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Childbirth

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

Original poster

What do your contractions feel like?

23 replies

Mommabear20 · 29/05/2022 16:23

So I've had 2 DC, both VB. I felt my contractions in my hips and radiated down my upper thigh, never thought anything of it until discussing labour with SIL and cousin today. Apparently that's really weird! Has anyone else ever felt contractions in that area? Or is it always tummy or back?

If I'm not the only one out there (🤞) what position were you in to deliver? I had both DC laid on my back and hoping to do it differently this time around but my legs just wouldn't support me during contractions because of how I felt the pain, so standing/ squatting isn't an option 🤦‍♀️

OP posts:
Barrawarra · 29/05/2022 16:28

Wow that’s so interesting, I can’t imagine that! Both times in my lower tummy only, very similar to period pain but obviously more intense. First time was on my feet a lot but then had to go on back at the end for monitoring, and the pain became exponentially worse. Second time I was on all fours and she wheeched out in two hrs! Sounds good to try and move about a bit but if this is just how your body is then what can you do. I loved reading birthing stories in run ups to labour.

Original poster
Mommabear20 · 29/05/2022 16:32

@Barrawarra I'm only know thinking about how weird it is! 😂 I never thought about it until they said it was strange! 🤣 I guess my nerves are just wired different there 🤷‍♀️

OP posts:
Pinkflipflop85 · 29/05/2022 16:34

Mine was my hips. To the point where I couldn't stand up.

Original poster
Mommabear20 · 29/05/2022 16:35

@Pinkflipflop85 hahaha 🤣 glad it's not just me!

OP posts:
BewareTheBeardedDragon · 29/05/2022 16:39

Period pain only more so for me. Lower back and abdomen.

SoupDragon · 29/05/2022 16:46

Mine were pretty much just like period pains (only far, far worse!) but my legs did collapse with each one as the contractions got stronger.

ohfook · 29/05/2022 16:56

From hip to hip right across my back.
My midwife said to me that how you experience period cramps is fairly likely how you'll experience contractions to (obviously but worse!)

Dementedswan · 29/05/2022 17:00

Mine was radiating thigh pain, was so weird! Midwife said it's a sign of fast labour. Dc1 was 6 hours and dc2 less than 2 hours from start to finish.

Dementedswan · 29/05/2022 17:05

Oh and dc2 was back to back. Excruciating thigh pain yet nothing in back or pelvis.

FunForMe · 29/05/2022 17:12

DS1 - hips, thighs - extremely bad period pains...

DS2 - back to back, all the contraction pain was entirely in my arsehole... omg the pain still haunts me 7 years later. I literally thought he was coming out of my ass.

Loulou1712 · 31/05/2022 21:09

Lower back, the pain burnt in my hip joints and lower back as if I was being stabbed with a hot poker 😂 both babies were back to back though

Pregnant again and praying for a non back to back baby!

Wookiewoo29 · 01/06/2022 00:01

Back to back labour. Contractions felt like my pelvis was going to break with each one. No tummy tightening at all! Towards the end I couldn't keep my bum on the bed due to the pelvic pressure. Was told repeatedly that I wasn't in labour as "that's not what labour feels like" and to go home. the monitor wasn't picking up my contractions either as my contractions weren't in the place they were monitoring iykwim. They were basically rolling their eyes at me.
I begged for someone to examine me in the end. Turns out I was in labour and my baby was born less than 30 minutes later. Would of ended up having my premature baby at home on my living room floor. He needed help with breathing after he was born and spent three weeks in SCBU so is a scary thought to think I may not have even been at hospital if I had listened to them.

I'm 38 weeks with my second and terrified I will be told I'm not in labour again when the time comes!

Lacedwithgrace · 01/06/2022 00:27

Hips, lower tummy and upper thighs, particularly the crease? Between thigh and hip/tummy. I have sacroilitis though so my hips are bastards

Nat6999 · 01/06/2022 01:18

Mine were like than & on my bladder, almost felt like a very bad uti, ds was back to back & after 30 hours in labour I ended up with emcs, the midwife who was in theatre said I would never have delivered him naturally.

TooManyPJs · 01/06/2022 02:03

My entire body felt like it was in pain. The pain was horrific and everywhere. I took all my clothes off as I couldn't have anything touching me. My mum told me hers was like a really awful stomach pain similar to what PPs have described. I was really surprised to hear that as that was not what it was like for me at all. It certainly stated off as a stomach pain but very quickly progressed to being everywhere.

The crowning, being localised, was nothing in comparison. Sore but very manageable.

WildCoasts · 01/06/2022 02:57

They felt just like tightening within my belly.

20viona · 02/06/2022 07:17

Mine were all in my stomach and back and it was like hot serrated knives jabbing me. Why am I doing this again in 3 months 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

00deed1988 · 02/06/2022 07:24

Mine was my back, bum and upper inner thighs. None in my stomach at all. He has back to back. I am a midwife and women vary and babies position make it different even throughout the same labour. Anecdotally though stomach is most common!

VeronicaFranklin · 22/06/2022 14:18

I have birth last Thursday to my first baby, my contractions started out like tightenings of my tummy then gradually included period type pains.

I'd say they're hard to describe but come in waves and I managed to breathe / walk them off for most part.

They do get intense but are manageable for some time. I had paracetamol, gas and air then eventually epidural.

Don't be afraid to opt for pain relief if you want some. There's no medal at the end if you choose to do it without (unless that's your preference)

stuntbubbles · 22/06/2022 14:20

Like a giant had transmogrified my spine into a white hot corkscrew and was trying to yank it out of my bumhole.

Itsonlyabiscuit · 22/06/2022 14:28

First baby: the way I describe it is that I was trapped in the jaws of a JCB-style digger, that was twisting my spine to the point where it was going to snap. The pain was in my waist and radiated outward to my abdomen, down my back and in my bottom. Was made to lie on my back thoughout the entire 24 hour ordeal. Grotesque.

Second baby: strong cramping deep in pelvis. Rescued by epidural before things got as bad as first time. Delivered with legs in stirrups (forceps delivery).

Third baby: ELCS

ChagSameachDoreen · 28/06/2022 16:19

Mine were all in my bum. I hadn't been expecting that! Absolute agony. I was yelling for an epidural as quickly as I could say "birth plan out the window" Grin

Upsideandundergarments · 28/06/2022 21:40

TMI but I felt like I'd been really constipated for a while and was trying to do a big poo but it was stuck. Sorry sounds horrible but that's how I would describe it. I was lucky that I got a birth pool so was lying forward with my legs in a kind of frog like position which was great. Then he was back to back and got stuck so I flipped onto my back, grabbed a pool handle near feet and kind of pulled with my feet braced against the side of the tub. That felt good. Really, really recommend a water birth if you can have one. I had PGP so struggled to stand but this gave me total movement.

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