To think labour can’t be THAT bad?

[Bumpingbumping]

Potentially being extremely naive, and of course this is excluding exceptional circumstances/emergency situations.

But aibu to think labour can’t be as horrific as people make out? I’ll be giving birth in 10 days time following an induction and everybody keeps asking me if I’m terrified and telling me how awful it will be.

Surely if it was THAT bad people just wouldn’t do it? Or would opt for a c section?

Again, feel free to hit me with the facts because I’m possibly being naive. But does anyone have any nice birth stories? Particularly following an induction?

Sorry Dinasour I've mis read your post.

Your saying even after an emergcy section women may not be bed bound or feeling ill?

Yes I agree. I was the least mobile on my ward even though women around me had traumatic sections.

I just meant overall, when people say section awful, they should clarify like pesandro.
Even then it sounds bizarre they didn't know where the baby was etc.

ha

I had two 'challenging' births but it is important to remember the context of having a baby is so very different from being injured or very ill. Two things stick in my mind about the experience- firstly, any contraction in isolation can be breathed though and managed. What gets overlooked is that you are fatigued, emotional and they just keep coming at you. The second is that the contractions aren't just localised they are a whole body experience. Try not to get caught up in what might go wrong op. Every birth has its own story. Wishing you every happiness

I mean, it hurts. Really hurts. More than anything else I’ve ever experienced hurts. I said both times that o thought I would die and I truly did in the moment, didn’t see how you could experience pain like it and not die. But it’s fast (relatively!) and you get a baby at the end which is indescribably wonderful. So, it’s worth it.

Yes, it can be horrific. The problem is you won't know whether yours will be until it's too late.

DC1 was a failed induction ending in EMCS. On the basis of this DC2 was an ELCS. I love my DCs more than anything, but it doesn't stop DC1s birth being awful.

Educate yourself before you go in - the RCOG website contains some interesting information of risk factors based on age, etc., as well as for baby. Also, decide beforehand where your lines are - what is acceptable to you in terms of risks and giving birth, then go from there.

Good luck

It really does hurt.

People do it because they are slaves to their urge to reproduce. How do you explain women who suffered from HG going through pregnancy multiple times? They think it is worth it.

I was induced and had, like many women who are induced, back-to-back contractions with no break in between. It is so painful that you want to run out of your body, but it is so powerful you are simply dragged along by the current. It's very hard to describe the experience. I had no pain relief (no gas and air either) and did not know what to do with myself (I yelled at everyone to stop! the contractions! now!), and yet I'd do it again in a heartbeat. So yea, I didn't think it was as bad as people had told me (even if the pain was somehow worse).

I thought pregnancy was much worse than what I had been told, though. Then again, my pregnancy was particularly terrible.

I wouldn’t normally be this straight, but since you asked.
I had one normal birth.
And because of it I would only have a c section for my second birth.
Believe me the recovery from the ‘major abdominal surgery’ was actually a dream compared to a normal birth.
Only my experience. But there you go. For some it is that bad.
You may be lucky. I hope your birth is text book and you get away without any complications.
I think Many people are actually wising up to the fact a c section isn’t really a bad option, depending how you view the risk and what you think is worse.
I predict many more elective c sections in future years.

Good luck.

I did it once. If I had have wanted more it would have changed my mind.... Luckily I only wanted one!

I have been induced twice...and from my perspective totally doable. Painful yes (worst bit breaking my waters - student midwife made a bit of a hash of it...). 1st birth ended in failed epidural, episitomy and forceps delivery (he was nearly 10lb). Recovery took a littke while but walked the shops (slowly) the next day. 2nd was undiagnosed breech which ended up on an emergency c section after DD got wedged in my pelvis. Recovery was much more difficult for first couple of weeks but by 4 weeks all good. Neither were straight forward but I would do it again in a heartbeat - I woukd keep an open mind to pain relief and practise your breathing. It is painful especially inductions but somehow it's pain with a purpose which makes it easier somehow. Good luck

This is a bit of a pointless request for opinions because everyone's births are completely different! Who knows what yours will be like? The extremes range from the baby practically shooting out in a matter of minutes to an utter car crash that goes on for days. You just have to have faith that it'll be ok & the experts will help you through it & you have a healthy little baby at the end of it - that's all the matters to anyone anyway.

This government couldn't possibly get more incompetent event of they hired a consulting firm to make it happen. So the lack of support for the opposition is quite damning.

*even if. Oh, predictive text...

Good luck! Please come back OP afterwards & tell us how it went for you?

For some not too bad, for others appalling. Hopefully you will be in the first camp OP.

