How bad does it really hurt?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

And it comes in waves (that "vision" helped me get through it). "Waves" that last like 60 very long seconds.
The pushing part feels like you are pooping (and some women really do) but the poop feels like a bowling ball passing through you...on top of the wave of intense food-poisoning contractions.

Oh yes, and than there is the ring of fire. No explanation needed.

But somehow we "forget" all this and moms continue to have more than 1 child.

[Anonymous]

Before I got my epi (medically necessary induction with pitocin) I was having contractions 2-3 minutes apart and they were so intense i was throwing up. I lasted 2.5 hours and had the epi at 4cm. The pain from the contractions was pretty bad but I could never catch my breath because I spent the time in between puking in a bed pan. I could not have managed for very long without the pain relief from the epi.

Would it have been different without pitocin? I think it would have been because I could have eased into the intensity of the contractions instead of being hit with them like a sledgehammer.

[Anonymous]

Painful as hell!

[Anonymous]

I am a marathon runner with a super high pain tolerance and thought I had a med free labor in the bag. I ended up with a 48 hour labor, getting the epi at hour 35. It was intense, I threw up multiple times, and it was much more painful than I anticipated. 4 months later I don't think it was 'that bad' but whenever I say that in front of my husband he corrects me and says it was awful.

[Anonymous]

Both of my labors were challenging but manageable. The toughest part of the first labor was being made to get out of the tub (which had made labor pretty tolerable) for pushing -- I got really disoriented and overwhelmed for a while until I could find my rhythm again. There were definitely points in both labors where I felt overwhelmed, wanted to run away, didn't think I could keep going, etc. The key for me was having good support around me in the form of my husband, midwives, doula, friends...they all encouraged me, reassured me I was okay and could do this, etc. and that was invaluable. I have very positive memories of both of my babies' births.

[Anonymous]

I have had 9 babies.

There were moments of true pain with all of them, but they were just a few tiny moments. Most of the time was either deep rest or concentration, with another few moments of hard work.

The worst pain I ever felt while in labor was when the staff were raising their voices and being unkind, and when a resident hooked my fully dilated cervix with the amino hook. The fear increased the sensations to agony, and being stabbed in the cervix was awful. But neither of those factors were inherent to the labor process--they were imposed on me.

When I have been left in peace, I had no pain whatsoever--just strong feelings that were actually enjoyable.

I love giving birth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

I'm not sure living through the pain changed my perspective of my body, I know I am a bit self conscious of the scar on my back since it can be seen when I wear certain clothes.

I was lucky to have found it early enough for surgery, but my doctor was very frank that if we didn't schedule the surgery immediately there was a good chance I wouldn't see my 17th birthday.

I am super careful with sunscreen, and I have really had to put my foot down with my inlaws about letting my boys play outside in mid-day sun. They don't seem to understand just how serious skin cancer can be.

I'm not sure at 16 years old I really understood just how serious it was, and how quickly things could go down hill. And when people hear "skin cancer" they assume it isn't deadly. It is hard to change the way people think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

I'm not sure living through the pain changed my perspective of my body, I know I am a bit self conscious of the scar on my back since it can be seen when I wear certain clothes.

I was lucky to have found it early enough for surgery, but my doctor was very frank that if we didn't schedule the surgery immediately there was a good chance I wouldn't see my 17th birthday.

I am super careful with sunscreen, and I have really had to put my foot down with my inlaws about letting my boys play outside in mid-day sun. They don't seem to understand just how serious skin cancer can be.

I'm not sure at 16 years old I really understood just how serious it was, and how quickly things could go down hill. And when people hear "skin cancer" they assume it isn't deadly. It is hard to change the way people think.

I am so sorry for the loss of your mother.

[Anonymous]

how many of you were wailing or sobbing or hyperventilating for a good part of labor? I suspect I might do all that since I am such a baby with pain.

[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.

c-sections are not that bad! they are over in like 5 minutes and then you start to recover. I know bad things can happen. But a c-section that goes well without infection or complications is really not that bad! You have no tearing, less bleeding, possibly less pain depending on the person. It's a different kind of pain -- it's not that urgent labor pain, it's just soreness of a surgery recovery pain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have had 9 babies.

There were moments of true pain with all of them, but they were just a few tiny moments. Most of the time was either deep rest or concentration, with another few moments of hard work.

The worst pain I ever felt while in labor was when the staff were raising their voices and being unkind, and when a resident hooked my fully dilated cervix with the amino hook. The fear increased the sensations to agony, and being stabbed in the cervix was awful. But neither of those factors were inherent to the labor process--they were imposed on me.

When I have been left in peace, I had no pain whatsoever--just strong feelings that were actually enjoyable.

I love giving birth.

you are not from the DC-area.

[Anonymous]

I think you learn a lot about yourself during labor. With my son, I retreated into myself and did not wish to speak to anyone. I only spoke to my husband twice all night long to ask for the puke bucket. I am preparing for number two and hoping to go in with some better coping strategies.

[Anonymous]

It was the worst pain I've ever experienced. It redefined my pain scale, but that was with back labor. I made it to 8 cms but was screaming like the possessed and puking and violently shaking so I took the epi at that point. Here's hoping it isn't as bad the next time-around.

[Anonymous]

For me (who had considered natural childbirth going in) the pain was so intense at 1.5 cm dilated that I was literally frozen in pain, unable to move, let alone work through anything naturally by rocking, walking, breathing, etc. And I mean actual PAIN, like the worst muscle cramp ever all over my abdomen. The epidural was an actual godsend.

I envy so much the women who compare it to a hard workout or a mental test. I got to 10 cm, pushed for 3 hours and then had a C-section because the baby was in such a position that he couldn't even make it under the lip of my cervix. ZERO progress. The most frustrating and disappointing feeling. The upside is I have a gorgeous healthy baby. I don't think Ill ever try for a VBAC for fear of it just not working again...the failure after so much work might be too much to bear.

Good luck to you, and I hope this labor is a good one!

[Anonymous]

I am the same person and my two labors were SO different - in time and the sort of pain. Both were painful, and I've heard the first kind of pain (back labor, very long) is supposedly one of the hardest. I would take it any day over the second very quick labor in terms of pain.

I think it's so individual - what sort of pain you can handle. And given how different my labors were, I suspect there's even more variability in what different women experience . You just don't know until you're in it.