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Childbirth

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

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Original poster

What did you think about during contractions?!

106 replies

DimpleHands · 22/08/2015 22:11

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!

OP posts:

LoadsaBlusher · 26/08/2015 08:10

DC2 I had no pain relief

When I was having contractions and head was crowning etc ( so all the sore / nippy bits!) I just kept thinking in my head , " This will all be over soon - this is only a few moments of pain in a whole lifetime- tomorrow this will be over"

I didn't study relaxing methods , I just tried to control my thoughts so that I was able to get on with it.

I basically just concentrated and done what came naturally to me.

I suffer with a lot of back pain / sciatica in my day to day life and I think coping with that ( which can be extreme electrifying shots of pain) definetely helped me cope with labour.

InFrance2014 · 27/08/2015 15:44

After they got very strong, main thought was to bellow loud enough to "be bigger than the pain" (from Juju Sundin). It really did work, had no pain relief, just that and TENS which is another sensory distraction. Listened to husband counting me down to the end of the contraction.
Then collapsed on bed and sort of passed out until he told me next one was going to start.

weeblueberry · 27/08/2015 22:15

Juju was also my saviour!! I used the 'bashing' technique and smacked the bed as hard as I could with my hand. I also used the technique of concentrating fully of the impact sensation on my hand which 'distracted' me from the pain in my uterus.

foxessocks · 27/08/2015 22:19

For as long as I could I walked up and down the stairs shouting as I went! Then when it got too bad I went to hospital and got gas and air!

kittyvet · 27/08/2015 22:26

Counted to eight whilst pacing and slapping my thigh. Read Juju Sundjns book! Gas and air only for 3 hours pushing!

Newlywed56 · 27/08/2015 22:37

To be honest with each contraction I thought yes get through these next few ones and then il get my epidural and it will be pain free and easy (was only 3cm midwife said it was too soon) que then next check was 6cm but then too far gone... Never got the bloody epidural!! And the rest wasn't pain free and easy either

SnozzberryPie · 27/08/2015 22:39

Like jonsnow I kind of focused on the contractions rather than trying to distract myself. Towards the end I was also hallucinating from lack of sleep (three day labour) which was kind of cool.

LovelyFriend · 28/08/2015 12:39

I used a tens machine both times - no idea if it helped but it was a distraction.

The biggest help to me (not sure if my births were 'natural' as I has gas & air) was listening to hypnobirthing tracks in the 3rd trimester. Being able to keep a relatively calm mind, let go of fears, and be able to relax my body made me feel very connected and mostly fairly calm.

Sgtmajormummy · 28/08/2015 14:33

Disclaimer. This is Italy where you have either no pain relief or a Caesarian. I went with the first option both times (idiot).

For my first birth, my waters broke so 24 hours later I was induced with a drip and no pain relief. I had the WORST PAIN OF MY LIFE and gave birth screaming with a doctor literally squeezing my belly like a tube of toothpaste!
I went into shock (uncontrollable shaking, teeth chattering, delirious, copious bleeding, tore to my back passage). No sympathy whatsoever. They stitched me up and bundled me off to bed. We were home two days later.

Second birth everything went fine until the last fifteen minutes, breathing in, puffing out, grunting and groaning as the contractions got worse. I told the midwife I was ready to go to the birth room and promptly sh*t myself in the corridor with a huge contraction! They hosed me off and I just went with the spasm waves as they pushed the baby out.
15 minutes later my rosebud was born.

IceBeing · 28/08/2015 15:04

good grief - reading some of these it becomes increasingly apparent that natural drug free childbirth has significantly less going for it than natural drug free dentistry.

LibrariesGaveUsP0wer · 28/08/2015 15:06

Ice - in my case it had a lot more going for it. From birth one it became apparent me and epidurals don't mix.

IceBeing · 28/08/2015 15:13

They didn't work for me either...my preferred option is now general anaesthetic. Acceptable for getting your wisdom teeth out - acceptable for giving birth!

clarabellski · 28/08/2015 15:21

loadsablusher that's really interesting perspective.

I have sciatica and it has ramped up big style since falling pregnant (i'm 16w4 at the moment). I've been reading about contraction pain (and thank you for all of the honest opinions on here, most of what's on the net is fluffy tosh) and trying to understand the level of it as compared with sciatic pain, which I've learned over many years to cope with.

I've been reading juju sundin's book and can relate to the distraction techniques as I've used them all to distract from sciatic pain in the past. Definitely going to 'give it a go'!

