When it comes to uterine contractions, many female friends with reproductive experience may be very familiar with them, but they may not know what uterine contractions are for newly pregnant women, especially since they are divided into true and false uterine contractions. So, what is the difference between true and false contractions?
1. When pregnant women enter the middle and late stages of pregnancy, due to the enlargement of the abdomen, the abdominal wall muscles and uterine tension increase, making them more sensitive to certain factors. Therefore, this situation is prone to irregular uterine contractions. The duration of uterine contractions is often short and the force is weak, usually occurring in the lower part of the uterus. At this time, uterine contractions cannot cause the opening of the cervix, so it is called non labor pseudo uterine contractions.
2. However, there is a clear regularity in the occurrence of true uterine contractions before delivery, usually occurring every 10 minutes, and one can feel a hard and painful sensation in the lower abdomen. As time goes on, the pain and contractions will gradually increase, and the duration of contractions will gradually extend to around 40-60 seconds, with intervals shortened to 3-5 minutes. This characteristic is the true uterine contractions before delivery, which is also a significant difference from the false uterine contractions.
3. It should be noted that when pregnant women feel regular and increasing contractions, they must be highly vigilant because as the frequency of contractions increases, the cervical canal will further expand, and there may be redness and rupture of the cervix. Therefore, it is necessary to go to the hospital for examination and wait for delivery in a timely manner.
