Can people say something different about labour???

[Elisareven]

So I just want some one to tell me something different......
I keep getting told it'll feel like period cramps and back ache......okay thats great but I was lucky enough to never really have cramps.during my periods so don't really know what that feels like.....and I've had back ache since I was 19 and fell off a horse which has beem progressively worsening my whole pregnancy.

The other one is "oh you'll know the pain is horrid" thats awesome but I went to school.for a week with an arm broken in 4 places before I realised I went to hospital because 'it didn't hurt that bad'.

I really don't know what anyone else can tell me but I feel so unprepared. I have no idea what to expect which makes me super nervous and then everytime I get a twinge Ifind myself wondering what is going on.

Take today for example. The baby has been moving loads, everytime I sit resting back on my sofa he is wriggling around like a gooden with feet poking out all over the place. At the same time I'm getting a sharp pain that feels like it could almost be in my kidneys. My hips are killing me so much so that I cannot put them together enough to cross one leg over the other. Everything feels swollen around thd pubic bine etc.

So really I guess I just have no idea what is going on and as a first time mum I have felt very much that 90% of pregnancy knowledge is left down to looking it up on the interent.

Has anybody else been in this position that could give me some advice? Or just tell me about their experiences??

Luckily my waters started to go with d 1. I remember going to my neighbour to ask her to watch the cat and saying I had no idea if I was in labour.
"It feels like period pains."
"I've been on tbe pill 12 years; I have no idea!"

Even at the hospital, I thought they'd send me home. I was 4cm at thst point. They took.me to the delivery suite!

Second time I just knew.

I think the way I can explain it is intense tensing in your tummy, I didn't get the poo and sick but at the start my early labour was very quick and then I stopped dilating so 16 hours in I had an epidural, I could still feel the tensing at the top of my stomach

I asked the same question as you before my dd was born and was so bored of people saying "you'll know",,, but you will know

It feels like intense pressure but it comes in waves so it is tolerable.and really, it felt like having a big poo too. (Soz)

Are the cramps getting closer together or progressively stronger? If yes might be start of something so you could call the hospital for advice. ( they will most likely tell you to stay at home for while as they can tell from how you talk how close you are). I was unsure if I was in labour for a few hours as was only getting mild twinges. You'll just know when it's time to go in. it's hard to explain but you'll reach a point where you know you need a bit of extra help.
I recently had my first baby and My labour lasted 10 hours from start to finish. I even managed a nap at the beginning. The really painfull bit only lasted around 4 hours and I managed on gas and air. This isnt a brag as its taken a while for me to look back fondly of It( well maybe not fondly lol) but just to say it's not all horror stories. Yes it hurts and It will drain you but that's why it's called labour!. It felt like having the worst diarrhoea ever and the worst constipation ever at the same time but oh the relief when baby finally comes out 😁

I have had two. The first time I got over excited at every little twinge and exhausted myself before it properly started. The second time everytime I thought it might be starting I went for a nap. On the day it really started I woke up feeling more pressure and tried to ignore an odd feeling that came and went. After a few hours I couldn’t ignore it any more and I wanted to be standing up rather than sitting or lying and that’s when I knew it was the real thing.

My waters broke before I had any pains so a few hours later I knew what was happening.

The pain started in my belly and I was only comfy bent over the bed while bouncing on my ball. it was like really bad cramp before you have diarrhoea and kind of took over my body but only lasted minute at a time then I was back to chatting and normal.

I found the tens machine really helped towards the end and then I went in to the water to deliver which also helped. The midwives kept wanting me to lean back in the water but I was only happy leaning over.

The exhaustion was the worse thing, my waters broke before I went to bed on the Wednesday night and I didn't deliver until Friday morning. I wasn't able to sleep with the pain and was bearing weight on my legs the whole time.

You will know when it starts and even if you do have a high pain threshold your instincts will kick in and you will know what's about to happen. It's a great experience don't overthink it just try to enjoy what you can!

I had a long labour as in three nights and two days of increasing pain which actually was fine because the incremental nature of it made it bearable. In a way instead of going nought to a hundred it just developed so it was bearable for me.

