Honestly - tell me how painful childbirth is!

Milford_Cubicle

Epidural = sorted.

Don't worry about the labour and birth, worry about afterwards when you're utterly exhausted and you have a small screaming bundle to tirelessly feed, bathe, change, wipe, cuddle, love, put down, pick up etc etc. If you have support, you'll cope fine but there are some horrible nasty hormones running around your body for the first few days/weeks after childbirth and for me, that was worse than the frankly horrible time I had actually giving birth and the resultant surgery! Everyone's birth experience is different (my best mate had a 'textbook' labour and birth, cow ) so don't hang up on that. Think about the aftermath and get the support network in place early. You'll need it

lrr_2

51 hour labour, epidural didnt work properly so was numb down the one side like I had a stroke!, the biggest forceps you could ever imagine eventually then finally ripped inside and out from front to back just to round it off!

NEVER AGAIN!!!!

Thankfully dont ever need to go through that again as can no longer give birth naturally because of this little episode and can only have a cesarean now. if this was the only option I would have got sterilised after that!

Not trying to put you off though, the end result is worth it

Mely

As for the humiliation part.....for me even with my first child i never felt at all humiliated...even with my feet up in stirrups having a forcepts delivery with 8 medical students watching me...lol. And im the same as you usually...i have to work myself up to go for a smear test. But when having a baby it just seems the least of your worries at the time. They could have invited the whole hospital in to have a look for all i cared:rotfl:

Mely

Irr...i was in a similar situation to you with my first birth. 37 hours in labour and the baby was lying face up, so the agony was terrible and ended with an episiotomy and forcepts. It took me months to get over physically...far longer than the subsequent ceasareans that i had. But all worth it!

Fourcandles_3

I was absolutely TERRIFIED of childbirth so don't feel ashamed. This is the only time most of us willingly go through something so painful. For me, I had a bad time the first time around but partly that was because no one told me I had to ask for help. I thought they would just give it;)

I wont tell you not to be scared because it doesn't help, but I will say you WILL cope. Don't think about childbirth as one big event, you just deal with each contraction one at a time, breathing through it.

Good luck.

Rikki

siren13577 wrote: »

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,

My first was back to back and your right it gives you a different kind of labour. More back ache than contraction pain. My OH had two tennis balls in a sock and rubbed my back with them while I was on all fours, utter bliss.

Tennis balls in a sock means it easier for them to massage your back for longer without their hands hurting. :rolleyes:

cookie_monster

Best not mention what my wife went through to give birth to our 2 wonderful children otherwise it will put you off. 4 years apart and both ended up as emergency c-section. Can't belive what she had to go through with child-birth, would not wish what she went through on my worse enemy let alone a loved one. You do get over it but it wasn't very nice seeing your love one in so much pain and not being able to do anything about it.

Every pregnancy is different so try not to worry about it.

Hats off to all you women, don't think I could go through with child-birth.

maggie21

We're going to be trying for our first baby early next year and I too was really concerned about the pain. However, I read 'pregnancies best kept secrets' from start to finish and it was a wealth of knowledge :T. This post is great too, thanks to all you mums for sharing your experiences.

I prefer to know worst case scenario, then I'm prepared for the worst and it can only be better (I hope!!!)

Good luck

tankgirl1

jeeeez! reading thru this i got off lightly!

pre-eclampsia at 31 weeks, emergency c-section with an epidural which worked - no pain, apart from emotional - nurses saw DS before I did

xx

JoJoB

Lordy, to think I am planning to get pregnant again this year.

My DD is 7 months old now and I felt quite relaxed leading up to the birth thinking it wouldn't be too bad, women have been giving birth for millenia etc etc - so i was one of those totally floored by how painful it was.

I was whipped into hospital sharpish with pre-eclampsia so had a sweep and was induced, which brought on the contractions very quickly and intensely. It was also a back labour, which made things doubly excruciating. I was suprised at how painful the contractions were, suprised at how I could barely move across the room to reach the midwife call button when my waters popped, and I have never felt pain like it (even though when I had kidney stones the docs told me it was "a pain worse than childbirth").

I had an epidural asap and from then on it was blissfully pain-free, though in the legs in stirrups scenario as legs are numb so you can't go wandering round or you will fall over . Yes, it is a little disconcerting having a midwife, doctor and student doctor all sitting between your legs, but after 6 hours of pushing the humiliation factor is well and truly the last thing on your mind, I promise.

I would go for the epidural and humiliation every time rather than have the pain. Gas and air did nothing for me, didn't even get high dammit (and I was sucking for England).

Oh man, am I really going to do this again? :eek: