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 💕

Gosh, I wish mine felt like bad period pain. I remember crying and wanting to die because it felt like the only way out. I can't really describe it. I guess it felt like someone was ripping my hips open from the first contraction. I'm never doing it again!

I'm baffled that the population keeps growing when that's how we arrive.

The pushing bit is like the feeling when you push out a poo, that automatic response. Except it's in the middle your body. I found this bit not painful. Although I tore both times and was only on gas and air, I think the adrenaline numbed the tearing.

My personal experience- felt like a torture , like if someone was pulling my guts out. I passed out from pain.. I'm quite short, with small hips- the baby was big for my composition.

Guys I think we scared OP 😅 she hasn't come back

Have you ever woken up in the night with a cramp in your leg you can't get rid of? That. But in your stomach and/or back and the pain keeps coming back just when you think it's gone away 😂 like your body is trying to fold in on itself but can't.

Just when my body couldn't cope any more and I thought I'd just cease to exist, and my body would implode into thin air, they were born.

Both of mine were induced and people tell me it should be worse than 'normal' but have no comparison.

Has anybody else had the pain in the top of their legs? I had no period pains as such but the pain was soooooo intense in the top if my legs, like they were being squeezed so very hard. I was trying to rub them, to no avail, then I pushed my feet and stretched my legs out so far I pushed the end panel off the hospital bed 🙈. I remember lots of nurses running in with the noise of it!! I can’t remember any other pain except that - But my period pains often gave me leg pains (and me & baby were back to back).

My contractions were continuous from the start, absolutely no gap whatsoever- short labour (6.5hrs total).

It was all in my back, nothing like period pain whatsoever. It felt like my spine was being pushed out of my body, then latterly like my arsehole and some of the rest of me was being turned inside out.

Nothing like what I expected!

I wanted an epidural but was shit out of luck.

Pushing for me was involuntary and like when you have really bad diarrhea- like a whole body version of that.

I guess that also depends on your periods
I have endo, and my periods are way worse than any broken bone I've had
To me period pain is waves of constant pain that never fully goes away where it feels like my stomach will explode or I'll die or pass out
Can't move off all fours or do anything but yell in pain

I felt like I was going to die.

Everyone's experience is so different. Our bodies, babies and experiences of the pain are unique. Some labours are long, some are short, for some waters go before, others need theirs broken, some need intervention, some don't etc etc. For me it was an intense all consuming pain rippling through my lower body which I'd describe as an intense pressure squeezing and ripping my bum open. With crowning I didn't get the ring of fire, instead I felt like my body was being ripped apart. My second labour was much worse than my first, the pain was more intense more quickly, I was shaking and thought I was dying. So I ended up having a lovely calming epidural. It's hard work and painful but in the grand scheme of things it's over quickly and it really is all worth it when you hold your baby in your arms.

then the following 24 months stumbling around in a sleep deprived haze with regular nipples.

It felt like my spinal cord was being twisted and pulled out through my anus. In saying that, 2nd time around I'd watched a fair few youtube videos which really helped. I screamed and grunted something awful but did it with only a little gas and air for the final two pushes. My advice, start on a mild laxative when you're dusted off, for me the constipation and hemarrhoids afterwards were quite literally a pain in the arse. Good luck!

@MyInduction I felt like I was going to die
Also this!

Mine felt like waves of really bad period cramps. They slowly intensified, I was crying and yelling, it wasn't unbearable but for some reason I was loudly shouting haha I'm normally a very quiet person but something evidently took over 😂

My waters didn't break, so the pressure was immense as I had to push baby out inside his whole water sac. 😅

When he was coming out I felt a crunch as he dropped in and it felt like really bad thrush burning as he came out which imo was the worst bit, but didn't take long, he fell out in his sac onto the bed as no one knew he was coming. 😂

Agree with @sunburnandsangria. When I phoned the hospital I remember telling them I felt like I was being torn apart from the inside. I couldn't walk when I got there because the contractions were constant. I had a back to back labour and I feel like I didn't get a break in contractions at all. The epidural was sensational and I wouldn't hesitate to have one again. Hoping for a period like pain labour next time round 🤞

Well the pushing part for me is just out of this world pain. I can honestly say I thought I couldn't do it lol and thought I was going to die/pass out. None of those things happened though. It's a prime example that our brains give up before our bodies do.

I found it almost indistinguishable from IBS stomach cramps and later on from the cramps that came from bad food poisoning. Like those it was painless between contractions.
I had gallstones a decade later and found that more painful. That said I had an epidural at 8 cm as I didn’t see any need to be in extreme pain and wanted to retain full command of my faculties.

I found it just the most intense sensation. It's not like other pains, but it is shocking. I didn't feel like I would die, but I felt totally out of control. That's the bit I found more frightening than the pain.

My first labour was back to back and I had no control over pushing. I ended up with an epidural. Second was just gas and air. I would do it again, for sure (but I do not want any more children!!)

The contractions are intense period pains, not always felt in your stomach. Mine were in lower back.

Must admit I didn't feel the crowning pain, I think the gas and air was at peak performance by then.

I do remember the best feeling when my waters finally broke, it was just such a sudden release of pressure in my tummy, it honestly felt amazing!

In my experience the whole birthing pain was manageable.

Haven't read all the responses but it starts like waves of really intense period pain and the end is like every bone in your body snapping at the same time

I remember it being like you’ve had a madras for lunch then a vindaloo for dinner then you can’t find a loo…

I asked a nurse to have me put down.

Second go was an elective section. 30 minutes of lying down chatting with people, then toast and newborn cuddles. Then got yelled at by nurses because I got up as soon as I could rather than lying in bed like I was meant to.

It's multi dimensional. Your cervix has to open just like it does on your period but 10 cm instead of just a few so it overlaps with period pains. I think the contractions are what's worse for most women and it is hard to describe. Have you ever had a bad tummy and needed to go loo so badly that you get a cramp and you double over in pain got a few seconds? It's very much like that but worse and once you get going those cramps can last 90 secs at a time and you can't talk or even breathe properly through them. And finally there's what I call the mystery pain... I had 3 natural births and with all three I experienced what can only be described a heat. Mostly in my back but all around that area there was a hot fiery kind of 'pain' / feeling. I've often wondered what that's all about? Maybe just muscles heating up from all the work the uterus is doing? 🤷🏽‍♀️

I felt lied to as for me it did not feel anything like period pain at all! 😂 I laboured all in my back and it felt like someone was snapping me in half, it was like nothing I had experienced before in my life. At no point for me did contractions feel like period pain at all.

The pain felt like someone wringing out my muscles and was horrendous. I’ve never had period cramp and if that’s what woman deal with every month I feel for them!!