How would you describe contractions ?

[Hotmad]

And I don't mean.... Very ** painful etc. I'm 41 weeks and I'm not scared about labour but what gets me anxious slightly is the fear of the unknown..... How would you describe the pains/sensations? Does it compare to any other pains? I heard early labour starts with a period pain feeling???

Expulsive, like the feeling you get when you know you're about to vomit but can't do anything about it. It builds up though, so you will feel a crescendo and then it will disappear and then come back again and again

All three of mine started with period pain, yes. Regular period type pain that came and went and got worse. I'm not sure I can accurately describe full on contractions other than fucking painful though! I really can't. I imagine that they are period type pains only much much more intense.

The huge plus is that once the baby is born they stop. Immediately.

I was induced. ...up until 6cms it was like bad period and back pain.

After that....the contractions felt like the worst chronic trapped wind ever ripping through my body! !!! Though I had a back labour and was put on a drip so probably a bit more painful than natural labour. I ended up with an epidural because every time I had one I nearly fell off the bed.

I gave birth five days ago. The early contractions were like bad period pain which came in waves and gradually got worse, also had terrible back ache with each contraction which made me nauseous. After the transition there is a change in the contractions like a huge pressure downward I suppose like constipation is the best description. Certainly exhausting though. Good luck xx

Like period pain then intensifying as labour progresses to cramp type feeling. Similar to the 'pain' you have with cramp in legs. Just breathe through them and know they will pass. For me the scary part was not the 'pain' but the 'impending' unstoppable feeling of the contractions. Stay calm and all will be well- and get your other half to count you through each one. It helps to remember they will end and quite soon.

Period pain developing into strong pressure cramps like when you have food poisoning and your body wants to get rid of the err poo!

For me like the cramps you get when you've got the sh*ts but a bit more intense.. I would say that in the end pushing a baby out is very similar to doing a big poo.. Except the result is a lots nicer, of course

Period pain, mounting then fading away (which is a good thing to focus on - the fact that it will pass).

Then when it's time to push the baby out - yes, feels like you need a big poo.

My MW asked me to describe what ctx felt like when she came to see me the day after I'd given birth. I remember saying it felt like I was being set on fire whilst being ripped apart by wild dogs I didn't have any sodding pain relief until I was 6 cm, not even G&A because the MW forgot it

However, I must stress that as painful as it was, I was completely relaxed throughout and sort of in the zone. It was different because I knew what my body was doing and I knew it would end.

I would give birth again tomorrow; for me, pregnancy was the worst part!

I had a back to back baby.

Contractions started off like a tight squeezing all over my bump, it went rock hard. Once baby had 'dropped' all the way down, it really began to hurt and the pain moved from the bump to my tailbone and legs. I needed a poo constantly (although I'd already had one). My tailbone felt like someone was squeezing it and pulling on it.
When I arrived at the birthing unit the MW asked "where does it hurt?" fad I remember saying "my legs!!". My thigh bones felt very sore.
Once I got into the pool, the tailbone pain receded and the bump squeezing came back. Thigh bone pain stayed constant, and right at the very end (gave birth on dry land), I thought my pelvis was going to split open. Tailbone pain came back after I got out of the pool too.

My pelvis hurting was the main reason I was shouting that I needed more drugs, had only had gas and air up to that point. I was actually hysterical with the pain, and thought the MW had injected me with water instead of morphine! I'm pretty confident that if baby had not been back to back my pelvis and tailbone wouldn't have hurt so much and I wouldn't have had the morphine.

Once baby began crowning, I felt no pain at all, and pushed him out in about three pushes!!

Definitely agree with being like cramp in your leg. Just as you think it cant hurt anymore, it does!!

But i somehow made it to 9 and 1/2 cm at home with no pain relief

TRapped wind, easing on and off over 1 minute then three minutes respite. Thats how it started, and stayed that way til I was induced 18 hours later sorry

Period pain in waves, getting worse. Then an all over twisting. Imagine a dishcloth... twist it a few times then squeeze the ends towards each other, then untwist.

And then I felt like I really needed to poo - and in fact couldn't stop my body pushing.

The only useful things I took from antenatal classes were that staying relaxed is your friend and that it's really only the peak of each contraction is unbearable - however, if you use gas and air, you need to start using it at the start of the contraction so it's built up in your system ahead of the peak.

Early contractions feel like low backache combined with a gripey lower abdomen, like you get just before a bout of diarrhoea, or really bad period pains. They gradually build up, getting stronger and stronger coming in waves that overwhelm you to the point where you can't think, speak or do anything except concentrate on getting through it, combined with a muscular pulling/tightening feeling across the stomach.

Eventually the on/off nature of the contractions stops as they get so close together the sensation becomes constant.

At the height of it you feel a bit like you are vomiting, but downwards instead of upwards if that makes sense! The muscle spasms are all-consuming and you cannot do anything to control them. And you feel like you are trying to shit a fridge freezer and push a piano up a hill all by yourself, simultaneously.

HTH.

But then afterwards it will all be gorgeous and lovely and you'll forget about it.

Oh and the crowning is an intense stinging sensation a bit like a chinese burn but much worse.

Mine were like the most intense period pain combined with the feeling of needing a massive poo! My last birth was only 2hrs from waters breaking to baby arriving so they became very intense very quickly. Gas and air is your best friend!

Mine were like the most intense period pain combined with the feeling of needing a massive poo! My last birth was only 2hrs from waters breaking to baby arriving so they became very intense very quickly. Gas and air is your best friend!

For the most part, my contractions were totally bearable - like intense period pains you can breath/visualise through. The final hour perhaps was where the pain ramped up and I had to really pant/groan through the peak of the pain. It was all totally bearable though as you know it won't go on forever. The worse was near transition: wave after wave and each one so painful it filled up all my senses (iyswim) - I had to yell a bit through these. But once I was pushing down, I felt much more in control and although still painful I could push through the pain (and roar a bit) and that helped a lot. No pain relief.

Advice: become an animal for a few hours.

pressure from the bottom of my stomach,moving towards the top,then round to my back,which gets stronger and longer and closer together.And yes to poo feeling as it got nearer to pushing.nothing to be scared of really.

Like being sick, downwards!
Its a natural reflex like vomiting. Weird!

Like a Chinese burn in your very low abdomen. I remember being shocked at just how painful it was. Reverse vomiting is a good description too- it is so weird how you have no control of what is happening. It is like being possessed! All of the above said, it is manageable and so unbelievably worth it that I am getting ready to so it all again!

Like very strong period pains, mainly. DC1 was back to back and most of the contractions were strongest in my lower back and thighs. DC2 wasn't, and I mistook a good proportion of that labour thinking the contractions were gastroenteritis cramps as they weren't as painful as first time around.

Both times though, once I started pushing each contraction felt a bit like being turned inside out, but not in a painful way, bizarrely (endorphins kicked in I guess, they felt like the hardest physical work in the world but not pain as such, even in the labour without pethidine).

Overall neither labour was anything like as painful as I'd expected it to be!

Like really bad cramp in my upper thighs and lower back. DS was back to back for most of it; I had no pains at all in my bump.

Two back to backers.

Like a massive Chinese burn all across my back and spine. Or being kicked very hard in the back by a wild animal!

Nothing at all like period pain. No resemblance at all.

Crowning didn't hurt at all.