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My OB said to call her if after drinking a glass of water and laying down for an hour I still had more than 4 BH contractions an hour. She also said to call if they became more painful, or more like period cramps or were located very low. Hope this helps!

Ditto on the water thing.

After trauma, the L&D told me if I had more than 4 in an hour I needed to go back to the doctor. I don't know if that's too many if you haven't had trauma.

@winniebee: I had BH A LOT during my pregnancy, starting from early in the 2nd trimester. I would have 6-8 per hour and it wasn't due to me overdoing it or not drinking enough water. My doctor said I was just one of those lucky few that had a lot of them for no real reason.

I ended up getting used to it after a while and, although they were annoying, the baby was just fine.

@winniebee: I do remember that any time I did ANYTHING to use my core, I would get one (standing up, bending over, doing laundry....). And as time went on, they would happen for no particular reason.

When I went into labor, the contractions weren't really bad until my water broke, and then they got bad quick. I was only dialated to 2 cm and had to get the epidural... but I don't think I have a very high pain tolerance, so I'm not sure if I"m the best one to compare to

@winniebee: Thanks for the update! Hope you're OK!

at 37 weeks, i'm definitely getting more bh. there was 1 day when over the span of 2 hours, i had like 10 bh, so i called the doctor the next day (cuz i had them at like 10 at night). she told me to come in right away and they monitored me for an hour. i had no cotnractions while they were monitoring me. she said if i get 6 or more within an hour, to just call the office. she said if i get some, empty my bladder and drink lots of water. change positions.

after that one night, haven't had that many bhs again. but now, i get it in the morning and it wakes me up. it maybe the position i'm sleeping in on the recliner.

@winniebee: I hope your test comes back negative! I went through periods where I was having them every 20 minutes or so, but never regularly spaced at 15 minutes or less. Now that I'm full term I get really excited when my BH contractions get stronger. Sometimes they feel crampy and they can really take my breath away... but nothing is occurring at regular intervals yet, so I need to just calm down and wait for labor to start.

Bumping!

I get BH near constantly. Started at 20 weeks with my first and 14 weeks with my second (still going at 38 weeks). My doctor told me that some people are just "contractors" and for me, I should just pay attention to see if there's a pattern. Like every 6 minutes or something - basically if it gets to the point I can predict one is going to come. Because if I called every time I had 6 in an hour, or something like that, I would have spent my entire pregnancies in the hospital!

@fuzzypeaches: Yup, that's the same term they've used with me. Lucky us

Same as @SeptMomma12: @fuzzypeaches. I've been told I have an irritable uterus, so I get them far more frequently than the typical 4-6 an hour. They actually started around 10 weeks this time (though I probably wouldn't have noticed if it had been my first pregnancy). For me I was told the usual hydrate and get off my feet, but mostly to watch for anything that's different from MY normal, and to watch for labor signs (loss of mucous plug, etc). I've had them get down to 2 minutes apart, but they always spaced back out eventually, so I never went to L&D to get checked out or anything. I'm just hoping it makes for a shorter labor in the end! (Which my past experience suggests might be the case for me. *fingers crossed*)

That being said, I think if anyone ever has any doubt they should talk to their doctor/midwife. One of the bees on my due date board thought she was just having BH's, and now she's on bed rest because it turns out they were actually affecting her cervix. So what's normal for me might be very not normal for you. (And while I've never been sent for an ultrasound or had a pelvic exam specifically to check my cervix, both of my recent pregnancies have had issues that required frequent ultrasounds, so they were/are watching it already.)