How to count the contractions? What counters are there?

The timeliness of her arrival at the hospital depends on how quickly and correctly a woman will be able to count the contractions that have begun. The ability to count contractions is useful in the maternity hospital, it will help a woman most accurately understand what stage of labor she is in, in order to call the doctor in time if the contractions turn into attempts.

How to count uterine contractions independently and what timers exist, we will tell in this article.

Before childbirth, and sometimes long before, a woman may experience so-called training or false contractions. They are not the beginning of labor, they do not bring the moment of birth of the baby in any way, they do not lead to the opening of the cervix. In later periods, training spasms become preparatory, more frequent. The uterus tenses and relaxes independently of the will of the woman, by itself.

True or true labor pains symbolize the beginning of the opening of the cervix. It is very important to distinguish such spasms from false ones in time. The main difference lies in the fact that real uterine contractions always occur cyclically - they have almost equal duration, intervals.

The reductions themselves gradually become longer in time, and the intervals between them are shorter.

Counting spasms should take place with a clear understanding of what stage of labor corresponds to a certain frequency of uterine contractions and certain intervals. The first period is latent. It can last up to 8-10 hours, during this time, the cervix makes the disclosure up to 3-4 centimeters. Initial bouts are repeated every 35-40 minutes and last about half a minute. By the end of the contraction period, repeat every 5-7 minutes. Their duration is about 45-50 seconds. At this stage, you need to go to the hospital.

The second stage is called active. It may take 4-5 hours at first birth, up to 2-3 hours at the second. Spasms more painful, repeated every 4-5 minutes, lasting approximately 50-60 seconds. The disclosure by the end of the period reaches 7 centimeters.

At the third stage transitional fights take place - they turn into attempts. The duration of each fight - from a minute or more, the rest intervals are quite insignificant - no more than a minute or two. At such a frequency, which is suddenly replaced by the desire to go to the toilet and empty the intestines, the woman should call the doctor, because from minute to minute attempts can begin that require the presence of an obstetrician and obedience from the parturient.

A woman who clearly understands how and what happens to her in childbirth, always behaves more restrained, disciplined, does not bother herself and the medical staff with unnecessary fuss, panic and screams. This greatly facilitates childbirth, accelerates their process, and also reduces the likelihood of complications.

The ability to count contractions will be simply indispensable for partnership deliveries, if the couple decided to go to the hospital together.

For a long time, self-counting was the only way to establish intervals between contractions and find out about how much time was left before the birth of a baby. In the hospital, the doctor has a more informative way to find out - a vaginal examination with an assessment of the degree of cervical dilatation. It is clear that at home there is no possibility to evaluate the disclosure, and therefore, according to the tradition of grandmothers and mothers, it is best to count the contractions on their own.

The beginning of the contraction is indicated by the appeared pulling pain (intensity depends on the individual characteristics) in the back, gradually it “surrounds”, passes to the lower abdomen and the entire peritoneum as a whole. The uterus tenses up - this is the peak of contraction. After the peak, a smooth reverse development of the contraction begins, it begins to relax. It is necessary, armed with a clock with a second hand or an electronic stopwatch, to mark the beginning of the spasm and its end. The time between these events will be considered the time of the duration of the fight.

The time of rest when a woman gets the opportunity to relax a little and gather strength before the next fight is called an interval. It should also be measured.

For modern women who are perfectly oriented in computers and devices, there are special programs - counters. Having installed the application in the smartphone, the woman will not need to record the time of contractions, count down the intervals. The program will calculate everything up to a tenth of a second, and will also analyze and issue a conclusion - generic ones are contractions, training or not at all.

Most of the counters are very simple - they are two big buttons. One woman presses when the fight or similar sensations start, on the other, when the fight stops, she is completely relaxed. If the contraction is repeated, you need to press the first button again and wait until the contraction is over to press the second button.

Buttons in the Russified programs can be signed in different ways, for example, “The fight began,” “The fight ended” or “Oh, it hurts” and “Hurray, let go”.

There are a large number of such programs, some have the ability to send messages to relatives and friends on a paid basis, make automatic dialing to them, even arrange an online chat with relatives and friends. The free package of all programs includes a counter of contractions and an analysis of their nature.

Many counters supplemented with lessons in proper breathing. They not only help to calculate the time of sending to the maternity hospital, but also tell their owner how to behave at a particular stage of labor, and also give advice on breathing techniques that are effective for achieving natural anesthesia.

Some applications will be useful from the first week of pregnancy, because they provide a woman with not only the opportunity to calculate the frequency of uterine contractions, but also contain information about the course of pregnancy every week, informing the mistress with the onset of each week that she is waiting for a new one and her baby in the womb over the next seven days.

It should be noted that the developers provide additional content for all operating systems and platforms with additional content. Women during pregnancy can learn a lot and learn. Most of the developers present thematic articles about pregnancy and childbirth, tables of blood types of children and their parents, tips on catering, as well as a global chat for communication with other pregnant women from around the world.

If the programs for smartphones are so smart, why do the courses for preparing for childbirth continue at women's clinics and in private clinics? Yes, because none even a very good program does not take into account the individual characteristics of a woman. Thus, we approach the main issue - the accuracy of programs.

There are quite a few reviews on the Internet about each of the existing meters. Users often note the inaccuracy of the analysis of the nature of contractions. If the two buttons at the base of the application work like a stopwatch, then the accuracy of the conclusion of the program depends on the prescribed algorithm. In addition, contractions can be individual, and application programs do not take into account anomalous contractions (weak and discoordinated).

Therefore, courses for pregnant women who are taught proper breathing, correct counting of contractions, the ability to properly and productively push during childbirth, are invaluable by the degree of benefit. You should not abandon them only on the basis that the corresponding program was downloaded to the phone in a timely manner. It facilitates the calculation, but it is better if a woman recheck the findings of the counter and compares with her condition.

You can learn about useful applications and contractions counters from the following video.