Yes, it hurts - but it's worth it, honestly.

I did it once with gas and air and once with ALL the drugs. Take it from me, have ALL the drugs!

You'll be fine, good luck!

I'm having an elective C-section. I've had no problem getting mine though it depends on your hospital trust, even though NICE guidelines now mandate you should be given one if you ask for whatever reason.

I've got a couple of close relatives who are doctors and have experience in obstetrics and they point out that 95 percent of female obstetricians opt for C-sections, put it that way!

But it is much easier for some women, I have heard horrific birth stories and then others where they were quick and easy and didn't even need stitches.

I'd just be prepared to push for what you want and unless you are really intent on doing it drug free (not sure why anyone would be) then get that epidural early on!

Worth noting that elective c-sections are much less traumatic/complicated and have better recovery times than emergency ones, which is another reason I've opted for one as at the age I am 40 percent of vaginal births end in EMCS and that is evidently much worse for many reasons.

This probably isn't very helpful though OP, sorry!

I was induced for my birth 11 years ago and it was so traumatic I swore I’d never have another (now rather unfortunately pregnant again)

This time I’m resisting induction as long as possible because of the correlation between induced births and interventions.

Some people have wonderful births, some are harrowing and create lifelong trauma. The “you’ll forget...” line is such bullshit.

I found the elective c section I had a far harder recovery than my vbac. My vbac was 2.5 hours of the most intense pain ever but once he was born and the stitches were done (with only a local anathestic) recovery was easy. No catheter no waiting to be able to walk. Far easier than the c section recovery
It’s a perfectly fine and good way to give birth but it certainly is not necessarily easier

I had four home births and I used gas and air and TENS with my first but didn’t use pain relief for the other three as I found it more manageable to connect with how my body was feeling. It isn’t too bad but mine were easy and without incident. Not sure if I’d have said the same if I’d had any problems!

labour arent that bad back better than a blind rexit anyway!

“I've got a couple of close relatives who are doctors and have experience in obstetrics and they point out that 95 percent of female obstetricians opt for C-sections, put it that way”

Rubbish. It’s 31% that would ‘prefer to’ have a CS, and 50% in the more medicalised USA.

And obstetricians only see complicated in-trouble births.

All my midwife and doula friends (admittedly 4 people ( but 11 births between them) have had home births or as intervention free as possible.

I had my first at 43 and never found it was unbearable or out of control. I used a TENS from the off, and was off my tits on endorphins. Then moved to a pool but decided to get out and walk around at transition. I didn’t want gas and air, I felt it might make me woozy and push me out of my ‘zone’. It did feel ‘immense’ but not in a severely painful way.

In the end after pushing for ages (baby was OP - facing the wrong way) we needed ventouse assistance, and at that point I asked for an epidural because they put in a drip to intensify the contractions and wanted me to lie in my back, which did feel bad. So: I was fine, then when I needed help and wasn’t fine, got the pain relief.

There are no ‘shoulds’ or ‘oughts’, every birth is different, no one can judge or anticipate another person’s Birth based on their own.

For me, My experience isn’t one that anyone would need to view with fear.

You are very silly posting this ahead of giving birth. For me it was a pain quite unlike any other, bestial and so severe that you’d think you were dying if you weren’t aware that it was a natural process involving a baby the size of a rugby ball trying to get through a centimetre wide gap. Mine were both back to back - it’s a genuinely indescribable pain. What you get is well worth it, but I was traumatised for years by the experience. I resent you being flippant with my experiences when you haven’t had your own.

Don’t sit on your high horse now. Don’t seek to undermine all those women who’ve gone before you. Be gracious and wait until you’ve been through it before you effectively tell everyone they are overreacting.

I was induced and couldn’t believe how easy it was .. delivered in 1 hour 45 mins from pessary and drip in arm ..

So not always difficult though I think I may have been very fortunate.

Good luck op x

Seems like you have your answer OP - roughly 3 in 4 think YABU, presumably the ones who did have an experience that was ‘that bad’ & a quarter who didn’t. Not bad odds & if you get to be the one in four who breeze through with period pain type pain then good on you.

I’d be careful with the ‘surely they would opt for a c-section’ comments. I’ve done both, both were horrific in their own way and aren’t stories I share with any woman who hasn’t had kids yet - but as a result of my c-section my pelvic organs are now collapsing in on themselves & 15 years on I need a massive operation to possibly rectify them (due to scarring and adhesions and the trauma of the original op). Not the easy option by any means.

Just don’t be disappointed if your optimism doesn’t work out - the end result is definitely worth all the pain and trauma. Good luck!