Describing the pain during childbirth

[aussiebebe]

I've never had babies and definitely want to be a mother. I always ask women if they can describe the pain of childbirth by using language that someone who has never gone through it can understand. For example, my mum always says that the pain we feel under our stomach when on period is intensified during childbirth. That's the sort of language I can relate to because I've felt period pain before.
Thanks ladies 💕

Yeah, it's just like very intense period pain only it's for a really positive reason so that makes it not like pain, iyswim? Plus it's not constant but comes in waves.

Yes, like intense period cramps that come on and build up to peak. Think of the word contraction literally, all the muscles tense up but you can't control it. Then it goes and comes back again.

Very very intense period pain. When I had to call the hospital with my first to see if I was allowed to go in or not I do remember saying "I'm either in labour or dying so I think I should come in" the midwife probably thought I was a complete drama queen.

Yes very similar to what your mum said.

I will be honest ... it is definitely not the worst pain i have ever had.

In my experience migraine pain has been so much worse.

In fact , ( and this is a bit embarrassing) with my second child i was up all night with back ache doing weird yoga poses on the bedroom floor while my DH slept... It did not occur to me in the slightest that I was in labour. It didn't even cross my mind 😳
Our son was born the following morning... id left it so late being a dufus that i was blue lighted in an ambulance.

So yes most definitely not the worst pain I ever had !

Agreed that it feels a lot like period pains - same location of pain - but really strong (at the peak). The pain shocked me and scared me.

I actually thought I could die from the pain!
I didn't think it was much like period pains, but I was on the drip and dd was back to back, so there was no break between contractions, one just went into another.

Horrendous. Had a planned section the second time !

It's like the worst period pain ever but in waves- so strange really - I felt like I was going to die it was so intense but then it would stop and I would have a minute or 2 of thinking it's not so bad really! Then OMG it's happening again.
I loved the gas and air it really helped me and I felt totally stoned- some people are sick but I kept telling DH to have a hit as it was greeeeat! It's all worth it in the end though - you have a lovely baby.
You then spend the next 24 hrs marvelling about what you have produced then spend the next 24 months stumbling around in a sleep deprived haze with sore nipples.

Like being run over by a truck repeatedly.

Pretty much

It starts off like period pain that comes on suddenly, intensifies to a peak and dies down completely within about 30 seconds. In between contractions you don't feel any pain. As time goes on the contractions become more regular and spaced a few minutes apart, and the intensity of the pain increases.

What nobody tells you is that early labour can go on for a very long time. When I gave birth to my daughter I started feeling contractions at around 5pm, by 8pm they were regular enough that we were sure it was going to happen that night and we called PIL to come and take care of our son. We arrived at the hospital at midnight and I was told I was "almost 2cm dilated" even though I had been having quite painful contractions for a few hours. I stayed in overnight and by 7am I was still having painful contractions but they had slowed down (at one point they slowed to every 15 minutes) and I was still "a little less than 3cm dilated". Then at about 8:30am it all kicked off and I got an epidural. In retrospect this was the point at which my body has shifted into active labour. My active labour was recorded in my notes as being only 2 hours long. I don't know exactly how painful the contractions would have been at that point if I hadn't had the epidural (probably very!) but the actual form of the contractions didn't change, just the intensity. It went from sort of, mildly ouch, the kind of period pain that might make you wince if you were sitting on the sofa watching a box set, to ouch, really quite painful, I need to breathe through this, to super ouch, it feels like someone has grabbed my uterus in their first and squeezed hard.

Another thing they don't tell you is that some women vomit in labour and if you do it's probably a sign that things are about to crank up a notch.

Imagine you have a large football in your stomach and you have to push it out of your vagina. That's exactly how I described it to my husband after both children were born.

And then there's the pain of crowning...

Intense burning around the rim of the vagina, that was almost worse than contractions for me! Doesn't last more than a few minutes though.

Also hated transition, when you go from stage one (contractions) into stage two (pushing). Weird feeling, indescribable. Not exactly pain, but feeling that something's changing (as it is, baby preparing to come out!)

