I believe 23 weeks is way too early to
feel braxton hicks contractions. I would
have put it down as gas pains. If you
were keeling over with pain, and it was
the baby, then I think you would have
started bleeding, lost the baby, or at
least be hospitalized pretty soon after
you started feeling that way.
You did the right thing tho. When
something just doesn't feel right, it's
better to be safe than sorry. As for
keeping this from happening again, you
might want to remember what you ate that
day or the day before so that you know to
avoid that in the future if it was the
thing that you ate. Or it could have just
been some bug you picked up.
Since everything is kind of in the same
place and things get a little smushed from
your expanding uterus, it is hard to know
what exactly is going on, especially if
you've never had labor pains before.
Don't ever feel silly and feel free to
post again if you ever have questions

I'm glad you are
ok.