneous passage amniotic fluid no need to worry about the risk of umbilical cord prolapse (see also:). It is minimal and occurs very rarely in practice. When water leaks, it is forbidden to have sex, visit public toilets, or violate genital hygiene.

In many foreign countries, after the water breaks, it is allowed to wait up to 72 hours for contractions to begin (more details in the article:). In Russian maternity hospitals this time is reduced to 6 hours. If, after this period, labor contractions continue to be absent or present but weak, labor is stimulated. If there is no desired effect from the administered drugs, a caesarean section is performed.

Differences between real contractions and false ones

All first-time mothers are trying to understand how contractions begin in pregnant women, how to determine their onset correctly, and how not to confuse them with abdominal pain. It is important to record the frequency of the actual first contractions and their duration. Pregnant women often come to the maternity hospital with training contractions, passing them off as real. However, an experienced obstetrician-gynecologist, after examination in a gynecological chair, can immediately determine whether labor has begun or not. Information for determining the signs of the onset of true contractions during childbirth is given in the table.

Sign	True	False
Time of first contractions	From 37 weeks	From 20 weeks
Presence when changing body position	No	Yes
Effect on cervical dilatation	Yes	No
Regularity	Yes, you can track the frequency of contractions	No, they don't last long
Duration	Increases	Doesn't change
Duration of intervals	Increases	Doesn't change
Soreness	Reminds me of the first day of my period, lower abdomen hurts	Painless, slight discomfort in the lower abdomen
Increasing dynamics and intensity of spasms	Yes	No

Attempts and their features

What are attempts? They appear in the second stage of labor. Pushing is a reflex contraction of the diaphragm, uterine and abdominal muscles. Thanks to this, the baby is pushed out of the mother's body. Attempts are involuntary - they occur on their own when the body is ready for the birth of a child. Attempts last from 10 to 30 minutes.

It is quite difficult to describe all the feelings experienced during pushing. Many first-time mothers compare pushing with the state of defecation. First, there is a feeling as if a bowel movement is occurring, and then an almost uncontrollable urge to push.

To relieve severe pain during prolonged pushing during natural birth you need to do breathing exercises correctly. The most common is the following: at the beginning of the push, inhale, then you need to push as you exhale. During one push, you can do this exercise several times, depending on the capabilities of the woman in labor. The gap is small, so you should gather all your strength to complete the process.

The last month of pregnancy is the most exciting for a woman. The closer the due date, the more worries and questions she has. And the largest number of them concerns, that is, contractions.

When do they start? What are their symptoms? Are these contractions at all? How to recognize them and what to do? Let's try to answer these questions.

Already contractions?

“Firstborns” are most afraid of the birth process. And, as a rule, a woman’s increased nervousness increases pain. Negative emotions and panic can only harm the process. If you think less about it and are not afraid of contractions, the birth will be easier. In addition, there are specially developed techniques to dull the pain during contractions.

Sometimes contractions are false. They are called, and they can begin from the 20th week of pregnancy. Naturally, such contractions also cause unnecessary discomfort. But they are almost painless, irregular and short-lived. Tension of the uterus during such contractions is relieved by walking or taking a warm (but in no case hot) bath.

Contractions have their own character for each woman. Some feel aching, spreading to the stomach and pelvis. Others note that during contractions, the uterus seems to harden, and you can feel this by placing your palm on your stomach. But these signs may also mean that contractions are not real.

Stages of contractions

If the contractions are real, then:

• they occur regularly;
• increase gradually;
• intensify over time.

At first they appear after a long period of time. Then the contractions become more frequent and the pain intensifies. Therefore, there are 3 stages of contractions.

The first, hidden stage lasts about 7-8 hours with contractions lasting 30-45 seconds. They go with an interval of 5 minutes, and during this stage the cervix dilates by 0-3 cm.

The active stage lasts about 5 hours, contractions last about a minute, and their frequency is 2-4 minutes. During this time, the cervix dilates by 3-7 cm.

The transition stage is the shortest. It lasts up to one and a half hours. Contractions last up to one and a half minutes, and the interval between them is significantly reduced. The cervix in the transitional stage dilates by 7-10 cm.

During the second birth, contractions and their stages are much shorter. Therefore, they say that it is easier to give birth to a second child.

