what is labour like?

[amb885]

hi ladies i know labour is very painful, but i was wondering what your personal experiences were like. i'm only about 4 months along but worrying a bit thanks everyone x

Get an epidural if you want to do it pain free. Why suffer if you don’t need to? Especially with a first labour as they are sooo long.

Don’t be scared OP, it’s something your body can do.

I haven’t got a particularly high pain threshold, but I had both of my DS fine, I didn’t even have gas & air, I would recommend drinking raspberry leaf tea a couple of weeks before baby is due, and hiring a tens machine.

Every labour is different, I found it bearable. I went into labour the contractions built, contractions are painful, like really tight squeezing, I wouldn’t have been able to talk through mine, but they do come and go, they get a lot faster as baby is about to be born. Yes it does burn as they head crowns, but once the head is out the body pushes out easily.

It’s totally awesome, so many women give birth many times, it’s just a short period of time and when you have you baby it is a feeling you just can not describe. I genuinely wouldn’t fear giving birth if I had to do it again. And it is something you forget.

You will be fine OP, try not to think about it and don’t listen to horror stories, it’s so unfair when you are worrying anyway. Good luck.

It starts off with mild contractions that are not too close together. It feels like period cramps at first. This can go on for a while. Maybe 12 hours or so as the contractions come closer together and become more intense. For the first few hours I managed them with a TENS machine and this took away all the pain (recommended!). After 12 hours I was very close to transitioning - this is when your cervix is fully dilated and you're about to start the pushing stage. I'm not going to lie - this part is extremely painful. I felt dreadful and threw up everywhere. I started on gas and air at this point and it helped. You then need to push the baby out through very intense and painful contractions. Some people find this stage easier as you have something to focus on. For me I struggled with the pushing and needed forceps (which was fine. I got a spinal block and I felt no pain at all as they pulled the baby out). Basically it's very painful but a natural biological process and you get through it. As soon as it's over you just don't think about it.

Awful but finite. A lot of people live in permanent pain. This pain ends.

By the end of pregnancy, you are begging for labour so those first contractions actually excited me as something was finally happening.
Started off like mild period pains, in which you get a nice break inbetween. I literally ate my dinner whilst having contractions every 5 mins.
Then the intensity increases over time and it does get extremely painful, but depending on your preferences - controlled breathing, tens, or pain relief will get you through the contractions.

I went into the hospital unknowingly pushing at 10cm - my body was just forcing pressure down into my butt and it was a relief when I could finally push with it instead of trying to go against it and 'hold it in' as I had absolutely no idea it was baby coming. I just thought it was my body needing a poo - and I was trying to go against the pressure as I really didnt want to do a shit in my car.

I felt relief as baby was coming down, but then as he started crowning it stung like a bitch. It's kind of like if you try stretching the sides of your mouth - that kind of feeling - but painful.

Then out pops baby and you forget all about everything

Everything I was scared or worried off ended up happening during my delivery (epidural, episiotomy & forceps) and yet nothing was anywhere near as bad as my mind made it when it came to the crunch.

I really tried to keep in mind every contraction was one more done, never to be had again lol and a step closer to baby. Keep in mind that it has to end and you can make it x

It hurts obviously, a bit like waves of really bad stomach cramps. I've never suffered much with period pains, so would liken it more to having awful indigestion. But you also get a barrage of hormones that are like the biggest natural high. I used gas and Air a lot and found it helped. I found the contractions worse than the pushing/crowning. I also felt pretty excited about meeting my baby and not being pregnant any more which kept me going. For most of it, I would say it wasn't that bad but when it gets to the tough bits you just kind of zone into it and some how you get through. Im hoping I get chance to do it again!

So horrific I honestly wanted to die part way through.

So horrific I actually booked an abortion when I found out I was pregnant the second time.

So horrific I found major surgery to remove my baby a much easier and better option.

But it's not like that for everyone.

Annoying.

I didn’t find contractions painful, I found them annoying. I was out shopping and eating out whilst having contractions for the first few days of labour. (Was in labour 3 days)

The most painful part was crowning, the pain just came out of nowhere and I wasn’t expecting it. But yeah, everyone’s different with different pain thresholds. (:

Also, I didn’t have any pain relief. I stayed home up until I was 9cm. (: well ‘ard 🤣🤣

Labour is bloody brilliant when you have an early epidural, in my experience!

Bodgedboxdye I'm not sure I'd say well 'ard, just a different experience of labour. For me, DC1 was back to back and face presentation. They sat on sciatic nerve for so long I have long term neuropathy and loss of bladder control and their exit ripped my pelvic muscles off the bone.

I had no pain relief until 2 days after birth.

Like a wild animal eating you alive from the inside. That was my first induced labor.
The second natural labor I had natural contractions and breaks in between and that was very manegable. You'll be ok OP, just make sure to take the gas and air and the epidural early enough should you so choose. Painful as it it it was the most amazing experience of my life, both times. The best days in my whole life ...

Completely unique experience to everyone. My labour was great up to 10cm, fucking horrendous at delivery. Most aren't. Yours could sting a bit or be the worst thing ever. Your experience will be yours and like nothing else's

I'm almost embarrassed to say it when ladies are talking about their horrible experiences, but mine was pretty good.

I was induced, which sucks, because they don't give you the good pain relief on the induction ward. I was in early labour for about a day and it was horrible then, because the pain relief they gave me didn't work.
Then when things got moving the pain was pretty intense but I got on the gas and air which made me not really care about the pain at all, and made me rather silly.
I had an epidural and spinal block, and the anesthesiologist was great, he was like a ninja he was so quick. The pain relief worked really well. I was pushing for about an hour and then I had my baby.

