Throughout the pregnancy many women experience contractions called Braxton Hicks.  These contractions are part of your pregnancy from the very beginning, but may be sensed only in the second half of your pregnancy. 

The Braxton Hicks contractions may cause some discomfort at times, but for most women they are not very disturbing.  The contractions are caused by hormones which signal the body to start preparing for child birth.  As you get closer to your due date, the contractions may become more frequent and powerful.

Your uterus tightens up a bit and hardens until the contraction relaxes.  These "false" contractions and other phenomena may make you think you are in labor before you actually are.   The best way to tell the difference between contractions which predict delivery and those which don't is regularity.  If contractions occur in regular intervals, it is a sign that you should be on your way to the hospital.  The length of time between the contractions does not necessarily suggest delivery. You may have contractions after three minutes and then after ten minutes – this is a sign that you are not in labor, however regular contractions every 8 minutes are a sign that the baby is on the way. Going to the hospital when uncertainty arises is possibly the best option, since in many cases only the hospital monitor can tell if you really are really in labor.  Take this experience as a trial run before the real birth and practice for the real thing.

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