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Childbirth

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

Original poster

What do contractions feel like?

60 replies

Rnm62 · 31/07/2021 23:34

Hi everyone,

I’m curious to know what contractions feel like. All examples and experiences welcome!

Also the most painful part of childbirth. The contractions? Crowning? Transition? Pushing?

OP posts:
Givemebackmylilo · 01/08/2021 10:05

thankfully with contractions the pain eases and you get a complete break before the next ones begin

Oh how I wish people wouldn't say this.

It is simply not true in quite a lot of cases, especially if you're on the drip.

Sometimes OP there are no breaks between contractions, they simply get a little less painful (still agony) before the next one happens

FTEngineerM · 01/08/2021 21:56

I second the period pain feeling.

But extreme, but intermittent.

So they last roughly 60 seconds, and that is from 0 up to max pain and then down to zero again so it peaks for around 30 seconds. And that happens about 3 times every 10 minutes and then increasing in frequency.

It hurt me like hell, whilst it was happening, then s soon as the contraction was over I was back laughing and joking again. It’s odd.

BertieBotts · 01/08/2021 22:37

Crowning is the worst bit, but contraction pain is bizarre, it kind of takes over all of your consciousness, I would black out. Afterwards I'd get this hazy oxytocin feeling.

I think crowning feels worse (to me) because you're "back in the room" so to speak. With contraction pain there are a load of endorphins which go with it, so you're kind of in this other worldly space. Which doesn't mean it isn't horrendously painful. Somehow all of the natural birth things seem to skip this part and imply that the being in another place makes the pain not exist either Confused absolutely not in my experience.

I've never had a c-section but have been reading about it as my baby was breech for a bit (fingers crossed seems to be OK now). I came to the comclusion that while vaginal birth is pain on a 9-10/10 for a few very intense hours, c-section recovery is probably pain on a 3-4 / 10 for several days/weeks. So overall you probably experience about the same amount of pain, just a bit more spread out! Both options are no walk in the park. I think on balance I'm OK with the intensity over a shorter period.

Givemebackmylilo · 01/08/2021 23:39

So they last roughly 60 seconds, and that is from 0 up to max pain and then down to zero again so it peaks for around 30 seconds. And that happens about 3 times every 10 minutes and then increasing in frequency.

Again, this isn't the case for everything. Sometimes there is no break from the start

girlmama32 · 01/08/2021 23:41

I would say it started off like period pains then got gradually worse and more into my back like stabbing pains. Crowning was by far the worst part for me.

AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken · 01/08/2021 23:43

@texasss

Exactly like period pain*.

*I used to get period pain so bad I would vomit and would have to leave school/work early as I couldn't sit or concentrate.

Agreed.

I found it a more grinding pain than a stabbing or shooting pain.

AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken · 01/08/2021 23:45

I don’t remember any crowning pain. I think my constructions were much worse and I knew once it was out they’d stop so just went for it.

Don’t be scared though. If it was that bad, everyone would be an only child.

PetuniaButterworth · 01/08/2021 23:53

It felt like a quick electric shock of in my lower back that slowly rolled from the left to right hip for the length of the contraction. It wasn't overly sore but I always got the urge to lift my back and bum off the bed when it happened.

Daisy4569 · 01/08/2021 23:58

I was induced but didn’t feel contractions at all. I was chatting to my partner throughout and the midwife had to tell me when I was having them ( and I could watch the numbers on the monitor increase). My labour was 2 hours with 10mins of pushing with no pain relief. Reading these responses I feel very lucky and reconsidering doing it again in case I’m not so lucky next time!! In terms of the most painful bit I think just the pressure of pushing but it wasn’t really pain.

mij66 · 02/08/2021 00:04

So muchnpain fornthe contractions, it just hurt and all I could do was keep yaking more gas, as soon as I got in the pool though (water birth) everythinh was 100 times easier, maybe cause the contractions hurt so much!

Henio · 02/08/2021 00:11

It was just like really bad period pains coming in waves for me. I found crowning was the most painful part of the birth itself, but nothing compared to the pain of peeing for the first few days after giving birth 😭

Enough4me · 02/08/2021 00:14

Like an electric shock from the pelvis up. I screamed into a towel and bit it through contractions, as found them unbearable but letting the pain out vocally helped me. I'm not a loud person normally.

TENs machine only helped for an hour before I was fed up with changing the levels up and down. Gas & air was better.

Thegreymethod · 02/08/2021 00:18

Mine felt like my body was being turned inside out, thats the only way I can describe them they were awful (I had a big 1st baby, almost 10lb) and quick labour so that might have had something to do with the pain. Before having him I always assumed the pushing the baby out would be the painful bit and the contractions would just be like stomach ache but the pushing out was a breeze compared to the contractions.

