How bad does it really hurt?

[Anonymous]

I found it to be similar to a really bad case of food poisoning involving bad stomach cramps and diarrhea -- similar pain level / sensation, but more intense.

[Anonymous]

For me it wasn't so much excruciating pain as exhaustion. It went on for like 24 hours and with no sleep, not eating, etc, I was just plain worn out. I also had to do a lot of pushing (think like 3 hours) so for me it was exhaustion more than anything.

If you have done physical exercise like running, hiking, climbing, etc. you will know at one point in the exercise it feels like your body is screaming "I can't do this" but if you keep going it becomes obvious that your body can do this, and in fact is doing it. And when you stop you instantly feel fine--you are not being injured. So a lot of it is a mind game more than anything else, I think: your body complains and says "I can't do it" but in fact it can.

Also, because contractions build up and get more intense over time your "tolerance" to it can build as well.

I'm not going to lie--it wasn't my favorite thing ever and I don't look forward to doing it again. But it, for me, was totally doable and I preferred it to what a medicated birth would involve.

[Anonymous]

I have had two severe ear infections after delivery of my first which were more painful than childbirth. But the pain during labor and delivery was intense for me like mixing menstrual cramps with Charlie horses and the cramps I would get in P.E. class as a kid add that my stomach was nauseous but unsatisfied hungry at the same time.

[Anonymous]

For me each time the pain has been like the pain of intense gas cramps but much stronger.

[Anonymous]

Between my two children I damaged my finger nail with blood pooling under the nail. It was excrutiating and on a par with unmedicated child birth.

That's not to say that my births weren't painful.

It wasn't the pain that was so hard for me, particularly with my youngest. It was more the relentlessness of it. Contractions 2 minutes apart for seven hours, vomiting in between every single contraction for several hours, and then the extreme pressure (on my pelvic bones) of an exceptionally large (12lb) baby pushing his way through the birth canal.

[Anonymous]

I would say that for me, pain was a piece of what was hard about labor. But moreso, all the unknowns of it -- how long will it last, how intense will it get, will a complication develop. I think not knowing how long each portion of labor would be, etc, was actually what was harder.

There was a point in labor where I was deciding to do an epidural or not -- the hard part was not knowing, do I have 1 more hour or 6 or 10 of this to go? How much more intense will it get?

The weird upside is, after having been through childbirth, I can use it to help cope with other medical procedures that I may need. I say to myself: I made it through childbirth, so I can do this.

[Anonymous]

Not OP, I am FTM and 41 and physically petite and delicate (not athletic at all). It's about 4+ weeks away for me and I am beyond terrified. Somehow reading these posts is a little helpful.

[Anonymous]

It wasn't just the pain, but the pain combined with vomiting and shaking that put me over the edge. Also, my contractions lasted 2.5 to 3.5 minutes, which was pretty exhausting.

During the pushing part, it felt like I was being ripped apart. When the nurse said she could start to see DD's hair, I was like "ARE YOU KIDDING?" I thought her head was halfway out. I had labial tearing, but none in the perineum, so not sure if my situation was different than most.

I had kidney stones and found the pain somewhat comparable in terms of discomfort, although DH said I handled childbirth much better.

First DC was a c-section. I would take natural childbirth over c-section recovery any day. Very different types of pain, but at least childbirth only lasted 25 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It wasn't just the pain, but the pain combined with vomiting and shaking that put me over the edge. Also, my contractions lasted 2.5 to 3.5 minutes, which was pretty exhausting.

During the pushing part, it felt like I was being ripped apart. When the nurse said she could start to see DD's hair, I was like "ARE YOU KIDDING?" I thought her head was halfway out. I had labial tearing, but none in the perineum, so not sure if my situation was different than most.

I had kidney stones and found the pain somewhat comparable in terms of discomfort, although DH said I handled childbirth much better.

First DC was a c-section. I would take natural childbirth over c-section recovery any day. Very different types of pain, but at least childbirth only lasted 25 hours.

HA! Two words for you: uterine. prolapse. If I could do it all again, I would have taken a csection in heartbeat.

Everyone's experience is different. OP, you are not going to be find answers here. Just have faith in yourself and if the pain gets too intense, you will do what you want to do. It's your birth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had an epidural and it STILL felt like a bolt of lighting directed at my vagina.

I've found that epidurals only help with contraction pain.

Are you talking about the ring of fire? There wasn't much vaginal pain, other than that brief burning sensation and crazy pressure.

[Anonymous]

What I didn't expect was that you just go into a whole other world. It's kind of like when you have a high fever and are delirious. You can hear people talking but you're just in a different dimension entirely.

[Anonymous]

I had surgery when I was 16 to remove a melanoma 6 inches across, 2 inches deep, and 3 inches tall off my upper back, I couldn't raise my arms for weeks. It was excruciating. Probably the worse pain I have ever been in.

Child birth is completely different and doesn't compare.

I've done one crash c/section and 2 natural VBAC's, and I can say, I felt like I didn't want to do it during the last part of labor and delivery, and I remember thinking to myself why didn't I just get a repeat c/s.

And as soon as baby was born, the pain was gone, I felt amazing. Unlike with my c/s where I felt like complete crap for weeks.

It is a feeling unlike any other, there is nothing to compare it with.

If you want to do it drug free, you can, you just need to remind yourself it will be over soon!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I didn't expect was that you just go into a whole other world. It's kind of like when you have a high fever and are delirious. You can hear people talking but you're just in a different dimension entirely.

I agree, it's insane pain plus some kind of a weird cocktail of drugs during transition.

[Anonymous]

Every woman is different and every labor is different. I didn't have what I would call pain. It was just intense and then transition was weird and the ring of fire was also intense.

It was more like "oh, so that's what's happening now." I've experienced very intense pain in my life that was not manageable, and this was not like that at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had surgery when I was 16 to remove a melanoma 6 inches across, 2 inches deep, and 3 inches tall off my upper back, I couldn't raise my arms for weeks. It was excruciating. Probably the worse pain I have ever been in.

My mother died from one about the same size that had metastasized; the mets were so advanced that she died before the surgery. I've always wondered what her experience would have been like during surgical recovery.

Did living through that much pain change how you felt about your body?