What would YOU say was the most painful stage of labour?

[Dozeyland]

in regards to dilation, the babys delivery, contractions etc etc

actuallyi lie.

its the first attempt to urinate after birth.

And don't get me started on the first poo after a c-section....[grimace emoticon]

2 births

1. painful painful long long epidural lovely, "popped out"

2. induced (never again) intensely painful, thought was dying, more pain, unbearable and then when you think its impossible, more bloody pain. At some point during this awfulness someone dared offer me PARACETAMOL!!!!!

(sorry to any pregnant people)

With "thought was dying" one, went from 1cm to baby out within 40 mins, sounds nice, horrendous.

oh yeah...and a tear right near the clitoris stitched without anaesthetic...that was great!

OP, I assume you are pregnant? And after reading this thread probably hiding under a table, rocking gently!

I read Childbirth Without Fear when I was pregnant with DC1. I was so physically & mentally 'prepared' I honestly wondered how I'd know I was in labour as I wasn't going to feel any pain. My mother just looked at me when I talked about it.

Well, I wasn't frightened at all but I did feel a lot of pain towards the pushing stage during all three labours. Pushing felt great & crowning only hurt with DC2 for some reason and I only had afterpains with DC2 & 3.

It all bloody hurts really but luckily it's over relatively quickly.

As soon as I'd given birth the first time, I thought "Why did no-one tell me what it was really going to be like?" I felt a bit betrayed by the conspiracy of silence surrounding labour & birth (no MN then).

But I also felt a huge amount of respect for women who'd been through and marvel that we could endure that level of pain.

i felt betrayed too.

sophable i had a tear there too bloody awful isn't it. x

In all relative but my first was not too bad, a 8/10 pain. Second definately 10/10 but would still do it all again, must be mad.

agree, transition worse than pushing, mine out in 3 pushs second time and no pushs first time!!

I don't remember any transition thingumy.
#1 was ventouse so I don't remeber crowning with her either, just tugging which made me yelp out with alarm. Not sure if it was pain though
#2 Was so much easier and, crazy, but more fun. It is so much better when you know what you are feeling. 'Oh that was my waters popping' 'Thats the head popped into place' 'I didn't feel that last time!'

Reckon I must have self hypnotised myself. I remember thinking of each pain as being the stretching of my cervix. Smiling to myself at the ridiculous hippy notion of it 'opening like a flower'!! haha But it seemed to get me through. Also knowing that each one was like climbing a hill. You get to the top and then freewheel back down. wheeeeeeeeeeee
Till it starts again.
Defo remember feeling elation at finally being able to push and the joy of seeing DS head out.
Just felt annoyed at the woman screaming her head off next door and them trying to get the placenta out when I knew it was well and truly stuck and going no-where on it's own no matter how I pushed whilst they prodded and pulled.

Afterpains. Didn't get any with either, but I did accept all the drugs on offer, just in case.

oh, also hated that they made me birth on my back with DS when I want to to be on the move. Espesh as no-one ever wrote on my notes that I had SPD and now I still have pains cos it wa sthe worst thing they could do.
Sometimes these midwives think they know best.
I actually almost cowered in a corner refusing to go on that bed, but then a contraction hit and I practically ran for it! haha

God! I sound horribly smug. As if I sailed through not feeling a thing.
Not true.
There was a point when the pains seemed to up the ante on me and I asked for DRUGS but by then it was too late.
I bounced away like a crazy tigger through my contractions and could not stand up whilst I bounced, in the later stage.
But I just breathed a lot and closed my eyes. Tried to be somewhere else whilst it was all going on.

Transition for me was definitely the worst part. I wasn't sure I was in labour to begin with and the midwife only came out to 'check me over' as I was having a homebirth, it was my first and I cried on the phone to her! I remember her asking how far apart the contractions were and whether I could speak through them, she said I didn't sound like I was in labour and I said maybe it was braxton hicks and I was just being silly!

Anyway mw arrived and it was exactly at that point that it got painful and I decided I was in labour and this definitely wasn't braxton hicks! She said it looked like transition and checked me out - I was fully dilated and so started pushing . Don't remember any crowning, but I know I screamed out loud just before she finally came out; shoulders maybe??

To be honest though, I also thought the after pains were worse - I wasn't expecting them and had to take pain killers, whereas the birth itself wasn't painful enough to warrant them.

You'll have your own experience though and it will be different to everyone else's. A good thing I think is to ask what other births in your family have been like. I later had this conversation with my older sister and my mum and it turned out their births were very similar to mine. Wish I'd also asked about stretch marks before spending quite so much on bio oil - seems no one in my family has stretch marks anyway...

Transition - definately.

Got much better for me in both births after transition...it felt good to be pushing the pain away IYSWIM? Both my second stages were quite quick too which helped.

In transition I felt very hot - I literally stripped off completely each time - and very sick (wasnt sick though) Also felt really agitated

Oh, and I agree with hawkmoth Having a poo 5 days post birth after a 3rd degree tear is no joke

transition, it's a barsteward

Transition, eh? Well, you learn something every day! That was my hurtiest bit, too. Lovely MW said that being 6-7cm dilated was the worst bit and if I could cope with that, I could cope with all of it, and she was absolutely right. For me it really wasn't that bad. Even peeing afterwards.

Good luck, Dozey!

Giving birth was OK, really OK, hope to do it again.

Stitching was so ridiculously rough and painful, over a year later I still can't quite believe it.

Worth it though.

I would say the episiotomy (both times) - they lie when they say you don't feel it - followed by stitches were the worst parts for me.

Both labours were quick so constant (bearable) pain followed by transition (contraction followed by uncontrolled shaking) pushing was okay ... at least you are doing something.. crowning was nippy..epis was sharp pain while contracting/pushing and the jolt as the shoulders pass through is quite shocking and strange.

Didn't have after pains with my first but did with dd esp when BF buit they were like strong period cramps and settled after a few days.

With DD transition, emotionally and physically.

With DS back to back labour so it was a whole different ball game. Pain pain pain, bad contractions terrible really. By the time I was in transition I'd had a spinal as DS was so malpositioned he wasn't going to be coming out without help.
I did still experience the weirdness of transition even though I'd had a spinal.
I was convinced all the medical staff were out to kill me and I kept shouting at DP saying 'they're going to kill me!!'

I did apologise after as they were all lovely and just doing their jobs

Ok, is it just me but I've had three kids and done NCT classes and still have no bloomin' idea what transition is

And in the interest of balance here.....my last child was born in South Africa.....where everybody white and middle class has a c-section (or so it seems ).....for your information, at the hospital where I attended it had a 97% c-section rate!

Anyway, being English I "pushed" all my children out, much to the confusion and merriment of the hospital staff. I was up an about in a couple of hours, walking my baby around, co-sleeping, and refusing all pain killers they were trying to force upon me (as I wasn't in pain)......but I was horrified and shocked by all the other women there who had c-sections....walking round like ghosts, barely able to stand, doped up to the eyeball for days!

This thread is full of the pain bits of labour (as that what the OP asked for).....but blimey, from what I have seen....c-sections re no walk in the park either!

Having seen those women post c-section, I am glad to have been lucky enough to be able to push baby out.

And I do know that not everyone is lucky enough to be able to, and my heart goes out to those that really want to and can't. Just wanted to put out a different perspective.