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

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:
stottiecake · 29/08/2015 10:17

When the contractions became painful I held on to the sink/ table / mantlepiece and swayed my hips in a figure of 8 and said a very low 'oooooh' which enabled me to cope. Got sent back from hospital twice and when they finally agreed to check how many cms I was I was fully dilated (which I knew really because I need to push but because I wasn't screaming and making a fuss they decided I couldn't be in established labour..)
My first labour involved pretty much every intervention barring a CS and I lost 3 pints of blood so I was determined to avoid that at all costs. I read sheila Kitsinger and Ina May Gaskin and tried to get myself feeling powerful (as I felt powerless the first time round) That worked!! :)

debbietheduck · 29/08/2015 10:20

I had a doula, both times, she was marvellous. I would highly recommend it.

ohthegoats · 29/08/2015 13:58

Counted my breaths - 12 in/out up to the top of the 'hill', then 6 in/out back down. I was also in a pool for about 12 hours, so the out breaths were face half in the water with me blowing bubbles.

After about 48 hours of that shit though, I found the epidural quite ace!! If I was going to do it again, I'd have an epidural asap.

ohthegoats · 29/08/2015 14:00

Oh I had a doula too, she was ace. While I was at home she had me stamping my feet to the time of the breath count too. I was mostly preferring to be on my hands and knees though, so sort of rocked in time.

Urgh, just thinking about it has me pulling a 'yuck' face.

Chasingsquirrels · 29/08/2015 14:03

honestly I can't imagine thinking anything (other than maybe "fuckkkkkkkkkkkk this hurts") during the actual contractions.

whattodohatethis · 29/08/2015 14:10

Mostly I was thinking "oh God what if I poo. I don't want my mum to see me poo. Was that poo"

I had gas and air and pethidene.
(Had a rather embarrassing "oh mum this pethidine makes me feel like I'm stoned" "and HOW do you know what it feels like to be stoned young lady")

I forgot all the breathing exercises and, like a true friends fan imitated Rachel by unintentionally by asking my mum if she could do it for me.

I found the pushing the worst bit

Pidapie · 29/08/2015 14:37

I read a hypnobirthing book, and found the breathing techniques (count to ten, breathe extremely slowly. takes practice!) helped immensely. Also warm water helps, so I spent a while in the shower with the showerhead pointing at the painful area. I ended up with an epidural after 34 hours, as I was too exhausted to cope by then, having been awake 50+ hours. It only worked on one side though, and then I had to have drip to keep it going (and that makes it more painful) so was almost pointless... Good luck!

lozengeoflove · 29/08/2015 18:49

I remember thinking just get to the break between contraction. All is well and fluffy in the break zone. Then I would spend the break zone feeling like I was fine and the imminent birth was not actually going to happen at all not denial at all . Did that for a while. Then got to the pushing stage and realised I knew how to breathe and suck gas and air, but had not the foggiest how to actually get the baby out Blush.

MrsRhubarb · 30/08/2015 05:44

I don't think I thought during contractions, each one was like a little world entirely of its own and isolated from everything else, but in between I thought about how excited I was to meet my baby, how I'd waited so long and this one day was all I had to get through and then she would be here. Early in labour timing my contractions helped me, as it was something tangible that I could compare. I only had gas and air, and am planning a home birth next time, so it was definitely a positive experience for me. Good luck, I hope you get the birth you want!

Thebirdsneedseeds · 30/08/2015 06:45

Counting, it really works. Forcing yourself to count slowly. So if contractions last 16 counts you can say to yourself - "ok here it comes 1,2,3,4 this is the hard bit, I can do it 5,6,7,8, good...worst bit's done, will be over soon, 9,10,11,12, oh thank goodness it's receding 13,14,15,16 hurrah it's over. One step closer to baby being born. I suppose it's just having a strong internal, calm monologue that helps you.

perfectlybroken · 30/08/2015 07:24

Identical to mamushka. Between contractions a little voice was saying 'but you didn't want an epidural', then I'd have a contraction and think 'i would do anythng not to feel that pain again'.

Ashbeeee · 30/08/2015 12:59

Sat on my birthing ball playing 'row your boat' with my 3 yo DD. And then did silly head shaking/grunting things together with her during contractions to,takes mind off it. She thought it was hilarious !

Still hurt though ??????

SomeonesRealName · 30/08/2015 14:13

Like libraries I had done so much preparation and had practised relaxation and breathing and visualisation. Also read Birth Skills obsessively and had my stress balls in my labour bag, along with massage aids and all sorts of other stupid crap that never came out of the bag. I was a little bit smug about how well prepared I was and how well I was going to cope to be honest. When it came to it, when the intense contractions were ripping me apart and it was just me and XH freaking out on our own for hours in one of the triage rooms at the hospital, I couldn't get it together enough to even remember that I had any stress balls, I was just jerking my body about, shrieking "yellow yellow yellow yellow" at the sharps bin. Even though in my few lucid moments I was telling myself I had to stop panicking and somehow regain control, I might as well have been telling myself I just had to fly out of the window. I couldn't. The pain was way beyond anything I had imagined. I couldn't adopt any crouching or leaning positions at all because it was agony to do anything other than stand with my back against a hard surface, not that I could find one in the triage room. I tried to sit on a birthing ball at one point but the pain of adopting that position was absolutely unendurable. In between contractions, pretty much all I did was sob uncontrollably and wail "please please not again no more no more oh no please please" for the whole labour ward to hear.

