Honestly - tell me how painful childbirth is!

Loz01

Oh no, Im getting a bit scarred by this thread :eek: :rotfl: My Mum told me its like having red hot pokers shoved through your eyeballs

tiamai_d

Toothsmith wrote: »

For me - the worst bit was when Mrs T.S. REALLY dug her nails in!

That was sore.

LOL!!! My husband always goes on about 'when I cut the blood off to his thumb during a contraction when they were trying to get my epidural into my spine and I was told Not.To.Move.' And when the midwife decided that watching a woman scream herway through labour on ER was not good and turned off the TV. I was not actually bothered about an actress birthing a'la'hollywood style to be honest, more that I had asked him the same question 4 times! :rolleyes:

Poor guys... poor, poor guys.....

squidge60

Toothsmith wrote: »

For me - the worst bit was when Mrs T.S. REALLY dug her nails in!

That was sore.

why do the guys think theyre so hard done by my oh yrs later always grumps about how he had to kepp rubbing my back :rolleyes: please....i would have swapped places anyday:rotfl:

Triggles

My 22yo daughter is an absolute wimp about pain - and she did fine. It hurts, there's no way around that, but I did tell my daughter that afterwards you kind of forget about the pain. She didn't believe me until afterwards. Honestly - then next time you have a child it's like "oh wow - I remember this - owww!" :rotfl:

clairec79

Yes it hurts but the pain is with the contraction and just when you get to the point of 'I can't put up with this pain anymore' the contraction ends and you get some relief (ok you have another one shortly after)

Add me to the list of people who can give birth without pain relief but cries at the dentist - which I did tell one labouring woman last night - who didn't believe that it wasn't that bad, thought it was horrendous, 3 hours later she had her baby in her arms and thought it wasn't bad at all!!

When you are in it the pain is immense, but your mind does shut it out until the next time (or when you are with a labouring woman - the memory comes back then). Before you have a baby you never believe anyone who says that (same as when the midwife tells you you'll know what time to come in when in labour and probably have some false alarms (but this hurts now and it's every 3 minutes) then when you come back a few hours later you'll say 'yep this is different this IS it'

vickyjayne

When i had my dd nearly 3 years ago i went into labour the date she was due which was a sunday morning (thought it was great same day an all) was only 4cm by the wednesday morning only taking paracetamol for pain releif and hot baths, went into hospital wednesday night and only 6cm but still didnt have no pain relief except gas and air, thought i was doing great after 4 days in labour but then my troubles started.She was also back 2 back which apparently is the worst type of labour
Pain was not too bad and gas and air really helped but was only 8cm dilated for 8 hours, contractions every 30 secs for 8 hours was exhausting. Had no sleep for 36 hours.
Given an epidural then but it didnt work as i could still walk around, they tried 3 times but it just wouldnt work. Given a drip to spped labour up but my blood pressure dropped and baby heart rate was dropping so off for an emergency c-section
Because epidurals didnt work they tried a spinal tap, first one didnt work, nor did second, i ended up having 3 doses, doctor said they have never seen anyone take so much, was awake when dd was born but straight after i was feeling pain in my stomach while in the middle of c-section:eek: so had to be put to sleep.
Was told afterwards that surgeon 'knicked something' and i lost alot of blood so had to have iodine pumped through my body and a full body xray to check my insides, collapased all my viens trying to inject it (was also allergic and sick everywhere)
Stayed in hopspital for 5 days after i had her and to top it off i had post natal deppression and couldnt bond with her
She is the love of my life now and would die for her
After all this i am trying for another one so i must be mad:rolleyes:

sorry for rambling

Ishtar

I'm expecting my third in March and I'm just starting to think about how I want this labour to go. It's fair to say that when you consider what you're doing then it's obvious there might be some degree of pain involved - after all, bringing a new life into the world is a pretty monumental thing.

I was induced for my first which made things very painful - and she was a back to back baby, which increased the pain further. Being my first, I had been very focused on how painful it would be...it took up a lot of my thoughts during the last couple of months.