LibrariesGaveUsP0wer · 28/08/2015 15:27

Yeah, there is that option Ice!

IceBeing · 28/08/2015 15:40

On the minus side I wasn't sure what my name was for 24 hours...on the plus side BF was established before I woke up...

MrsHenryCrawford · 28/08/2015 15:40

Mainly thought about how much I wanted a section.
Spent most of my contractions roaring and kicking the end of the bed. Not my most dignified moment

Wearyheadedlady · 28/08/2015 17:13

I would have everything lined up just in case. My Obs took away the epidural (it was a drip version) in the 30 mins before my DD came out and holy fuck it was the most painful thing ever. But it got her out, or rather, it motivated me to get her out. But having a bit of pain relief prior to that point helped stop me from a) panicking, b) getting exhausted with it all over however many hours c) losing focus.

good luck!

TremoloGreen · 28/08/2015 18:51

I had a drug-free birth. I did not intend to, but the midwives kept telling me over the phone not to come in to the birth centre as I didn't seem to be in much pain

I used a TENS machine and with each in breath, I pictured a letter of the alphabet growing in my belly, then with the outbreath, breathing it out and blowing it away. It knew my contractions were getting longer because I was only getting up to C or D initially, then at some point, I was getting up to O or P!

It got to a certain point where I just thought 'fuck this, I'm going to hospital and if they tell me to go home, I'll just get on my hands and knees on the floor and refuse to move until they get me a room'. That was transition. I was pushing when I got there and holding DD about an hour later.

Having a home birth this time as hospital experience was stressful and grim and would rather do it without moving somehwere else during labour. I will be having some gas and air though!

Crazyqueenofthecatladies · 28/08/2015 20:14

Two well researched theoretical drug free labours planned, both resulted in two emcs despite not needing anything other than g&a til the knife bit. HDU for me for the first, nicu and ventilators for dc2 for the second. If I were ever to have a third I would surrender to an epidural, large g&a and giggling at the notion that we have a significant degree of control over how labour plays out. There are far worse medical outcomes in the scheme of things than having to take painkillers for severe pain.

queenrollo · 28/08/2015 20:35

I got to 9cm with just breathing and moving about. I'm also one of those people who just becomes 'centred' and sort of disappeared into myself. By 9cm though I was starting to lose control and thankfully my doula arrived and grounded me again and then 10 mins later the second midwife arrived (Home Birth) with the gas and air.

I wanted drug free - that was my ideal - but my birth plan/discussion with midwife was that I would just see what happened on the day.

Tanito279 · 28/08/2015 20:39

I had a song stuck in my head and i just sang it on a loop (in my head) while counting to 8. I still think of it as my daughter'so song, 2 years on.

LoadsaBlusher · 28/08/2015 20:43

clarabellski

I personally find my extreme bouts of sciatica far more painful than contractions.

I think it is because the contractions are a deep, tugging, twisting achey pain and you know that you will come to a " crest of the wave" point with each one , so I found it easier to cope .

Where as you will know , the sciatica can be shooting and sharp and have your nerves jangling . I have been stuck standing up or stuck in bed in one tensed position with the sciatic nerve tensed and like a knife. And not knowing when the next lightning strike will come.

So for me personally , managing contractions was easier.
It's obviously still extremely painful , there's no denying that or sugar coating it , but different type of pain was easier for me to be " mind over matter"

Bit of a ramble there sorry

Stitchosaurus · 28/08/2015 20:47

I completely lost my mind to pain and g&a I was really hoping to black out, when I wasn't hallucinating that I was in Inception and everyone around me were baddies trying to trick me! God I loved my epidural!

kitkat321 · 28/08/2015 22:17

I'd done lazy daisy birthing classes so really focused on rotating (to dilate!). I sort of went into a bit of a trance with it. That and 2 paracetamol got me to 8cm and then when they needed to hook me up to the syntocine due to irregular contractions and needed the head anesthetist to do it because they couldn't find a vein I happened to ask if he was the dude that did the epidurals and I'd just have one of those too thank you very much!!

littlejohnnydory · 28/08/2015 23:55

I've had for dc.

DC1 - epidural
DC 2 and 3 - scream the place down and wait for it to be over (both gas and air, at home. By the time it got unbearable, it was too late to go to hospital and the wish to be at home kept me going)
DC4 - labour was manageable (if annoying and stop-start) until the very end. At which point she was on her way and it was too late to do anything but push.

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