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

[bubbles519]

Just that really

I was induced for my 1st, it was so awful I'm lucky we are both alive, I don't talk about it but I wrote it all down, I was a birth partner for my friend and saw a positive birth and had my second no trouble at all two pushes and in my arms and my 3rd I didn't know it at the time but I sort of hypo birthed all different

Better but I was lucky to have two straightforward water births, no pain relief except TENS machine, water and hypnobirthing. I imagine it’s different if you have complications...

It was painful but I found it hard to compare with pin from injury or illness, I think “intensity” is a better description. I was amazed by how strongly your muscles contract without any conscious control. Crowning was the worst bit but at least the second time I knew it would be over quickly. My second was an induction and I much preferred it as it was quicker and I was more active and less tired.

Although after pains were definitely worse than I expected

I was also induced for my first @mintyt. I have met others that have had similarly awful induction experiences. I also struggle to talk about my first birth and was in fact so terrified by it I had an elective section for my second.

Worse. So much worse. I had a very quick labour - less than 4hrs from start to finish. I’d done all the hypnobirthing and had expected to have a nice latent phase where I’d have a bath and listen to music to calm down. Ha, bollocks. Contractions were 2 minutes apart from the start.

I didn’t have any pain relief (no time obviously) and I’ve never felt a pain like it, I was losing my mind.

As for the pain that followed the birth - that was even worse.

I do want a second one but I’ll be asking for a caesarean.

Mine was better than I expected. I kept waiting for it to get really bad and then it was time to push and then there he was.

Contractions were easier, but what I struggled with was the actual birth bit. I tore lots and the absolute certainty that I was being split in 2 was v frightening. My babies were born with perfect round heads like section babies, no cone heads here. My nethers were in bits. I did recover well TG. Consultant did the stitching afterwards both times, think that helped. I asked him how many stitches, he said 'It's hard to say'

Contractions were worse than I expected but pushing and overall experience was far easier and enjoyable than I could have hoped

Better, contractions were bad but manageable and pushing was less painful then I had thought and was more an intense feeling. I just had gas and air and didn’t need anything else.

First labor was horrendous and in hindsight left me PSTD. Second was better because I made sure everyone knew I was in charge. I double checked everything, asked questions, got them to explain decisions, I made sure my sister watched like a hawk at the business end. I crowned three times but the cord was looped round the neck. My sister said I growled like a bear when a doctor came into the room. The last time a doctor made a bad situation much worse and left me having further surgery for a over a year. The contractions had stopped, the baby was in the birth canal. We all just stared at each other. I remember feeling an absolute rage but kept it to myself apart from the odd growl. Just at the point of the doctor taking over the contraction kicked in and he came out so easy, I laughed and laughed. Relief I suppose!

Worse than I expected. But maybe that’s because I was induced. I don’t know how I’d have coped without the epidural. I’m scared that I won’t get an epidural for some reason this time around.

My latent phase was longer and more painful than I expected and utterly soul-destroying. I was desperate to be admitted to hospital and have access to pain relief, but the midwives kept telling me I wasn’t ready to come in.

I later got stuck at 8cm for hours and that wasn’t as upsetting as the bloody latent phase. Why did no one warn me?

I ended up having an EMCS. Based on my friend’s experience, I expected the recovery to be horrendous. It really wasn’t that bad at all. All things being equal (which they’re not), I’d definitely choose another CS over a vaginal birth.

Much worse - the sheer length of 36hrs active labour

I barely remember any of them so can't have been that bad! The scariest thing is worrying that everything won't be ok imo.

Worse, much much worse with first.
Second was bleak but was an induction. Pushing part much better.

Third a breeze!

I was surprised that the cervical examinations were so painful. I never screamed during a contraction, but I couldn’t keep quiet during the cervical examinations (until later in labour, when they let me have gas and air). Why can’t someone invent a better method of finding out how dilated your cervix is? An internal ultrasound maybe?

Horrendously painful the first time. Second time I had an epidural and it was fine

Much, much worse than I expected.

Not half as bad as I'd expected.

Worse. Have had bad broken bones and injuries through equestrian sports but then you can at least get drugged up on morphine and it’s all better. My birth experience was very fast, indescribably painful, horrific and terrifying. I’d urge anyone doing it first time to not try to brave it out with no pain relief like I did!

Better. Weird, not like I expected, painful but not comparable to anything else in how it felt, it was in bursts so it was tolerable and over quickly fortunately.

Fricking awful and put me off ever doing it again!

The first time round not so bad. The labour pains were bad and I vomited from the intensity with each contraction, then had an epidural and plain sailing after that. The second time, I wanted to try natural birth with no pain meds. Labour failed to progress and I ended up on syntocin drip with no pain relief. The pain overwhelmed me completely and I went to a very dark place in my mind. And yet I’d do it again in a heartbeat if I wasn’t too old (in my eyes!)

I actually found the pushing the baby out much less painful than the contractions and was glad I got to feel that without pain relief!

Induced with first and although I didn’t need a drip, it was more painful than my second. I can only think it must be because it’s artificial. Second labour was natural and easy, contractions lasted only 30 seconds so nothing I couldn’t cope with, didn’t even have had and air. Pushing was more of an uncomfortable feeling than painful.

Better, because I had an early epidural. (This is something my consultant recommended, as I had been terrified of giving birth. Up till then, I'd thought they would try to withold it as far as possible. I still had to keep asking, but at least I could say it was in my birth plan).

All the stuff you hear about how much it hurts... That's without an epidural. I felt nothing once it was in. Nothing. I even slept.

The recovery was worse than I expected, though. Could barely walk for days. Took weeks to feel normal. Glad I planned for extra support, because I really needed it. I basically stayed in bed for weeks and was spoilt. Quite right, too!