Distinguishing True Labor and False Labor

It’s not always easy to determine when you are really going into labor and when it was a false call. There are however, some characteristics that can help you determine if the symptoms are real.

False labor in general will be:

• Irregular and do not increase a lot

• Will go away when you change positions, walk or rest

• Are not particularly uncomfortable

• Occur only in the lower part of the abdomen

• Do not get worse

On the other hand, real labor and contractions will involve:

• Frequent contractions that are more intense and bothersome

• Last between forty and sixty seconds

• Do not go away when you walk, change positions, walk or rest

• Happen at the same time the amniotic fluid comes out

• Make it difficult or do not let you talk normally

• Extend on the top part of the abdomen or are located on the back area

Sometimes the only way to know for sure is you are in real labor is to go and get a check up or to go straight to the hospital. In the hospital they will give you a pelvic exam to detect if the labor has begun. The doctor will probably connect you to a monitor to check with what frequency the contractions occur and watch the answers of the fetal heart to these. On occasions it is easy to determine real labor, but others it is necessary to be kept under observation for several hours.

It is considered that you are in labor and have regular contractions and the neck or cervix is changing quickly. Some women continue on with their lives normal with their cervix partially erased or dilated, but it is not considered labor because these changes happen in days, not in hours.