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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

Original poster

what did your contractions feel like?

51 replies

TrotskyPlayedTheHarpsichord · 10/08/2006 09:24

for a teaching exercise I am planning next week please for the lovely pregnant women, so they know what to expect
describe your pain here - I'm listening
thanks!
HC

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morningpaper · 10/08/2006 09:28

It's so hard to describe and you kind of FORGET afterwards

Until the next baby, then you think, "Ah yes, I remember!"

Like a strange sort of thunderstorm striking your belly at regular intervals

Original poster
TrotskyPlayedTheHarpsichord · 10/08/2006 09:29

yes I heard there is a point in labour when you go "oh god NOW I remember"

OP posts:
Quootiepie · 10/08/2006 09:32

like BAD trapped wind. The type you get like once in a blue moon thats makes you double over.

CarolinaMao · 10/08/2006 09:32

MP, you are the analogy queen today

I think a lot of the weirdness of it is because it's a huge muscular effort happening completely involuntarily.

If you got that feeling in your arms when benchpressing 30kg in the gym, you'd think 'fair enough', but when it's happening in your belly without you doing anything to provoke it, it's downright odd.

What are you teaching?

LucyJones · 10/08/2006 09:32

like the owrst period pain ever

Original poster
TrotskyPlayedTheHarpsichord · 10/08/2006 09:40

I am teaching coping skills for labour LucyJthanks everyone keep them coming pls

OP posts:
morningpaper · 10/08/2006 09:42

It probably also felt a bit like being Gordon Ramsay's pig with that electric stunner around your belly every 3 minutes

CarolinaMao · 10/08/2006 09:43

are you teaching full-on antenatal classes? How exciting!

morningpaper · 10/08/2006 09:44

Hehehehe will you get out your Press Cuttings, Harpsi?

liquidclocks · 10/08/2006 09:44

I can't describe the pain I went through and things like 'the worst period ever' just trivialises it for me and doesn't even come close (but I was induced). All I can say is that I knew it became 'real' labour at the point the contractions became so bad that I couldn't talk, walk or do anything through them. I felt like my tummy was being crushed by a lorry.

33 wks today - oh it makes me so happy to think I've got to go through it all again!

liquidclocks · 10/08/2006 09:46

My best tip for coping with labour - don't think about it before it happpens and forget about it as quickly as possible when it's over

MaloryFascinatorTowers · 10/08/2006 09:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

wools · 10/08/2006 09:51

Yes agree with liquidclocks - bad period pains does not even come close. I was induced though and have heard that can make the pains much more intense than if labour occured naturally. 31 weeks today and getting ever nearer to it - joy!!!

Original poster
TrotskyPlayedTheHarpsichord · 10/08/2006 09:59

yes, antenatal classes. it's my first course >:-0
thanks everyone, will be back later...

OP posts:
newmum10 · 10/08/2006 10:03

Mine started like period pains, but felt them in the top of my right leg??!! They gradually got stronger and spread to the pit of my stomach. Started at 10 mins apart (still pretty manageable) and by the time they were 5 mins apart, I was crawling around the bed and demanding my husband take me to the hospital! Sounds flippant, but try not to worry about anyone elses experiences as it's true that we are all different. Stay as relaxed as you can, and no matter what the midwife says, you can never have too much gas & air!!!! Good Luck x

Bugsy2 · 10/08/2006 10:10

Initially, they were very copable with & I kept thinking I was the most amazing woman and couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. A couple of hours later as I vomited into a cardboard dish, because it hurt so much I thought what a stupid cow I was!!!
The closest pain I have ever had that resembled labour was severe cramps from salmonella food poisoning.

blueshoes · 10/08/2006 10:55

I was induced with syntocinon. It was so intense, like an electric shock, and my entire belly just convulsively cramped up like a vice, almost like being kicked by a horse. Impossible to keep still or lie on the bed. Forget breathing exercises. dd soon went into distress, not to mention her mother.

NedKelly1978 · 10/08/2006 10:58

agree witht he electric shock analogy, the whole belly tightens up as if e;lectric is runnign through it. Kind of like those crappy fitness things that you can buy which tone through electric shocks but really really painful!

arfishymeau · 10/08/2006 11:03

My contractions made me want to curl up and want my mummy to make it go away.

I haven't wanted my mother for 25 years. Nuff said really.

I couldn't move, 'relax in water', pace, breathe or do anything. Just lie there and want it all to go away. For 32 hours......

And I took our (childless) ante-natal teachers' advice and took a paracetamol. A PARACETAMOL!! Oooh yes, that really helped.

Note: TENS does nothing apart from make you want to shove it into the wall/your DH's face.

mimitwo · 10/08/2006 11:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Bugsy2 · 10/08/2006 11:30

laughing at your analogy of wanting your mother afishymeau. I felt exactly the same & I also remember begging for the midwife to make it stop!!!! I chuckle now, safe in the knowledge I don't intend to have any more, but it felt far from funny at the time.

cacaboo · 10/08/2006 11:43

Reading some of the other posts here I think I was quite lucky with it - I remember that it felt like pretty much what it is - cervix pulling up and out - in about that location, accompanied by intense lower back pain. Never any pain in my front belly which I expected.

Didn't instantly forget the pain afterwards either, like they say you do - I could remember it clearly for quite some weeks / months.

And yes, paracetemol (as advised by the midwife) did not help in the slightest. Turned out to be end of first stage, so probably far far too late.

DumbledoresGirl · 10/08/2006 11:47

Period pains at first. Then, like a huge band tightening to an unbelievable crescendo of pain all round my belly, starting at the back and moving forwards. It is impossible to compare it with any other pain IMO.

madmarchingforfreedomhare · 10/08/2006 11:49

Really bad trapped wind like Quootiepie says.

rubles · 10/08/2006 12:13

It was constant period pain that increased and increased in the 24 hours prior to labour.
I started to feel lonely and scared (probably a sign) so went to find dp & my first contraction came then. I knew it was a contraction because the pain came and went and when it came I was unable to do anything other than put my head down and breathe. When I had the first contraction I thought 'ah yes this is definately it'. It was all just very intense period pain though.