Labour itself is waves of intense period cramps. For me that was bearable. The worst parts by an absolute mile were getting the bulb inserted to start my induction, and then the baby crowning (HUGE head).

Many times during I wished I'd gone for an epidural - I had very noble intentions but there are no prizes for enduring a painful birth.

Just bloody awful, like the worst period cramps you’ve ever felt, mixed with having the worst 💩 in the world. I had it constant for 2 days, on top of that constantly nauseous (I thought it was like severe travel sickness). Though, I’d rather deal with all that twice over than ever have forceps shoved up me again, worst pain I’ve ever felt by a mile…horrific.

Totally worth it but the experience was enough to never want another one.

It's like hard exercise, I wouldn't describe it as painful, apart from the crowning, burning feeling as described by JanglyBeads

The only thing I ever get now that I can relate to childbirth contractions would be bad period pains, or having really bad wind / the cramps you get when you have an upset tummy! Once it got to the pushing stage it wasn't "pain" any more it was just a ridiculously strong urge to bear down!

The contractions were like period pains that gradually got worse and closer together. And then at the transition, there’s no time to catch your breath between your contractions, and the pressure of the baby coming through the pelvis felt to me like my pelvis was being broken. That was the worst bit but was short-lived. I didn’t feel the crowning. I think everything was stretched so much in that area, it was numb!

Like my entire body was being crushed in a vice at roughly 60 second intervals

The crowning feels like someone holding a blow torch against your fanny. Then you have to push through that pain.
The thing that shocked me the first time was the continuous pain I was expecting pain to be on and off with the contractions, but that was a difficult labour compared to the next two.

First labour felt like intense period pains at regular intervals. Never felt the actual birth as had an epidural due to complications.

Second labour was induced. The pain was incredibly intense and the waves of pain went on for much longer. It felt like there was never a break between them. I made very weird noises, something like a mooing cow crossed with a wolf. When the baby's head was coming out it felt like a gate opening up on my body - just the weirdest feeling ever. I couldn't stop shaking from the adrenaline and shock afterwards.

It was nothing like on TV 😂

I’m so surprised at everyone saying it’s like bad period pains. I guess I’ve been lucky with my periods as it was nothing like that for me

Everyone is different. I had an induced back to back labour. There were no 'gaps' between contractions. I was in pain that went in waves from horrific to so unbearable I'd rather be dead.

All the mindfulness, JuJu Sundin Marie Mongen bollocks goes out of the window when you're in unrelenting pain for hours on end ('keeping active' when it's the middle of the night, you've had zero sleep and every time you try to move off the bed you vomit, makes the reality impossible).

I'd describe the feeling as being simultaneously torn apart and set on fire. For as many hours as the medical staff allow before they relent and let you have some proper pain relief. In my case about 10 hours.

With my first dd, it was like very intense period pains that would take my breath away. I felt hot all over when the contractions got intense. The actual pushing didn't hurt that much in comparison.

With my second, the pain was all consuming. I asked for an epidural and then didn't feel a thing 😂 it was lovely! I watched Netflix until it was time to push.

It's definitely not the worst pain I've felt though. I'd happily go through childbirth any day over having gallstones again 😰

Afterwards you realise why it’s called Labour, my whole body ached for a few days with the exhaustion of it. It’s not the worst pain, that came afterwards when my placenta was stuck/attached to my uterus - that was unrelenting pain. I napped between my contractions, it must only have been for seconds and seemed like a natural, energy saving strategy I had no control over. With my first the change from contractions to the overwhelming need to push felt a bit like a short, intense orgasm - very odd.

The contractions felt like the worst case of gastroenteritis cramps, they take your breath away. And then they go - and you get a break until the next one starts. The urge to push is incredible and there is something very primal about it.

I had an incredible midwife with my second, she had the lights down low with essential oils wafting about. She was pretty no nonsense but soft at the same time, I really relaxed with her and it all happened so instinctively. The burning when the head comes out is weird, you know you have to push past it to the end.