Do Braxton Hicks contractions make your heart race?

I never felt any BH contractions in my first pregnancy. This time, occassionally when I'm otherwise at rest, my heart will noticibly increase it's rate without any exertion on my part. It's not enough to be scary, just enough for me to think, "that's a little odd." It really reminds me of when I had an epidural and my heart would race when I had a contraction. So I'm wondering if it could be BH? I'm 20 weeks along.

 

Mine would do that and I would also feel like it was harder to breathe. It was right around 20 weeks that I started noticing them but only while I was resting. If I was active I didn't notice them at all.
HTH

 

I have been having BH for 6 weeks now and it feels like your uterus is tightening, I havn't noticed that it affects my heart rate, that just happens on its own-LOL.

 

My heart raced SOOO much in my 2nd & 3rd trimesters, it felt like I was having panic attacks!I brought it up with my OB and she said that it was due to the added blood volume & was totally normal
Always good to mention it to your OB though :good:

 

YEP---sounds like the normal BH that I have--they've just REALLY started for me during this pregnancy(about 26 weeks)....my breath catches and there is a tightening. GREAT time to practice your calming breathing and not let yourself get caught up into a panic attack....although that is SO hard to remember!! LOL
It makes me very nervous, now, with the twins, I'm afraid they'll keep coming and not let me sleep or become the "real thing" way too early. Definitely gonna be mentioning mine to my OB this visit.

 

Yep, my heart starts racing and it becomes hard to breathe during my contractions. It can be really panicking if I'm lying down because it seems even harder to breathe. But like PP said, it's a good time to practice staying calm

Laura

 

This is my first pregnancy so i have no idea what a contraction(even bh) feels like. Im sure I will know when I have one, but im 25 weeks and for the past two weeks my heartrate is very often 118-120...resting, and its hard to breathe. Dr said he doesnt know why its so high, but he didnt act to concerned. I guess i could be having bh and not know it...

 

Funny, as I'm reading this I'm laying on the couch and my heart feels as if it's going to jump out of my chest! I've been having this for the lat 5 days or so, and like everyone else said, it's only really noticeable when I'm relaxing.. It's very weird, but I've never noticed to to happen when I'm having BH.. I'll have to pay attention now...

 

I too had the racing heart around 20 weeks and heard as others mentioned that it is normal in that we have even more blood volume. Unfortunately now at 30 weeks I am starting to feel smothered at times and that's what gets my heart racing, then comes the panic attack. It's a vicious circle LOL. But I agree with others, a good way to practice your calming breathing!

 

Good to realize I'm not the only one! I would be driving and feel like I couldn't breathe. I don't know if they are BH (I think I've had them once or twice- the 2nd time I took the trip to L&D to find out that there was NOTHING they could pick up on) or not... I just figured it was due to all the blood volume we've got coursing through us.

Michelle

29 weeks 6 days with di/di boys