Was labour as bad as you expected or were you expecting it to be worse?

[bubbles519]

Just that really

Not as bad. IME broken bones hurt much more and you don't get a lovely baby afterwards.

Much worse first time round and much better second time round.

Not a natural labour ( induced x2) but neither as bad as I expected.

Pain was worse than expected but overall experience was better than expected eg didn’t feel exposed or vulnerable or panicked. Lots of intervention but felt controlled and safe and memories are generally positive.

First one worse... after that I knew what I was letting myself in for!

Worse, in ways I wasn't expecting, but every labour is different.

First birth ended up with an EMCS

Second was a natural birth and I'd say pain was less than I expected.

For me it was worse, but I was induced using a really high dose of syntocinin. My waters had broken prematurely and DS was still very high. The contractions were incredibly strong and relentless.

Second time I went into labour naturally and it was much more like what I thought labour would be like. It was uncomfortable but manageable as I had gaps between contractions.

It’s such an individual experience. I have a friend who described it like moderate period pain and then others who have said it was much more painful than they had expected.

If I were to say anything to a first timer it would be to go in with an idea of your best case scenario but be flexible when it comes to pain relief. If you need it you need it. Likewise you may be fine with just gas and air or nothing!

It was horrific. Frightening, horrific, and one if the worst memories of my life. C-secs after that for me - nice, calm, predictable.

It was looooooooooooonnnnnnggggg.
I wasn't expecting to not sleep for three nights on the trot. And then have to look after a new born baby afterwards.

It was better than I expected.

I was very surprised to find that the actual giving birth but didn't really hurt, as such. Yeh it's uncomfortable feeling the burn when the head comes out but it was fine. The contractions though?! Nobody warned me that they're the most horrific pain in the world. I really didn't expect them to be as bad as they were.

The entire experience was better and quicker than I thought. I think I under estimated how painful contractions would be. In my birth plan I didn't want pethadine and ended up getting it. Made me sleep between contractions which was great lol x

Second time I went into labour naturally and it was much more like what I thought labour would be like. It was uncomfortable but manageable as I had gaps between contractions
I had 2 natural labours, gas and air rocks.

My first was very long, same as fruitbrew. 3 nights of zero sleep. So that shocked me! Second labour a lot quicker (over same day) but the contractions were much more intense. So I was shocked both times All worth it in the end though of course.

It was better than I expected. I heard a lot of horror stories about first labours taking forever and sometimes days. My son came 8 hours after my waters broke. It was about as painful as I expected but I didn't feel anxious as expected and it all just kind of happened naturally. I'll probably have a horrendous one second time around 😂

Way better than I expected. I have (touch wood) had a lucky life so far with no physical injury/broken bones etc so it is the most painful and difficult thing I’ve done, but it was still very manageable.

The first time was very long, nearly 3 days, which I wasn't expecting, I also had an epidural and was told I wouldn't really feel the baby coming out, but I certainly did, and after having my second there was no difference.
The second went better than I expected. Iy 5 hours total, unfortunately didn't have time for any painkillers at all apparently. The actual birth, as in baby coming out was worse than I expected. I'm not sure what I was expecting though!
I currently pregnant with my third and I am so anxious about the birth. I'm sure by the time I get to full term I will just be desperate for the baby to come out but I just have a really bad feeling about it, and I'm terrified to be honest.

I've had worse periods!

Not as bad! I was induced & I was put on a drip, it was very intense. Assisted delivery & episiotomy, followed by a haemorrhage. Sounds nasty, but I’d rather give birth 100 times then the first 2 weeks of recovery. That’s the hardest bit x

Was worse than I had ever imagined. I think I asked DH to kill me at one point

I used to have terrible period pains. Like faint from the pain and the heaviness. I also broke my nose very badly as a teen and had manual adjustment (where they try and yank it back into place with no pain relief) and then surgery (which was hideous).

Giving birth was a doddle compared to that! As @Johnson10 says it's intense birth, that's a good way of describing it!

I found it completely incomparable to any other pain. Not because it was worse, I really mean it was just incomparable. I couldn't place it on a "scale" and judge it in relation to anything else. Hard to explain really. For me it was a very productive type of pain which made it easier to bear than other painful experiences. So whilst it was probably the second most severe pain I have experienced, it was actually much easier to bear than other painful experiences have been. I just found that I went into a kind of zone and was very focused. All sense of time passing was distorted, so although I was in labour for almost 40 hours I didn't really feel like that at the time. Bloody well did afterwards though 😂 Felt like I'd run 5 marathons back to back and then been hit by a truck.

found it completely incomparable to any other pain. Not because it was worse, I really mean it was just incomparable. I couldn't place it on a "scale" and judge it in relation to anything else.
This. They try to prepare you but it's like anything, until you're going through it you dont quite join all the dots!

The contractions were worse than I was expected but I never considered the pain would all be in my back and they were very intense especially with dd1, went from nothing to every minute from the off

The actual pushing wasn't as bad as I was expecting though. I think it's different for everyone

Not as bad as I expected, but both very quick. I don't know how I would have coped with 12+ hours of active labour or 2 hours of pushing that some women have to endure.

I has pain relief in the form of tens machine and with first I used gas and air.