How can you really tell contractions apart when your in labor?

Question

I know it’s a stupid question and ived seen people say they used certain apps to help them detect contractions when your near labor. But I still don’t get it. How many minutes apart or how long should you wait until you know it’s time to go to the hospital? I feel stupid cause I don’t get it I’m almost 39 Weeks

Answer

So you’ll time them, starting from when it first starts until the very end. For me it started out dull, got super painful and peaked, then went back down. Contractions will be constant so you might start with them being every 20 minutes, then every 10 minutes, then every 5 minutes. Once you’re having one minute long contractions for an hour that are 5 minutes apart that’s usually when you want to go in. (I’m a really literal person sorry for the extreme details lol)

Answer

not stupid at all! you can call labor and delivery at your hospital for their opinion, but mine was 5-1-1: contractions are 5 minutes or less apart, lasting at least a minute for an hour .