To ask how your contractions felt?

[MustardScreams]

I have wondered this since I had dd.

I heard that my whole belly would contract.

Mine DID NOT. My contractions were concentrated to just above my pubic bone. I didn’t feel them in my belly or back. It was 4 square inches of the purest pain I’ve ever felt. I’m shivering just remembering!

I had an epidural at 4cm and just wondered if I’d given in? Or if other’s contractions were easier? Totally unscientific straw poll!

I was induced and my contractions felt like incredibly intense period cramps. In the main they were tolerable with gas and air. I was put on the pitocin drip though and the pain became intolerable, for myself and dd whose heart rate plummeted with each contraction. Took the midwives a while to notice though, they kept rolling me from side to side claiming the trace was unreliable. I’m not convinced.....

In both my natural labours, they started as low level Brixton hicks/period pain and then suddenly went up a gear to serious full on contractions when I couldn't speak or move during them.
I had an overwhelming urge to be vertical and/or leaning forward to manage the pain-both were delivered with me kneeling up on the bed.
No one told me that towards the end of first stage there would be no gap between the contractions, so pain was constant with no relief, or that you could get double-headed contractions with 2 peaks.
In both cases the second stage was more manageable as despite the pain I could feel progress IYSWIM.

Really gentle, mild period pains until the crowning. Fuck that hurt.

To me it felt like my belly was being squeezed together in a vice - very hard

Me too! And I also had horrendous lower back pain.

You didn’t give in OP! There is no right or wrong way to give birth. I didnt have an epidural (I did ask for one but doctor said no) and I honestly didn’t think the 10cm contractions were that much worse than the 4cm ones.

Mine were very very strong cramps just above my pubic bone. I am a midwife and was expecting it to radiate across my whole bump so was quite surprised it didn't! I just kept thinking that at least I get a bit of rest in between each contraction and that kept me going.

For me I could definitely feel it in my cervix.
It took my breath away and made me feel dizzy (probably more to do with hyperventilating than anything now I look back) it was like a crunching sensation and have you ever had a coil fitted?? Like that x1000000, I also had tightening that were like Braxton hicks but I didn't really pay attention to them during the pain.. i got an epidural at 6cm so fuck knows how bad it would have been after that and I'm glad I never had to experience it.

First labour was back to back so all in my back and was absolutely agonising, felt like someone was stabbing my lower spine area and I had an epidural about 13 hours in after gas & air and some injection thing 😂 epidural only worked on one half of my body so that was fun and labour lasted 24 to the hour.

Second labour was very different 5 hours total, all in my front pubic area almost like a rectangle shape. Felt like very bath waves of poo cramps. Was actually bearable until 4 1/2 hours in when all of a sudden things changed and I went from 4cm to 10cm in about 2 minutes, threw up everywhere as my waters broke whilst my body simultaneously did an almighty push by itself and she ended up being born about 10 minutes later. Didn’t even get the chance for gas though they gave me some after for he stitches thank god lol.

Currently pregnant with my third and last and wondering how this labour will go, hopefully more like the second than the first.

Though I will say I was progressing really fast in my first too but having the epidural whilst it calmed me down stalled my labour massively which was quite frustrating!

Lower belly, no back or upper belly pain. Like extreme period pain.

Like a knitting needle was being shoved up my fanjo and the pain in my thighs.....

It felt like a painful crushing feeling that started in my back and went round to my stomach.

Shouldn't have read this when I'm being induced in 9 days..

Mine were all in my back for both DCs. It was like someone was trying to rip my spine out of my arse whilst twisting it. Fucking horrific.

I had 2 back to back births and one normal.
The normal one, they contractions felt like the worst period pain ever x 100.
The back to backs were not comparable. Off the scale. I genuinely wanted to die with each one. I can't say more than that, I don't want to think about it!

I was induced but all my pain was concentrated from my hips all the way down to my knees. It felt like that feeling when you have pins and needles and your feeling starts to come back but if you move its agony... but times a million. Epidural failed so I was in extreme pain throughout. I remember in detail the agony of the first 2-3 hours of the drip but then it became so painful I couldn’t have told you my own name. I couldn’t tell you how the catheter got in me or how many times I was examined and by who because I was so out of it with the pain (thank god my husband was with me). In fact I totally forgot I was there to have a baby or that I was even pregnant. And I’m usually a tough mother fucker who can handle all the pain. That drip broke me.

Hardening of the stomach with a constant intense pain that never seemed to stop and went from one contraction to the next. So so so much more painful than I cld ever have imagined. Absolutely nothing like period pain, actually makes me laugh comparing it to that! I remember thinking within 30mins I must be nearly fully dilated 😂 I was about 2cm and on the lovely drip 😟.

Pain was all over my stomach and a lot of back pain too. I also had the feeling I needed to poo very early on (apparently pressure, that's gd the midwife said 😡) and baby was back to back.

@AnguaUberwaldIronfoundersson oh my good god. I can imagine exactly how you felt, but it’s horrendous. Bloody well done for getting through that! Goodness me.

35 weeks pregnant with my first and reading this before bed! I'm scared...

Like less bad period pains - for starters they stopped every couple minutes for a while!

This says more about my period pains which used to knock me unconscious, admittedly, but it was a pleasant surprise!

Bumping for more contraction stories!