I'd say it started like period pain two days before my due date. I remember lying in bed trying to settle for the night and suddenly noticing the regularity of the period like pain. When I checked I had a small bleed which made me call my MW. She said it could be it or nothing. MW came in the morning for a scheduled visit on day 1 and by then I was uncomfortable and DP was sent for a tens machine. That day I was uncomfortable and tired and felt sort of ill like an onset of flu. I stayed in bed as was uncomfortable otherwise. I was able to sleep for stretches of few hours at the time so the pain was maneagable. That night it started getting more intense, the pain was deeper like a seizing sharp pain in my bump travelling down - basically a contraction pain. I slept between these contractions though as was knackered. Day 2 was a haze. I was in pain with the contractions becoming more regular and more intense with the feeling of tight concrete bands restricting me as described by other PPs to the point of losing breath. At that point I wanted to be in water so I lay in the bath. MW was in telephone contact telling me to work with it as I was not in active labour so no point of going to hospital. So I did. I was listening to the hypnobirthing CD and it was helpful as it kept me present. I sort of counted the breaths and knew that it would get more intense at the third one and subside at the fifth. At midnight, when I was positively pruned from being in water most of the day I suddenly wanted to poo like I never wanted to poo before. So I did in the bath Got out and my DP and female friend who was my additional birth partner cleaned up. I got in again and my waters broke. At that point my bump went insane. It started collapsing on one side and raising on the other (scene from Alien comes to mind) and I felt overwhelming and forceful pushing from the inside. Here is the thing. In films they constantly shout "push!" at women in labour. I didn't push. The pushing was happening from the inside and I couldn't stop it. I suddenly went from being controlled and zen despite the pain to quite agitated. I remember it well as wanted to get out of the bath and couldn't do it quick enough and hated being touched. We called MW again alas she went incommunicado for 2 hours so I lay down on the side feeling this incredible force coming down my abdomen. It was painful but not unbearably so - just utterly fucking weird like I had a basketball in there pushing on my cervix (which I sort of did). When we finally got hold of her, she raced down, gave me gas and air (I wouldn't be touched without it) upon examination told me that baby's head was visible so got me on all fours and told me I needed to push. Hoerver I was high on gas and air so I refused She tried to take it away but I wouldn't let go. So I pushed half heartedly in my view, felt a burning pain for a second (now I know that was crowning) and then heard baby crying and that was DD.

I really hope you have a labor like these other ladies OP!
I have a high tolerance for pain generally and I'm certainly not a wimp ever.
My labour contractions felt like I was being torn apart from the inside. The pain was so intense I couldn't breathe I was sucking on the gas and air as if my life depended on it. I spent the whole time either sobbing or screaming.
I also wasn't sure about whether I would know the signs- I had a lot of twinges and Braxton Hix a couple of weeks leading up and I lost my mucus plug early on etc but none of it amounted to anything.
My waters went in one fell swoosh and by the time I got 10mins down the road to the hospital I was 4cm. My whole labour lasted just 4 hours and believe me I really sodding knew about it!
I'm still totally traumatised 6m on. Good luck.

My experience isn't the same as pps
I had no desire to poo
No cramping diarrhoea pain
I had period cramps multipled by a million
A pp likened it to a Kidney infection that's what my contractions felt like with both my dc
The pain would begin gradually then build to its highest point and then die off only to start again 2/3 minutes later
Good luck op

I didn't know I was in labour until just before my waters broke. I'd had pains all morning but thought it was braxton hicks. I went out for a walk, had lunch etc and was just having a rest on my bed when I realised the pains weren't going away and perhaps I'd better time them. A couple of seconds later I felt something sort of 'go' inside me and managed to get off the bed before my waters went everywhere! Once that happened everything speeded up a bit and was quite painful, within a couple of hours I was starting to feel I should push but my husband wasn't home. We only just made it to hospital in time because I was fully dilated and couldn't have waited any longer to push. I had 2 paracetamol and gas and air. Also had to pack my hospital stuff as I was 37 weeks and hadn't done it!

To me felt like leg cramp - that overwhelming, intense, tightening that makes you involuntarily yell - but around my middle. It’s painful, yeah, but in a very powerful, strange kind of way. Not really like anything else I’ve ever experienced. I found it emotionally overwhelming but also very exciting and intense - and gas and air helps! Good luck, I know it’s a cliche but try to relax and be zen about whatever happens x

Have you ever had diarreah OP? You know the churning pains you get? It's like that, only worse.

Maybe imagine a belt but it's inside you, imagine it being tightened way beyond comfort, then loosened, then tightened again but even tighter his time, then loosened ad infinitum.