What to do during contractions

It is important that the woman is not alone when contractions begin. After all, the main thing at this time is calm and support. Need to borrow comfortable position and record the intervals between contractions and their duration. It is advisable to write all this down. If the contractions are short, and the interval between them is 20-30 minutes, then the birth is still far away. But the time has come to pack your things for the maternity hospital and call an ambulance. It's good to take a warm shower at this time. And when the intervals between contractions decrease to 5-7 minutes, then you need to go to the maternity hospital.

In general, you should not delay the trip, because your water may break earlier. At this time you need to be under the supervision of an obstetrician-gynecologist. When your water breaks at home, you should not take a shower or bath, as this can provoke the development of infectious complications, bleeding, and placental abruption.

Making contractions easier

The main and proven way to alleviate pain is correct breathing. When a contraction occurs, you need to concentrate on exhaling. You have to imagine that the pain “comes out” with the air. Of course, women in labor moan and scream during contractions, and this eases their pain. Proper breathing needs to be learned in advance and practiced. After all, in a prenatal stress state, a woman forgets everything.

A woman in labor can also relax with a massage or ordinary stroking of a loved one. When contractions occur, it is advisable to massage bottom part backs. The woman can stand or sit on a chair.

Lumbar massage is good aid, because the sacral nerve from the uterus passes to the spinal cord through the lower back. It would be great if the husband would be present during the birth, helping the woman at such a difficult moment.

The psychological attitude of the woman in labor is also important. In between contractions, you need to rest, because the tense anticipation of the next contraction tires you even more.

Contractions are a normal, natural process that all women go through. You are strong and you will succeed! In any case, you need to be prepared for pain, but know that this is the last stage of the important mission of bringing a long-awaited baby into the world.

Especially for Elena TOLOCHIK

Contractions before childbirth help prepare a woman’s body for this important event. They are necessary for certain structural changes to occur in the cervix. They will allow you to go into labor smoothly. However, they must be distinguished from labor pains. IN the latter case you need to go to the maternity hospital. And if we are talking about preparatory uterine contractions, then there is no need to rush anywhere. All this information can be found in this article.

General characteristics of contractions before childbirth

Contractions before childbirth - what are they? have certain characteristics, which include the following:

• frequency of contractions before childbirth;
• their rhythm, that is, regularity;
• grip strength;
• duration of the fight.

These signs can be most reliably determined using a cardiotocogram (combined determination heart rate fetus and the nature of contractile activity of the uterus). However, you can focus on subjective sensations, as well as objective data. If you correctly understand what contractions are before childbirth, it is very easy to determine when to go to the maternity hospital. This will save the woman from unnecessary hospitalization, since doctors are forced to admit her to a hospital for observation. And if it turns out that these are preparatory contractions, then the woman can perfectly well be at home and not in the hospital.

How to distinguish contractions before childbirth from labor pains

Let's look at the differential diagnostic criteria for prenatal contractions and how they differ from contractions during childbirth.

1. The interval of contractions before childbirth is very long. Between the next contractions it can take from half an hour to several hours. If we are talking about contractions during childbirth, then at the beginning they come in 10-15 minutes, and then they become more and more frequent. So, at the end of labor they come at intervals of 1-2 minutes.
2. The second difference is how long the contraction lasts before labor. Preparatory, or preliminary, uterine contractions are very short. This is usually only a few minutes. Contractions during childbirth gradually become longer. Their duration increases, and at the end of the first - beginning of the second period it is 50-60 seconds. During this time, there is no disruption of the uteroplacental blood flow. However, if convulsive contractions of the uterus appear, the fetus may suffer. Therefore, it is very important to monitor the nature of labor and at the slightest deviation it must be corrected.
3. Another important criterion– this is regularity. Contractions preparatory stage do not have equal intervals of time at which they arrive. During childbirth, there is a regular rhythm of contractile activity of the uterus, except in cases of complicated labor.
4. The intensity of Braxton-Hix contractions is minimal, so women usually do not feel them. Labor contractions have a force that exceeds preliminary contractions by several tens of times.

Why are contractions necessary before childbirth?

Pre-birth contractions begin when a woman’s body is preparing for childbirth. It turns out that these uterine contractions contribute to the “ripening” of the cervix. This process represents certain structural changes, which include the location of the cervix along the wire axis of the pelvis, its softening, shortening and slight opening.

