How sore is childbirth? If being compared to a very very bad period?

[Iwantababynow]

I get the worst periods! to the point that 2 times ive been taken to the hospital because im screaming in pain, I cant take it, however my doctor says I have a high pain threshold, I had my appendix removed and refused pain killers after.

so, you girls out there that know what its like to be in bed 3 days a month due to extreme period pains, how did birth compare to that for you?

I really want a natural birth in water without pain relief... how bad can it be???

thanks guys, ps i love mums net :)

Well it smarts a bit.

Nothing like as bad as bad toothache.

Hard work that your body just does without your consent, more than 'pain'.

It's the equivalent to squeezing a watermelon out your nostril. It fracking hurts.

Not nearly enough (I am a man).

Sorry.. that is a joke. I worked with a 15 year old boy whose dad apparently told him that childbirth didn't hurt women enough and that the best thing about being a husband was getting to hear your wife scream in agony when birthing your baby. 15 year old said it was his life's ambition to have 12 kids as a result... .

Really I didn't find it that bad. It was very intense but manageable. But I never got to transition, got the epidural at about 5-6cms because the anaesthetist was about to be tied up and I was on a drip. All okay. We'll see what I say after I've had another one in June.

Sore is a graze or a bruise or blister. Childbirth is....well childbirth. And that's why we have drugs

I would say not like period pains.

I would say...more like the horrible gripey cramping pains you can get if you have ever been really constipated, or it you've had a very bad tummy upset.

It's different for everyone. Mines was fast and painful far more than a period but I think a big thing for me was that I felt really helpless. I literally couldn't move during contractions and there was lots of uncontrollable vomiting when I wasn't contracting.

I went down the drugs route and stepped out for a bit and came back around when they took away the gas and air in time to push.

Pmsl @ "sore". It really fucking hurts. But then you get a baby

I got all holy with dd, "god help me" "oh Jesus. Heist this hurts" "oh god oh god oh goddddddddd"

With ds1 - very quickly had epidural so pain is but a memory (12 years ago neatly)

Ds2 - I was apologetic pain "owwwww sorry, owwwwwwwowwwwwoww, sorry"

Both ds's were OP, dd I went from 2-10cm in 2.5 hours and pushed her out in 9 mins. Very intense

Early stages are like bad period pains. You think you are having contractions because you have heard the "childbirth is like period pains" thing, then you realise later that that's miles off the truth.

Later contractions were like being stabbed (sorry, you did ask...)!

I've has worse stomach cramps from a bug, for me contractions went from mild period pains to strong pressure, intense rather than painful. Got to 10cms then they knocked me out, so can't comment on pushing/crowning though!

I find early labour pain and bad period pain actually very similar. It does get worse though but as others have said it is pain with a purpose so you just keep dealing with it contraction by contraction.

Not Jesus heist - Jesus Christ

Nope, no comparison, and I used to get baad period pains when I was younger. Contractions for me were more like holding your hand against a hot kettle - sorry! Different order of magnitude altogether.

I thought period and labour pains were similar. Labour much, much more extreme though.

There are some sufferers of cluster headache who say that is more painful than childbirth. I would disagree with that in my own experience, although it was a close-run thing.

Very early stages of labour (latent phase) are similar i suppose. But then contractions grow in magnitude and are nothing like period pains as it progresses.

Fwiw the pain was not the worst part for me. It's the need for such endurance and effort just when you're so knackered you think you can give no more. That's the hardest part - it's called labour for a reason and the baby doesn't push itself out! It took a real leap of understanding of this on my part before i had the strength to finish the job and getting over that hurdle was, for me, the hardest part. I don't even really remember the crowning i was concentrating so hard on pushing (with my head buried in a beanbag

But i would totally do it again tomorrow. It's the most rewarding experience of my life and i realised just how bloody strong i am. I loved it. Especially the gas and air. Sounds contradictory doesn't it? It is.

For me the pain was not at all similar to period pain. It was tightenings, and then it was like very intense, very very very painful dragging/clenching. I was actually OK until about 5cm, and not very OK at about 9!

For me period pain was (I no longer get it either after having DS) like a general ache/cramp though, so sounds like yours are much more intense.

I wish I had actually known that it was going to be incredibly painful BUT I could deal with it - I went into it with really idealistic notions and was then shocked and panicked. I am pregnant with DC2 and am hoping it will be easier as I will be more prepared. And it really is insignificant (to me) compared with the magnitude of having a child for your entire life.

My first labour was fast and I was comfortable the whole way through (3 hours), however with my second (back to back), it pinched, the ring of fire was alot more noticable and my labour was over 24 hours long. Every labour is different, both times I had entonox I also tested out a TENS machine with No.2 & some paracetamol. Every labour is different.
Best advice, expect it to hurt, the contractions towards the end were my most painful, the crowning is quite intense but over very quickly. Relax and even though it's hard to do, enjoy it.

i think you will be fine. Some lucky people have no idea how bad period pain can be - I am like you and have passed out and taken to hospital through period pain. Labour was a breeze in comparison! It's the same pain but it is only intermittent so you only get the pain for about 30 seconds and then you are okay for a bit and at the end of it all you have a lovely baby! i had 2 big babies with no pain relief. Be warned though - if the reason that you have bad periods is because they are very heavy then you may be one of the many tens of thousands of women with an undiagnosed bleeding disorder called Von Willebrands. If so, then you are more likely than most to lose a lot of blood in childbirth so please get yourself a simple blood test ahead of the birth to check this out and take a simple inhaler to protect yourself from haemorrhaging. Good luck.

Early stage was like period pain but then had waters broken and they really cracked up a gear. Needed gas and air then and got to 9cm in four hours. Pushing stage was in pool and was more physically tiring than painful. Delivering placenta hurt more.

Research has shown that most people have fairly similar pain thresholds (they do tests like stick a pin in your arm and see how long you can stand it), so while it's comforting to think you have a high pain threshold, you probably don't.

Ime, the women who say it isn't too bad have usually had short labours. There's a huge difference between coping with pain for four hours and coping with it for 24 hours. And it depends on a whole load of other stuff too, like how big the baby is, what position the baby is in, whether they give you prostaglandin or syntocinon to speed the labour up, whether gas and air eases the pain or makes you feel sick, whether you're lying down strapped to a monitor or allowed to walk around.

I've recently read accounts of women who have used self-hypnosis in childbirth (as well as people who have used it instead of anaesthetic for surgical operations!) I'm incredibly curious about that, as it seems amazing that it would be effective for such intense pain but it obviously does work for some people.

Another thought. There is a big school of thought (emanating from the work of Grantly-Dick Read) which is that if you feel frightened and anxious about labour, you will become very tense, and that will make the pain worse. So the idea is to approach labour in a calm, relaxed state of mind and then you will be OK. But of course some women after labour say "Why did nobody warn me how painful it was?" and feel they were inadequately prepared. So it's tricky.

Ive heard that women who experience bad period pains cope better with the pain, I can only speak for myself [I used to have bad period pains] but it does hurt like hell, but its soo nice when it stops at the end of the contraction!

Its intense.

For the crowning was the worst [with my first] that stung and strangely no one had ever told me about that part prior to the birth! [no mumsnet in those days!]

Ive done it 3 times so it cant have scarred me too badly!

Dont be afraid to take pain relief, you really dont get any medals for refusing it! you wouldnt have a tooth pulled without anaesthetic[sp] so why give birth without?

I managed with gas and air, tried pethadine once and didnt notice any effect at all.

*I also laughed at 'sore' sorry!

for me the crowning was the worst