I ended up having an epidural to help me cope with the pain - I got to 9cm on nothing more than paracetamol and gas and air, but despite the very strong contractions I failed to dilate further until I had stronger pain relief and could relax into it. In the end DD was born with the aid of the ventouse, with me having legs in stirrups. Not ideal, but then not ruled out in my birth plan. One thing to remember is that an epidural is a fantastic form of pain relief, but one that can also have it's own drawbacks - I would highly recommend one, but only after some research into possible side effects. Be fully informed - there are some things they like to gloss over!

My second labour was very different and was as natural as possible - gas and air and nothing else. It's a long story, but sadly we had lost him before he was born. In many respects it proved to me that the female body has significant resources, ones that can overcome the majority of the pain - my feeling is that if you remove the fear, then you move with pain rather than against it and it truly is easier to deal with.

I think my one word of advice is to try not to focus on the pain aspect - easy to say when you're on your second (and later!) babies - but you really will be able to cope.

Oh yes, and I'd also highly recommend Sheila Kitzinger.

D
(who's now off to dig out and dust off the old birth plan...)

inkie

I'm a midwife and , like many of the experiences already mentioned, there are very degrees of pain from people experiencing very little and managing throughout labout without or very little in the way of pain relief- to those that are climbing the walls even before they have started to dilate properly!

My personal experiences are that it wasn't as bad as I thought that it would be - period pain, or a nagging toothache is the way that describe it. The perineal pain that you get down below in second stage, I would describe as stinging - considering the amount of stretching that is going on then that is to be expected!

As for humiliation - as far as us midwives are concerned, we don't view doing internals/stitching - any of the activity 'down there', as any different to say, looking in someone's ear for example. A body part is a body part. I have never come across anyone who is shy/doesn't won't let you do what you have to do etc, yet. There is nothing to fear. What I would say is that to get well educated to the mechanics of it all, what is happening etc, prior to labour by getting in on a good antenatal teaching session - either NHS or NCT etc. A lot of fear that happens is not knowing whats going off. Listen to the Midwives as well - we deal with this everyday, and you need to have trust in their ability to guide you though a labour and delivery that is safe for you and the baby.

And yes, you do forget the pain - it amazed me that the uterus goes from making very strong expulsive painful contractions, to just 'afterpains' once you have been delivered in such a short space of time. Amazing, and totally fascinating no matter how many deliveries you have conducted!

siren13577

I found it extremely painful BUT my son was back to back which is very painful, one of the most painful labours you can have according to my midwife, add that to the fact he was nearly ten pounds and I'm only five foot three, there was no way he was coming out and in fact my labour was not progressing at all even though I got to ten centimetres, I had a c-section in the end. The first part of labour was mild discomfort and was something I could first cope with breathing (at home) then gas and air at hospital. I did end up having an epidural but this was due to his position which was painful in the extreme. Each labour is different and the size and position of your baby will have a bearing on your labour. Add to this I went ten days over my due date and was started off twice with prostin and something else (I'm think) I heard induced labour is more painful also.

I was present at my sister's home birth of her daughter and although the contractions were painful she managed very well on gas and air, the most painful part for her was when her daughter crowned and she said it was stinging a lot and nearly killed the midwife when she removed the cord from her daughter's neck (it was loose)

Please don't worry and get too wound up, your birth should be lovely, please remember that you are in control and should be able to do as you please, within medical reason, at your birth and labour. Good luck and I hope you get some happy news soon. Happy Christmas!

kazmc

I was so petrified of giving birth I wouldnt go to the hospital when I went into labour :eek:
When I did get there I was already 6cm. Not a great move!
I had no pain relief until I was 8cm and I thought I was going to die, but I am the worlds biggest wuss! Then I had an epidural and omg it was heaven.
I had the one they keep in your back and just keep topping it up. I even managed a little nap before my DD came out!

So I only have three words for you - BOOK THE EPIDURAL !!!:D