What did you think about during contractions?!

[DimpleHands]

I am aiming to have a completely drug-free birth this time and was wondering what you thought about during contractions to deal with the pain. Did you count, focus on breathing, imagine yourself somewhere else, etc? Just curious!

Another vote for Juju Sundin's birth skills. Excellent book about many many (drug free) ways to deal with contractions. Particularly useful for when paracetamol and lavender oil just put won't touch it...

I was on the monitor for the majority of mine so I kept watching the numbers go up to 100 thinking once it gets there it will ease all I needed to do was get to 100 and it would get better!
I also spent most of then thinking Oh lord this baby is bursting through my back I unknowingly had a back to back baby.

With DD it wasn't a great labour/birth - so I won't go into too many details. It involved ebing in labour for over 48hrs, syntocinon, diamorphine, anterior birth (stargazing) and resuscitation involving the midwife shouting "crash!"

With DS, again I had to go onto a syntocinon drip. I think I was more aware of the stimulated contractions would feel so I was less scared. Plus, I went from 6 cm to fully dilated in about 30 mins and he was born 5 minutes later it had taken just under 48 fucking hours to get from 3 cm to 6 cm

I found a mixture of counting up during to the peak of the pain then counting back down as the pain eased and bouncing on a birth ball helped me focus the pain and turn it into something positive and productive.

Agree with libraries, about guilt tripping bullshit. Every birth is different. I was in more pain when 'not in labour' with DD1 than at any point with DD2

I met a really nice (male) obstetrician when pg who reckoned if men gave birth there'd be far more research into pain relief.

Yes that pain tolerance/threshold thing is bullshit. All labours, even pregnancy to pregnancy in the same woman are totally different. If it's painful, it's painful. Another woman finding it straightforward and barely even sore might just be experiencing less pain as opposed to having a different tolerance for pain. You mustn't feel weak or a failure or like you didn't cope as well as a 'better' woman might. It's a heap of steaming bullcrap.

I've had two labours. One was the most unimaginable pain. One didn't smart even a bit. Both were drug free. Nothing to do with thresholds of pain and everything to do with that labour, that baby, that position.

All you can do is deal with the labour and delivery handed to you on the day. Some women like to have different tools and hopes in their arsenal, but something as individual as labour/delivery can't be reduced down to thresholds for suffering.

Sorry for random comma.

It will also depend on your reserves. With DD1 I had been awake (bar 3 hours) for 48 hours when I went into labour. And it was long from there onwards too. At that level of exhaustion in normal life I'd be sobbing and failing to cope with a stubbed toe. It was a fucking miracle I was still holding it together.

DS took 4 hours. I was a different woman dealing with that pain (and by the third baby I finally got one not back to back)

Sorry, that should say when I went into hospital. I was only in early labour then. Apparently .

Dying.

Use a comb gripped on each hand with the sharp bits in the bend of the fingers, an accupunture point. I DID not let go of them!

Breathing completely and utterly helped me. It was my first labour and once my mum showed me how I should breathe through them and I stopped panicking, it was much better!
I did it completely drug/gas and air free. Not out of choice I should add but because my midwife was a moron and didn't actually believe how in labour I was until DS's head was just sat there waiting to be born

Good luck OP, I promise you'll be fine and my god, it's so worth it

For some hours I was thinking the hypno- birthing breathing.

That each breath in was golden air (I imagined the air as yellow!) and with each breath in, it filled first my head, next breath one shoulder, next the other then upper arm, upper chest, lower chest, stomach legs etc by the time I had breathed 'golden' air into my whole body the contraction was easing off. I imagined I was breathing out purple air.

It helped for some hours (6 or 7) but was really glad to get an epidural for the last 3 hours, which was fantastic.

I spent most of my early labour at my mils house, my (teen) sil was really excited and hyperactive which was great as she kept making me laugh which was a great distraction.
Her cleaner, who I know, was also there and she is one of the most boring people I know and she was chatting away to me and I was just thinking "ahhhh will you shut up!" I may have actually said it

Once in hospital, I can't even remember what I was thinking, I was only there an hour before dd was born though. All I can remember about that time was going to the toilet for a poo which took ages as I had to stop when I was having contractions and then I started to panic thinking that dh would be worried as I was being so long

I was really rubbish with both labours tbh. I don't cope well with pain at all.

All I remember thinking when in labour with dd2 was that I couldn't do it, oh how I regretted getting pregnant again and what was I thinking etc. Each contraction involved me chugging on the gas and air, shouting like a banshee and clawing at the bed whilst on all fours. As much as I tried to remain calm and take it all in my stride it just didn't happen. But unlike with dd1 where I was induced and ended up with an epidural I managed it with no pain relief apart from gas and air which I stopped using come transition/pushing stage. Regardless of how I dealt with it I'm happy I got to experience a natural labour with no pain relief as I didn't get that with dd1. I'm also glad I'm done having babies and that I never have to put myself through that again

My most successful labour was without pain relief and very low pain. I was just "centred" for want of a better word. Found myself a position that was stable and comfortable (for me hands and knees) then each contraction went quiet, eyes closed and took longer steady breaths, rocking gently over the peak. I Didn't see or hear anything outside me at all. I was completely calm, felt completely in control and so could completely focus on the moment. It was a revelation tbh. I was at home without a mw (she arrived late) and that was the perfect situation for me. Oh and I sipped water with rescue remedy between contractions. Worked for me

I counted to 10. By the time I got to/near 10 the worst was over with.
I had both my 2 with just paracetamol.