But what contractions before childbirth lead to structural changes in the cervix? Only those that flow correctly. And this is possible if all layers of the myometrium (muscular layer of the uterus) function as a single whole. Thus, in the body of the uterus, muscle fibers are located predominantly longitudinally, and in the cervix - circularly. Therefore, when the body of the uterus contracts, cervical canal smooth muscle cells are stretched.

These changes are under hormonal control. Therefore, if there is an imbalance in hormones, this process is disrupted, which leads to the woman’s body being unprepared for an important event.

How do contractions begin before childbirth, and what is necessary for this? An increase in uterine activity occurs only after the dominant of labor begins to form in the brain, and the dominant of pregnancy becomes less active. As a result, a woman’s body undergoes certain changes.

What methods help determine the presence of contractions before childbirth?

How to identify contractions before childbirth, what signs will help you figure it out?

1. Firstly, these are subjective feelings. Women who are spastic in nature. They are repeated at irregular intervals and do not have significant intensity. As a rule, these pains do not disrupt a woman’s usual activity schedule. Most often they occur at night and do not cause the woman to wake up. These warning contractions are called uterine Braxton-Hix contractions. They may be accompanied by the release of a mucus plug from the cervical canal.
2. In addition, there are objective signs of determining uterine contractions. You can focus on palpation sensations. If you put your hand on the uterus, you feel contractions during pregnancy, which are characterized by increased tone uterus After this, the uterus relaxes. The intensity of uterine contraction is insignificant. A vaginal examination allows us to determine the process of “ripening” of the cervix, but as such the opening has not yet occurred.
3. An increase in uterine tone can also be determined using a tocogram or hysterography, that is additional methods research. This is done at the hospital level.

Correct breathing during contractions before childbirth

How to ease contractions? This question already concerns the birth act. The contractions that preceded childbirth can smoothly transition into labor pains. Uterine activity during labor may appear after a certain period of time after the preliminary period. This is not important.

If a woman has entered into labor, then to reduce pain syndrome recommended during contractions. It helps ensure effective removal products that are formed during uterine contraction. This primarily concerns lactic acid. It can irritate nerve endings, which leads to irritation nerve fibers which innervate the uterus. Then nerve impulse transmitted to the brain and spinal cord, which leads to pain.

If a woman breathes correctly, oxidation of lactic acid molecules occurs. As a result, the severity of pain decreases and the woman feels better. Proper breathing is one of the ways of non-drug analgesia during childbirth.

But how to breathe correctly during contractions?
To do this, you need to inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. This ensures maximum breathing efficiency. All chest excursions should be smooth. When there is no contraction, it is recommended to restore breathing. This is a woman's break that should be taken advantage of.

To summarize all of the above, it should be noted that contractions before childbirth have their own specific characteristics that allow them to be distinguished from labor contractions. It's about about the duration, frequency, strength and time of occurrence of uterine contractions. Normally, after preliminary (preparatory) contractions, a woman should enter.

Breath

Poses for relief

We're going to the maternity hospital

Difference from pushing

Contractions will not be so scary for a woman in labor if you learn more about them. It is a woman’s fear and uncertainty that sometimes makes labor so painful and difficult.

In this article we will tell you what stages you will go through during childbirth, how long contractions will last, and how uterine contractions feel at different stages.

What is it?

Contractions of the uterine muscles, which occur periodically and constantly dynamically increase, are called “contractions” due to the nature of the pain. She “grabs” the back, lower back and stomach of the woman in labor, and then smoothly “releases”. Normal birth always begin with the appearance of such sensations. Of course, there may be several options. For some, the water breaks initially, for some, the amniotic fluid leaks and contractions occur simultaneously. But these options are considered complications and have nothing to do with the norm. The mechanism of contractions is very complex. So, they can begin only if a number of important conditions are met:

• the pregnant woman’s body produces enough relaxin and oxytocin, and the level of progesterone, which helped maintain pregnancy, has decreased;
• a sufficient amount of protein has accumulated in the cells of the uterine tissue - actomyosin, which provides contractility at the cellular level;
• the cervix is ​​quite “mature”, softened and elastic.

Contractions begin in one of the parts muscle tissue uterus and gradually spread to neighboring areas until the entire body of the uterus, as well as the cervix, is involved in contraction.