Get a lovely epidural in you, most blissful moment of my life. I actually enjoyed my second birth immensely because of it.

My contractions felt a bit like the uncontrollable heave that you get with food poisoning, but without the nausea or retching.

Actually the whole process of giving birth was a bit like being sick- hard work but my body knew what to do and just took over.

My only natural labour started with horrible pains up my bum. I couldn't face sitting down. I had had Braxton Hicks that made me think I was starting labour but they weren't enough. When labour started I remember thinking "If this isn't labour then I won't cope with labour".
As it happened I coped on gas and air for a water birth but I remember that moment vividly.

My waters breaking was the first sign with both of mine. The first was just slowly and the contractions started getting stronger and closer together. Classic labour. I couldn't describe the contractions really, not period pain, not diarrhoea, just a painful contracting and release, I guess. But with the waters breaking and the buildup it was obvious what was happening. My DS was born 7.5 hours later. Textbook stuff.

I remember worrying beforehand that I wouldn't know, but really it was kind of obvious. Even more so with my 2nd, as my water broke with such force it was splashing off the floorboards. My first contraction happened maybe a minute later and my 2nd was 2 minutes after the first. There was no mistaking what was happening - except for my 3 year old DS who asked me to make him a cheese sandwich!

I had to catch a goddamn taxi to the hospital and my DD was born an hour later.

Very different experiences, but both unmistakable.

You'll know. By the time you need to do something about it, you'll know.

I didn't find it was anything like cramps once it got started. Like other posters have said, it was more like the feeling you get when you're about to do really urgent diarrhoea. But x100. It reminded me of vomiting too - that kind of feeling of having no control over your bodily processes. It's like a wave that starts off small but you know what's coming, then it peaks and falls off again.

when my MIL told me that it was only ever 30 seconds of pain

I don't know about others but this was not the case for me at all. In fact this was the nightmarish part - I was counting down each contraction and they just kept getting longer and longer, and the breaks kept getting shorter and shorter... until eventually I was having contractions that were over a minute long and barely any time between. It was hellish. I was completely shell shocked by it. DS was stuck though, which might be why that happened.

Okay you ladies have been awesome with all your answers for me thank you.

This evwning i have felt like i need a poo but each time i go to the toilet i can't go but afterwards i get a tight stomach. The first time i ended up unable to stand up straight and was bent over for around a minute.
The second time i just got a mildly tight belly
This last time i got a pain the left side of my belly like when you are a bit constipated.

I have been having a mucas discharge for 2.days now.

I also have a constant back ache. I've taken parcetamol and its not really done anything.

Do we think this could be the beginning of something?

Yes :) Your body's gearing up. Good luck. Get some sleep while you can.

Appalling cramps like a terrible norovirus or food poisoning ramping up all day, along with the feeling of being incredibly upset, totally unable to concentrate and the desire to be alone.

As things progressed I felt the most appalling pressure in my back and bum, then the most unbearable, intense pain radiating down my legs. My hip sockets ached as if my legs were being ripped off, as MW reckoned the baby was hitting my sciatic nerve.

Emotionally I felt like I was being put through horrific violence. I remember thinking "I am totally alone" as if dying or something. Plus the regular vomiting into a tiny cardboard bowl. It was just super awful. Then the second degree tear and subsequent (temporary) loss of bowel control freaked me out even more.

Needless to say I'm not looking forward to going through it again in July.

Wonder if OP has her baby by now after that last post!

All these people saying 'You will know when it's time'.

Well, probably.

Some of us are embarrassingly bad at knowing when we're in labour, even second time around.

Unfortunately no I'm still here waiting......

I have had a few aches and pains
My hips are lillingvme which is sending a pain down both legs.

I still feel luke I need the toilet but nothing happens when I go.

I've gotten 2 sharp pains in my lower back today amd a lot tightening of my belly.

So I think my body is getting me ready very slowly. Due date is thursday so we'll see what happens.

@Elisareven have you been checked out? The pooing sensation is deffo on par with my experience of back labour!!

@DwangelaForever
No not yet, I figured if I call the labour line I'll just be told to wait it out and see how it goes.

I've managed to have a hours nap this afternoon.
I'm going to have a shower in a bit (we don't have a bath) and see how it goes over the evening. Xx