There is a Gentle birth cd that is meant to be good.
I used breathing (breath in positivity, breath out the pain, slow and steady). I found a warm bath good too. In hospital, I used the gas and air, watched the monitor and could see the contractions build along with feeling the intensity, I would focus on the monitor and reminded myself that once it had reached it's peak, it would be gone and I would be a little nearer to holding my baby in my arms. I asked for the epidural early (luckily as the anaesthetist was very busy on the day so by the time he arrived, I was beginning to struggle). Rest between contractions. I had packed a pair of ankle socks in my labour bag, came in handy because my feet began to feel really cold. Some women find music helps, I didn't find it useful but they had a radio on in the background which helped distract me at times. There was also a big clock on the wall directly in front of me, I used to focus on the second hand, thinking by the time the hand gets back to this point again, this contraction will be over.

Various things
Loved hearing dh telling me that it was starting to pass.
I also spent time going through my body, what parts of my body didn't hurt and could I relax them.. Relax the toes, ankles,calves etc
Tbh there were also times that I thought about it being the worst pain I had ever felt
Getting into the birthing pool really really helped.

I was thinking 'I thought there was supposed to be a gap between contractions?' As the induction pushed me straight into overstimulation and I had overlapping contractions with no relief. I thought that something must be very wrong as the other ladies were wandering round the ward and rocking during contractions and I was completely unable to move. Then I thought 'well I'm not going to be any use during the pushing stage if I can't actually move my legs even though its early labour' at which point I decided to get an epidural. (Which was amazing by the way).

I also thought about how unfair it was that I wasn't allowed in the pool, and how I wasn't given the chance to try breathing techniques etc. before it all ramped up in a hurry.

(It appears I may be more bitter about this than I thought...)

I also thought quite a lot about wizards and sheep but I'm fairly sure I was hallucinating from the pethidine I'd had before the epidural. (Which was also amazing stuff). I'm sure none of this is actually helpful. :-)

Before epidural - I'm dying.

After epidural - what contractions?

I had one hypbobirthing visualisation that worked for me- you count to 4 on the in breath and 4 on the out breath. On the in breath, visualise inflating a balloon. On the out breath, visualise letting go of it so it floats away. First pair of breaths, the balloon is red, next one is orange, then yellow etc for each of the colours of the rainbow. For a while, only the red and orange balloons really hurt and I knew once I got to yellow the pain would start tapering off. Once I was in transition, every balloon hurt and there was no rest between contractions so I gave up... but it honestly worked well for a good chunk of active labour!

Tbh I'm not entirely sure what I thought.

I know after three days of contractions I was so tired that when I was in the delivery suite I snoozed between contractions for part of it (clinging to birthing ball, drooling!).

As I got nearer the end my contractions kind of took on a pattern (so there'd be a little one, then I knew a big one was coming, little again etc). In my head they also took on solid physical properties as well. But I was out of it on gas and air by that point!

3 drug-free labours here. I am very lucky and don't feel any contractions until quite late on - but once they start, they get very strong within minutes - so my experience is only of late-stage, strong contractions.

I found the best way to deal with them was NOT to try any distraction techniques, but to give myself up to the contractions completely - kind of lose myself within them. A calm and quiet environment definitely helps, but since the delivery room isn't like that, I closed my eyes and blocked everyone out. Each contraction felt like a wave, and I went with it (almost like I was a little boat bobbing on the crest of the wave) up to its crescendo, then got a (quite blissful sometimes) sense of relief as it ebbed away again.

That worked really well for me right up to transition, when I lost all focus and yelled and screamed a lot, but more in frustration than in excessive pain in a way (the feeling that its NEVER going to stop). But that passes, and for the second and third births when I knew that the feeling was transition and it WOUD pass, it wasn't so overwhelming.

I think that any 'technique' that you have to think consciously about is counter-productive, you need to lose yourself within the experience and let your body, hormones, contractions etc. do the work without your mind.

I'm only speaking about births where it's all going well, of course, I know that not everyone is lucky enough to have that. Also, I don't think that you can make any birth go this way with positive thinking, but if you are having the right sort of birth, then letting your body work by instinct, not intellectual thought, really helps.

My experience was similar to Ilovenannyplum - requested pain relief but was refused as they assumed I was in for a slow labour despite it being my second baby and clearly being close to giving birth!
One of my coping techniques was to visualise my DC's bedroom (the older one, but actually it would probably work with a baby's nursery too). On each contraction I visualised each of her books, each of her cuddly toys, etc. I think it was just a place that I felt very happy in normally so the connection to DD (plus using my brain to remember all her stuff) was a distraction.

with my first I didn't successfully 'think' of anything and once they got really strong I went to pieces and had an epidural. Second time I tried to stay positive through each one and mentally pictured my cervix getting bigger and the babies head and kept repeating 'this is good, one step closer to it being over, one down etc' and ended up with just gas and air (as I was calm enough to use it, first time I just ducked on it for dear life and was sick). Second birth was much better.