Thegreymethod · 02/08/2021 00:20

@Henio

It was just like really bad period pains coming in waves for me. I found crowning was the most painful part of the birth itself, but nothing compared to the pain of peeing for the first few days after giving birth 😭
Oh god yes the first wee!!! People had warned me and I forgot, had a wee and almost jumped off the toilet!!
User1357 · 02/08/2021 00:22

First baby, the crowning hurt more than contractions. I felt like my vagina was on fire and lay in the pool afterwards with the shower head spraying cold water down there.

Second baby, contractions were hell. I wasn’t expecting it because of my first. It felt like every muscle from my knees to my shoulders were being tightened causing every muscle to burn. My back felt like it had been broken and In conjunction with that it felt like an elephant standing on me at the peak of contraction. I will say though, it was over very quickly and I’d do it all again for my beautiful baby. Well, I’ll give it another year to completely forget.

MerryGoRoundBrain · 02/08/2021 00:27

Contractions were like waves of pain, I kept walking around, couldn’t sit down. Transitioning was just weird, also mentally challenging. Waves of pain felt nauseating, I managed by getting my partner to hold me really tight when pain was at its worst. Like the squeeze on the outside was distracting me from the horror inside of my body. After transitioning it just felt quick and easy, DS practically fell out. Disclaimer: apparently I had a very quick (6 hours) and easy labour.

MrsFin · 02/08/2021 00:33

@Waferbiscuit

Like being stabbed in the back. Spiky!

Not like period pains!

I disagree. They are exactly like period pains, but much stronger.
The actual bit when the baby comes out doesn't hurt at all.

JuneJuly · 02/08/2021 02:35

I didn't feel my contractions with either of my 2 births & neither did I feel the urge to push with dc1. The midwife had her hand on my belly & had to tell me to push when she felt it harden.

Felt no pain with either birth & consequently had no need for any pain relief. I have no idea why or how this can happen but I know it does for some women, albeit not the norm.

JuneJuly · 02/08/2021 02:45

@Daisy4569

I was induced but didn’t feel contractions at all. I was chatting to my partner throughout and the midwife had to tell me when I was having them ( and I could watch the numbers on the monitor increase). My labour was 2 hours with 10mins of pushing with no pain relief. Reading these responses I feel very lucky and reconsidering doing it again in case I’m not so lucky next time!! In terms of the most painful bit I think just the pressure of pushing but it wasn’t really pain.
Snap!

As I said in my last post, it's happened for me twice although I did have the urge to push with dc2, still absolutely no pain though. Wasn't pushing for long with either.

I was meant to be induced with dc1 but when they came to induce me they found I was already 7cm dilated! Immediately before having to push I was bouncing on a birthing ball, eating crisps & strawberries.

Newmum29 · 02/08/2021 02:58

Contractions were by far worse for me than the pushing. Really bad period pain. Basically like a metal vice squeezing my uterus relentlessly. Gas, air and a bath did f all.

ShippingNews · 02/08/2021 03:16

Yes, like Braxton Hicks multiplied by a thousand ! And crowing was like someone pushing a red hot poker into my vagina . How I decided to do it again is beyond me !

ShippingNews · 02/08/2021 03:16

*crowning, not crowing !

Sweetpeasaremadeofcheese · 02/08/2021 03:48

Period pains that get stronger and stronger. They were post painful with my first where they actually felt like my uterus was burning hot! With my third my waters were long gone so it was a weird empty achey pain.

PinkPlantCase · 02/08/2021 04:20

I’m not sure why people are disagreeing with each other, OP can see for themselves that experiences are all quite different.

I have birth at home, had a spontaneous labour at 41 weeks and used a pool for the pushing/crowning stage.

For me contractions were like very intense period pains, it was like a wave, I actually imagined surfing up them 🤣 the start would be not so bad and then the feeling/pain would build and just as it began to feel unbearable the feeling would subside and I’d get a pain free break before the next one.

Transition was the hardest for me, that’s when I really had to go inside myself mentally and just let my body do it, it was probably the time when I felt the least in control. Brutal is the only way I can describe it. I can’t really remember the feeling just that it was a lot!

At the end of the transition stage by body started to push in its own, to start with I could see my belly look like it was pushing down without me telling it too, that was a bit of a surprise to start with! Especially as the midwife hadn’t arrived yet!!

I probably found the pushing part the easiest, crowning stung. I had a second degree tear to my perineum but I didn’t feel that at all at the time. Most of the stretching that I could feel felt like it was at the front around my urethra and labia. When I was pushing the contractions for me were roughly 2 minutes apart and it took several contractions of his head part way out before his head was all the way out. I only pushed during contractions. I didn’t mind that though, it felt very productive! I was still mooing like a cow but atleast I knew it was nearly over!! I was feeling babies head and the general area with my hand during the crowning and that really helped me understand what was going on. And it was nice to actually be feeling my baby’s head. To touch babies head feels surprising similar to the rest of down there, underwater it does anyway.

faithfulbird20 · 02/08/2021 04:34

Like my vagina and lower back were going to fall off.