To ask for your help describing a contraction?

[Itsnotmessitsashithole]

Lovely friend is heavily pregnant with her first and has asked me to describe a contraction to her...

Apparently ‘arrrrrghhhh’ was not descriptive enough. But even though it was only 6 months ago, I just found it impossible to describe

So how would you describe a contraction? Will send her a link to thread so do your worst!

It's not so much that contractions are extremely painful as that they are intense. The sensations builds and builds and builds until you cannot concentrate on anything else. Robbie Williams could come singing to your bedside and you wouldn't notice.

Yes, it's painful, but not IME the worst pain ever. And it's not painful for the whole contraction either, just the peak.

In my pic, red is earache and toothache, purple is contractions.

Mine were like going over speed bumps really fast ‘whoaaaaaaa’. Not sore but a tad nauseating.

Two induced back to back labours here and pain I can't really describe.

First time felt like I was being ripped open from the inside every two minutes for two minutes at a time but bearable strangely enough.

Second time hours of contractions I could handle until I was put on the drip. I ended up going from 4cm to delivered in 15 minutes, and that felt like a permanent contraction the whole time. The pain feels otherworldly like a really tight, hot band pulled across your middle and then a tugging.

I'd do it again though.

Mine was all in my spine, felt like my spine was being pushed out, had nothing in the front. It was nothing like period cramps as I imagined it would be. I think the pain is different for everyone. Mine was 12 weeks ago so memory pretty fresh!

I felt that if I could see it - it would look like molten steel being poured into a circular band, red hot and racing around to fill the circle. Does that sound weird? It felt like the contraction started somewhere, was a searing red hot pain that spread quickly around my abdomen.

Not as bad as the time I shut my own hand in the car door, but worse than the worst food poisoning I've ever had. There was the plus I'd getting a baby out of it though

Contractions were painful but bearable because it felt like that pain had a purpose, and I knew on some level that it wouldn't last forever (despite two days of latent labour). Much harder was the pain from my birth injuries, which had no constructive purpose, no predictable end, and was combined with the fog of looking after a newborn.

I've had 4; the first 2 in hospital, the last two at home when I needed no pain relief. For the last two I made myself relax during each contraction, and just as it got really intense it began to fade away.

Like being squeezed around the middle by a boa constrictor.

For me it was incredibly intense but not actually painful, so I guess I was lucky compared to most of these stories.

@Kittywampus not painful? Christ, how did it not hurt? I felt like my whole lower half was ripping in two, it was agony.

Once they get going, it's like, you know when you get food poisoning or stomach bug, and you hurl, and then you hurl again, and then, when everything is gone from your system, and your stomach twists and sort of wrings itself out, and you know it's your body, but it's doing it on its own, with no reference to your brain, it just does it and you have no control, all you can do is ride it out? Well it's like that.
It's not the pain, and it's not even pain as such, more a deep gut wrenching OMG I can't control this, I can't stop this feeling. You're along for the ride and your body is going to birth this baby no matter what your brain says. It's happening and there's nothing you can do about it.
I found it hard because I am a bit of a control freak and hate being "out of it".
That said, by my third I knew what was coming and accepted that this was the process that would get my baby into my arms, and by accepting and "letting go" it was much easier to deal with.

Like a really intense period pain for me. My whole lower body seemed to cramp up. It happened with all four

My contractions were in my back. My DS was back to back. Best description I have was that it felt like someone was grabbing both my kidneys simultaneously and they were wringing them out.

Like you were having a dual worst ever period cramp and worse ever bowel cramp at the same time, not knowing what would fall out of you first

I'm getting induced next week and this is just what I need to read 😩

However, having birthed 3. It hurts, but if you can try not to fight the contraction it hurts less.

Like having a dodgy tummy and the abdominal cramps that’s come with that

I gave my answer earlier but enjoyed reading the rest. But I must say, I can’t stand the ridiculous gas lighting job that some women seem to insist on doing when it comes to Labour pain. Every society at every time in history has acknowledged that childbirth hurts. A lot. Until the internet era and suddenly we are all insisting it’s just fear and intensity and surges and any actual pain is due to you feeling fear and panic, and by implication, it’s your own fault because you didn’t relax enough. That’s insulting nonsense and yet we persist in pushing it on pregnant women.

Before you start looking at pregnancy websites, the vast majority of women will expect Labour to be, at the least, really painful. And this will be true for the vast vast majority. Suddenly though, all the peer advice and hypnobirthing advice and midwife chatter is pushing you to disregard what you’ve always believed to be true and to accept a new truth, that you can expect your labour to be different, if you do the right things. So you do. And guess what, you feel horrified and betrayed and guilty when you realize you were sold a pup. I was appalled that people would lie to me like that. And then playing it back over in my mind, could identify the weasel words and see it all more clearly. But it is a betrayal and I completely disagree with this narrative being pushed on here. The OP’s friend wants to know the truth of people’s experiences. Why would anyone advise whitewashing it or not “scaring” her? She wants information. She’s a grown adult. It’s patronizing and unfair. And adds a whole layer of guilt and blame when her contractions are painful and even the breathing does t change that and it’s her fault for not relaxing...

And breathe

Like being stabbed repeatedly in the uterus. But less pleasant.

@sycamore54321 I couldn’t agree more with your entire post. Spot on.

I don’t think mine were actually painful as such - it was more that they were so intense and inevitable that pain was the only frame of reference to process it. It felt like when you’re about to throw up in the sense that your body is going to do what it’s going to do and there’s nothing you can do about it. Pretty unpleasant either way!

See I wish I’d read something like this before labour. The pain stunned me, I was so woefully unprepared! I knew it would hurt, but not to level I felt. I think if I’d been able to imagine just how fecking sore it was I would have coped better.

But it’s over as soon as baby is out and you truly do not care about how much pain you’ve been in when you see their face for the first time. Definitely worth it

My early contractions were a weird nervy tingle in my back, bum and thighs.

Later stages were almost as if I was being given a hug by a boa constrictor that had hit the gym. I felt them in my stomach, back, bum and legs.

When they first started I found the pain quite sharp and then it felt more like a muscular cramp, I used gas and air and a tens machine and it helped massively! Tho I vaguely remember thinking I might be dying! Lol

Feels like someone is wringing your insides out, as hard as they can. If your friend has ever had diarrhoea it’s them god awful cramps you get with it x10 (probably more if I’m honest). That’s when they’ve got going, they obviously start a bit more gently than that. It hurts, but it’s fine.

I only had a short labour after being induced with a pessary. The first hour was like that sudden sharp stab of trapped wind. I walked down to the canteen for sausages and mash. The second hour was like that "FUUU..." leg cramp that wakes you in pregnancy and makes you scream, but in my back and sides. The next 30 minutes was the same but with like a red hot poker feeling in my groin, then 20 minutes of pushing which I didn't feel much of. I didn't feel me episiotomy either.

It was awful, but manageable with a tens machine and some gas and air for the stitches.