Everyone's labour is different. I got extremely lucky that mine was good, and I made pain relief choices that others might not. I still felt like I got hit by a bus afterwards, but I was pretty much back to normal after 6 weeks.

The best advice I got was from my mum, which was to take a small cup to clean yourself after peeing, because wiping can be very stingy.

Mine went on for 80 hours. Every 5 mins, it felt like someone was wringing my kidneys out. DS was back to back.

@sanityisamyth

Mine went on for 80 hours. Every 5 mins, it felt like someone was wringing my kidneys out. DS was back to back.

No pain relief either until the last 30 minutes and I gave in to diamorphine as I was exhausted.

I think it varies from person to person. I was lucky in that my mum was a midwife and she told me lovely birthing stories along with my sisters/ aunts/ gran etc. So birth was framed relatively positively for me.

Like PP have said, like bad period pains but probably more manageable as they come in waves, the pain for me was never constant. I found with my first counting backwards helped as I knew after 20 seconds or so the pain would be over.

With my second I had no pain relief (didn’t get to the hospital until I was pushing 🙈). I don’t think the pain was intense the second time as I was induced first time but I did have a wobble just before leaving home for the hospital as I was scared I wasn’t in labour (thanks to midwife on phone who said I was too quiet to be in active labour!).

I read some hypno birthing books with the second and a book by ina May which I think helped me remain calm.

Defo agree with PP that you feel like a superhero the next day!!

I found labour strangely satisfying. I honestly felt really empowered and had the mindset throughout my labours that I would be in control. The pain was intense, but not unbearable, and was a natural and raw pain rather than conventional pain. I focused on the fact I was supposed to feel pain and used this to stop me being frightened of it. I managed fine with gas and air for dd1 and had no pain relief with ds2. I found the stitches afterwards significantly more painful than labour itself. For me, wisdom teeth pain is the worst pain. Overall, if I could bottle up and sell how amazing and proud I felt after each labour, I'd be a millionaire. I would happily go through labour again to experience the post birth happy bubble I shared with my husband each time... It really was something special.

I was induced due to pre-eclampsia which was diagnosed at 40+1. I was already in early labour but had no idea. When they examined me I was 4cm dilated but the drs advised continuing with the induction as they wanted to speed things along. They broke my waters and I was hooked up to a drip. Labour lasted around 4 hours and was excruciatingly painful. I had gas and air which helped to take the edge off. I did request an epidural but by the time someone arrived to do it I felt the urge to push and upon examination was told I was fully dilated. Having to push without any pain relief was unbelievably painful. Luckily the pushing stage didn't last long. Ended up with a 2nd degree tear which took a long time to heal.

Squeezing and pulling at the same time. Keep active and upright as much as you can. I walked and walked and walked and it was bearable. The worst moments in my four labours were being kept on the bed, getting stuck on a couch mid contraction and having a huge contraction on the toilet.

Like a PP, I did feel euphoric at some points during pushing. Got raised eyebrows from the midwives, but like other PPs, each pain is a step closer to your goal so it's not like a migraine, or a broken bone, or a toothache, just remember it has a point and keep breathing!

I had back labours - the babies weren't back to back but I only felt the contractions round the back, none in the front at all. I think it must be to do with the position of my uterus because I feel period pains there.

The best way I can describe contractions is it felt like I had rows of guitar strings or elastic bands stretched across my back and someone was grabbing them or twisting them. It started off quite gently but then got stronger and stronger. The good thing was that, for me at least, there were breaks in between the contractions, even up the the point of delivery.

I had an elective C section booked but went into labour before it. It was like in films, the dramatic gush of waters breaking and then pain that got pretty bad quite quickly - it was like period pain on steroids. I also felt a bit sick and shaky when walking. But when I got to hospital they said I wasn't even dilated. Maybe because the baby was breech the pain was worse, I don't know. But I was pretty glad I had the C section...don't think I'm cut out for childbirth! The recovery was far quicker and easier than I'd been led to believe and I'll probably go for a section next time too.

Just make sure you have good support and that your birthing partner is well briefed; as the midwives are sometimes too busy and in my case I was stereotyped that I would have a longish labour as it was a first baby. Both my labours were very quick (3 hours from first mild labour pain to finish), the first I was unsupported as DH was sent home as he would need to have 'rest for when I needed him the following day'. I was left in a bath by myself and I went into survival mode, didn't think rationally and just focused on not panicking as the pain was so severe and thinking if this is what it is like at the beginning; then how will I cope later. I managed to get out of the bath when an HCA came to check on me. I was then left in a room by myself. After a 'rest and be thankful' brief respite, I then had the urge to push and pulled the alarm, which was fortunately responded to by the previously dismissive midwives and my baby was delivered 10 minutes later. My DH obviously arrived too late, so baby number 2 he stayed throughout. Baby 2 had a much bigger head and was much more painful, the midwife also broke my waters which may have also made it more painful; but I wasn't left emotionally traumatised, as I was after the first, as I had both DH and midwife with me throughout and the support really made a difference; as although it was very painful I wasn't frightened.

I was petrified too OP and it turned out that my fears were justified, it is very very difficult.

However, the joy when you hold your baby for the first time makes it all absolutely worth it.

It was horrendous pain but it wouldn't stop me from doing it again.

Good luck, you will be great xx