I had planned a drug free birth but at one point I was yelling down the corridor towards the midwives station, "I want a caesarean section get me a * section someone get a knife and cut this out of me!" The midwives ignored me, so I did have the drug free birth I wanted, because nobody gave me any drugs. But don't rule anything out!

BertieBotts · 30/08/2015 16:28

The best tip I had was when you are panicking because it's overwhelming and you keep tensing to avoid the pain is to put your hands out in front of you, palms up with your arms at a 90 degree angle by your sides. It's impossible to tense your arms when doing this and that then forces you to realise that you can actually relax, so you do.

BertieBotts · 30/08/2015 16:33

But that was in the early stages. What you really need is for someone to be able to ground you properly, which is really hard especially if your partner also doesn't know what to expect in terms of levels. What real name wrote rings a bell for me.

FrancesOldhamKelseyRIP · 30/08/2015 16:37

I watched an episode of Friends, one with a baby in. I did have G&A, so it was only the occasional appearances of the baby that reminded me of what was happening to me and why I was in so much pain. I remember when DH eventually turned up (after he'd put DD to bed and handed over to my DB) that I was totally shocked to see him there - I'd got so confused between reality and fantasy that I thought that DH coming back to be with me was just a daydream I'd made up.

LikeABadSethRogenMovie · 30/08/2015 16:42

I thought....

Maybe if DH rubbed my back, that would help.
FFS, DH! Stop touching me!
I'll get in the pool
I hate the pool. Get me out.
Ow! I'll stay in the pool.
I'm too cold
I'm too hot
Stop touching me!
Shut the fuck up all of you.
Ow
Ow
Owwwwwww!

Pretty much sums it up.

noeffingidea · 30/08/2015 19:05

With my 2nd I was stuck in the car, so it wasn't really an issue. I was just worried about getting to hospital in time (I did).
With my 3rd I was at home. I put the plastic sheet on the bed then did a pile of ironing until the midwife came. The baby was born a few minutes after that. (I did have gas and air at the end).

GingerFoxInAT0phat · 30/08/2015 19:34

Mine sounded very much like LikeABadSethRoganMovies.

I remember screaming Get me out of this fucking pool! Then shat in it Blush

prettywhiteguitar · 30/08/2015 23:41

I was watch dp watch telly, yawn, drink tea thinking

Yawn ! You fucker ! Watch telly, all nice and comfy you fucker, drink tea you fucker ! Was in so much pain. I hated everyone but was so polite.

Third birth was worse than second, I was in so much pain but you get through it

Pedestriana · 30/08/2015 23:49

I had a tens machine and distracted myself listening to music. In and out of the pool a lot. The pain was tolerable with gas & air but DD would not come out, and apparently my cervix is 'at a funny angle' so we trotted off to the operating theatre early one morning; after about 50 hours. Thankfully I was so tired by then I wasn't awake enough to be traumatised.

ThereGoesaTenner · 30/08/2015 23:55

I had gas and air, and didn't really think about another contraction coming after the previous one, I kind of forgot to be honest. I was just tired and rested for a second in between. Didn't think about anything in particular. I noticed things going on around me, but half way through contractions I got hang of the gas and air and went with it, pain after pain. It was the end of a contraction I hated, so puffed as hard as I could at the beginning before it crept up. I don't know what it's like to have a long labour, but I had painful contractions for 3 1/2 hours, then baby was born.

Molio · 31/08/2015 00:06

I've had eight DC and for the youngest six thought of a particularly peaceful place/ view I know and it sort of worked.

Greenstone · 31/08/2015 11:24

I could never really get my head around hynobirthing distraction or visualisation techniques. I think I'm too cynical -- they all sounded a bit annoying or trite to me (something about meeting your baby on a distant shore - wtf) and I never connected in a way that I could give myself over to them.

Breathing, keeping mind as calm and empty as possible, counting, and refusing to engage with DH and the midwife if they tried to talk to me during a contraction: this is what worked for me and I had no drugs, instruments or stitches with DC2's birth. However. It was all really DD2. She was obviously in a good position, coming nice and fast, but not too scarily quick. A three hour labour is a piece of piss really.

DD1's labour was a good bit longer and I had an epidural towards the end and it was very lovely and calm. I did find that I was a bit shocked after DD2's birth and all my calmness disappeared the second she was out -- couldn't believe I still had to go through the fucking placenta and being investigated for damage part, I all but clamped my legs closed!

Molio · 31/08/2015 12:34

i didn't use any 'techniques' though Greenstone. I never read any pregnancy books or went to any antenatal classes - I just didn't like the pain so I thought of something else. It was a subconscious way of dealing with pain, but it certainly helped.

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