This tight and round muscle is very strong, and therefore its opening takes a long time. The fibers of the cervix become shorter and shorter with each contraction, and the cervix itself opens up. When dilatation is complete, the baby's exit from the mother's womb will be possible.

Periods and stages

A woman cannot control contractions. They begin and develop independently of her will.

The first uterine contractions are called latent (hidden). They can be distinguished from false ones by the frequency of repetition. The false contractions that were present during the “precursor” period were repeated infrequently and, by and large, were not very painful. And if they caused inconvenience, it was more psychological.

Real contractions occur at regular intervals from the very beginning. The first contractions can be quite short and infrequent. One contraction usually repeats every 30-40 minutes and lasts no more than 20 seconds. If this happens, there can be no doubt - labor has begun.

But you shouldn’t panic and run around the apartment looking for a phone to call an ambulance at this stage either. The latent period of contractions is the longest; a woman has at least 4-6 hours to calmly get ready and no less calmly go to the maternity hospital, not forgetting documents and things important for hospitalization.

A woman needs to come to the maternity hospital when contractions repeat once every 10 minutes, and during the second or third birth a little earlier, since each stage of labor proceeds faster in a repeat pregnancy.

Continuation - the active phase of contractions. It usually already goes under the supervision of doctors. It is believed that it begins after the cervix dilates three centimeters. Contractions intensify, each lasting at least 40-50 seconds, they are repeated every 4-5 minutes. After this period, the stage of the most severe contractions begins.

Uterine contractions in the transition period before pushing are repeated every 1-2 minutes and last a maximum of 60-70 seconds. The cervix is ​​completely open, dilation is 10-12 centimeters.

Then attempts begin, during which the baby is “pushed” into birth canal and walks through them. A woman can already partially influence this process by making certain efforts to end childbirth more quickly. You need to push only at the command of your obstetrician. Childbirth will end not with the birth of a child, but with the birth of a placenta. Typically, the subsequent stage of labor occurs with less pain.

Duration

The main question- How long do contractions last? It’s quite difficult to answer this question unambiguously, because a lot depends on individual characteristics female body, from the number of births, from possible complications, which are quite difficult to predict. On average (these are very average values), contractions last as long as:

A woman cannot regulate the duration. Medical workers cannot influence the duration of uterine contractions over time.

In some cases, it is necessary to stimulate and speed up contractions if they are too sluggish and the dilatation of the cervix is ​​slow. In this case, catheterization is performed bladder or amniotomy (mechanical opening of the fetal sac). After the bladder is punctured, sometimes the contractions “diverge”, and the subsequent period is somewhat shortened.

Contractions will continue until the fetus is delivered. After this, uterine contractions are activated only at the moment of expulsion of the placenta. This stage takes on average from 20 to 40 minutes; in primiparous women, the placenta usually separates faster than during repeated births.

Feelings

A woman can feel the change of stages, focusing not only on the time frame. The initial contractions at first resemble pain during menstruation, and then they have a clear encircling character. According to women, the pain begins somewhere in the middle of the back, quickly moves to the lower back and sacrum, to the very bottom of the abdomen and rises up the abdominal wall.

After some time, the pain subsides. In the active phase of labor, uterine contractions are more painful, frequent, and intense. The transition from contractions to pushing is characterized by sudden sensations sudden pressure below, the woman in labor has a desire to push and empty her bowels.

How to make it easier?

The knowledge and skills that a pregnant woman can acquire in courses for expectant mothers held in every antenatal clinic will help relieve pain.

Thus, the correct breathing of a woman in labor will not only provide for the born child sufficient level oxygen throughout the process, but will also naturally reduce pain. When the body, especially the brain, is saturated with oxygen in female body more endorphins are produced. These hormones not only give a feeling of happiness and mild euphoria, but also have a pronounced analgesic effect.

On early stage contractions, you need to practice deep and calm slow breaths and the same exhalations. In this case, the duration of exhalation should be approximately twice as long as the duration of inhalation.

When contractions become frequent and painful, a woman should alternate between calm breathing between contractions and rapid and intense breathing at the peak of pain.

When pushing, you use a deep breath and hold your breath at the moment of pushing, while you don’t need to inflate your cheeks and strain your head to prevent hemorrhages, push “from the bottom,” and fill with air rib cage as if “pushes” the baby out, contributes to his expulsion from the womb.