What’s worse - contractions or pushing?

[Bbqlady]

I had a precipitous first labour and was fully dilated when I arrived at hospital (3 hours after my waters broke and contractions started). I knew I wanted an epidural as I’d always thought I had a low pain threshold so panicked when they told me I was 10cm and got an epidural with the hope it would take hold before pushing began. It did, and I couldn’t feel much when I was pushing.

Thinking about future babies and wondering if I should’ve just toughed it out for the pushing stage and avoided an epidural. So, what I would like to know is in your experience, which part of labour if the worst - the contractions or the pushing? I’d prefer an all natural labour but worried about the pain.

Definitely contractions followed by crowning. My last labour was twins 12 minutes apart and boy did I feel it all!

Two fast births here, both in water. DC1 was 2 hours 45 from first contraction to birth, DC2 was 1.5 hours.

Contractions were awful but manageable, I think because relatively short lived. Crowning was utter hell. Both of mine had huge heads. Second degree tear both times.

I didn’t push with either - they just came out with the contractions - I don’t even remember it hurting tbh. Both times I had a weird gap between head coming out and then whole baby, and that final contraction was an amazing feeling.

Pushing was worse, but only for a moment, and it was manageable. My babies’ heads were out in about 2 pushes though. The rest of the body is a piece of cake in comparison.

I've had 6 dc.
First dc, I only felt pain whilst contracting, pushing was totally involuntary and no pain.

Rest of my dc I felt pain when pushing and felt almost no urge to push.

Ultimately, we're all different and every single birth is different.

With my first I felt well prepared for the contractions and coped well, the crowning was a horrendous, definitely the worse bit, I pushed for a long time and he was eventually born with his hand beside his face which probably didn’t help! 2nd and 3rd were both very quick labours and I only pushed for a few minutes with each so very different experiences.

With my first I had an epidural so virtually no pain throughout the majority of my labour (lots in the following 8 weeks recovery though!)

However with my second I had a homebirth and because the midwives didn’t arrive on time I did the whole thing without any pain relief (other than two paracetamol!). The 8 hours of contractions were, for me, by far the absolute worst part of the whole thing. The pushing was a massive welcome relief and I didn’t experience/notice any of the pain with pushing in the slightest. If fact I was told by my partner that I began laughing maniacally through the pushing and shouting “this is the most amazing moment of my life” 😅 I think I was a bit delirious by that point!

They thought she was a bit on the small side ( she wasn’t) and I’d had reduced movement plus I was absolutely terrified of not making it to the hospital as my first was born 15 mins after I got to the hospital so I thought it was probably a good idea to be started off in the hospital. With hindsight I should have had a c section or insisted on a epidural before they put the drip in. The contractions on that were insane

First baby contractions as you have no idea how bad they are going to get. For me, second baby was much easier, Tens machine to numb the contractions and a very quick delivery.

Ive had 3 babies vaginally, no tears either. (Thats tear (rhyming with pear), not tears as though I was crying lol) and no epidural, just gas and air.

The contractions were the painful bit, but when it came to the pushing part, pushing was the only thing that made the contraction pain go away.

Contractions, just awful.

Pushing was hard but somehow I felt more in control at that point. Although with my 3rd I didn’t push at all, my body did it all, it was pretty amazing and she was out in 6 mins.

Contractions 1000%

Contractions are worse because they feel out of your control. At least with the pushing you can play a part and help things along, and feel you are making a positive contribution.

This is interesting as I always thought the pushing would be the worst. So many of your labours seem so quick too!

Had 2 labours, 1 was 16hrs labour and intense on the drip the whole time, baby back to back, then emcs. Second was meant to be planned section but waters broke early and I laboured for 11hrs before she was finally born by section.

Pushing didn’t hurt for me. I had strong urges to push but midwife kept telling me not to. When I did it was a relief. Even crowning I didn’t care about any pain because I was “allowed” onto my back and I knew I was finally there. I remember having to push so hard in the final few moments to get her out and that was hard because I was exhausted but I was full of adrenaline. Also I felt my baby’s hand sort of grappling just before the last big push. It was the weirdest feeling but it made me all the more determined to get her out.
Contractions were by far the worst part.

Contractions - they really hurt. The pushing just kind of took over my body & wasn't pain in the same way, just powerful. I've had 3 labours.

I found the pushing was worse as I never had the urge to push at all so I had to force it! I also tore badly and during my second labour the wound opened up again! Yay for the ring of fire! 🔥 😣

I wonder whether crowning feels worse if you’re lucky enough not to have a particularly painful labour? I was very lucky in that I didn’t find labour, in general, horribly painful, so when it came to crowning I was like ‘WTF, this really fucking hurts’. Whereas if you’ve felt that way all the way through, crowning does at least mean it’s coming to an end. If most women experience my ‘crowning’ level of pain all the way through, then absolute fucking hats off to all of you.

Contractions definitely, I wouldn’t really describe pushing as a pain, until the actual head is coming out

I am surprised they agreed to am epidural at 10cm dialated. You were good to go then!

I had 3 fast labours. I found contractions misleadingly easy due to my endo. Eg I don’t feel them at all until I’m past 5cm and then it’s just mild cramping until 8cm and then it’s a mad scramble to push until I tear.

I found having a walking epidural helped me. You need to plan this but basically I was able to stand, walk, and still feel everything without pain. It really helped manage the pushing trauma I had for my last birth — it was still a mad scramble (I can’t control the urge to push) but I didn’t tear, I didn’t feel pain, and I healed a lot faster compared to when I had a full epidural.

Thank you!. Without any numbness the sensation of baby’s head coming out feels like a burning sensation but just take this bit slow and remember your body will have stretched before with your first baby. As long as you don’t push the head out super fast and let it rest there for a few contractions it will stretch slowly reducing your chance of a tear. I had a second degree tear that required no stitches when I did this with my second and I had a water home birth. It was a wonderful experience. Much quicker to heal than the episiotomy I had with my first baby

The contractions are fucking awful in the later stages , I found pushing the ‘easier’ part because the end is in sight, and you are proactively doing something rather than just crawling around waving your arse in the air and crying😂 perhaps that’s just me! 5 births , no epidural, first a shitstorm of an experience , other 5 textbook really . Just ha d gas and air l, I thought they all hurt like a bastard tbf but it’s soon over .
anyway you’ve had your baby, don’t get stuck in what ifs , Congratulations . Seriously you u haven’t missed much, when i said it was easier … it was still awful, for what it’s worth I think you made the right choice.

Ctx by far. Pushing us tricky, figuring out how but not very painful.

For me it was the pushing I think because it felt like it was going to be impossible.. I thought I just needed an poo but the midwife was insisting.. I needed to push, they wouldn’t let me keep the gas and air for the pushing part.
I found it all pretty shocking but was lucky in that the pushing only took 37 seconds.

Contractions for me, the pushing at least felt like I had some control weirdly and was actively doing something, whereas contractions was just horrrendous pain.