hands up who thinks childbirth is awful

[candyfluff]

surely i cant be the only one who thinks its the worst thing that ever happened to them?????????

nope. first one was a bit of a shock, yeah. but really not all that bad. totally do-able and i was v proud of myself and pleased with the results. second and third ones were... a piece of piss tbh. 45 mins for no2 and about 55 for no3. i barely had time to wake up/sweat/get undressed. i really like giving birth now! (wants another one)

I'm another one who would like to say (for benefit of first timers) no - neither time was as bad as it looks on Casualty, never mind youtube horrors. I was slightly shocked at how not awful it was, actually.
And I am bloody grateful to the fickle Gods of childbirth for it.

I totally agree with starlight mackenzie, I felt like I was going to die, and I couldn't gather any kind of coherent thought before the next contraction was on me. I'm dreading doing it again, I'm torn between demanding an early epidural or an elective cs as I know I'll tear again and could avoid more damage down there if I go for a cs (weak pelvic floor/bladder)

lol @ "piss off you pain causing cretin"

I was so in shock and shaking madly that when my baby was shown to me, I actually said "yeah, that's lovely, can I have a look in a bit?" and waved him away without looking. Not how they show it in the movies!

No, don't get me wrong. It was so bad I crawled from the hospital entrance to the delivery suite (no kidding) I also screamed as if I was being murdered but I coped because I knew it was suppose to happen IYKWIM. A kidney stone was far worse IME.

But for me the fear of it was worse because I prepared myself for it being horrific. I told myself I could rip back and front, have double incontinence, get infected stitches, never have sex again etc etc. I felt it was better to expect a horrific, instrumental birth rather than think it will be easy.

Ah, day 5. On day 5 I cried and cried, and very nearly slapped my mil. Ignore day 5.

I did expect it to feel like each half of my body was being ripped in a different direction. Why go into it expecting it to feel like a bit of constipation?

aw starlight, sounds like you had a pretty shitty time.
i didnt look at my child and think piss off you pain causing cretin. i thought 'wtf have i done??' and 'why dont i feel magically all-knowing and maternal?' and 'man, but my arse hurts, nobody said my arse would hurt' and 'a boy, huh? whodathoughtit.' and 'omfg, hes bloody gorgeous. i make v fine babies'
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I was surprised at how painful it was, I have a high pain threshold, but it WAS awful - especially since the MW didn't believe me as the monitoring device wasn't hooked up correctly.

Now I know what to expect I will be able to deal with it better in the future (if there is one)

Well, it's around day 5 that the baby blues kick in and they affects everyone differently. Not your fault at all, and you must forgive yourself.

and i started typing that post about an hour ago, and took a break for dinner. on catch up, it looks a bit flippant. sorry about that.

i was having some very strong and painful bh today and had to go into the labor ward to get strapped to some machine and i swear if bh are this bad, i'm not sure i can handle labor. not a fan.

Starlight, you obviously had a horrific time. It sounds like your birth experience affected you more than just 'the pain of labour'. Childbirth is bloody painful for almost all women having a VB but for the vast majority of women, that pain and distress is quicky gone.

eandz, BH can be quite painful but I only had them as bad as the worse period pain.

It does hurt, there's no denying that. When it gets bad you cannot speak nor often stand up (not sure if that's how you were today) but you do cope, honestly.

starlight,
i know. i'll leave now.

starlight - good luck with no2. hope it goes much more smoothly for you this time.

Yes that was me having the orgasms there candyfluff I often wonder if I'm mad, but honestly, the contractions were painful but they had a flow to them - a bit surreal and orgasmic! And a bit like being crushed in a vice, or being squashed by a huge wave!

I had PTSD after the crash section: and the pain from recovery from that was far far worse.

I've had kidney stones and also gall stones, and I think all three were painful, but labour pains were worst - until I got some gas and air. Then they were manageable in a out of body and orgasmic way....

I used the techniques I learned during pg yoga, and labour to pass a kidney stone - just slipped in and out of consciousness, and didn't try and fight the surreal feeling of timelessness. A bit like meditation really!

Humm... Yes, perhaps I am mad after all!!

I've never understood the bit about orgasms an childbirth but I'm always surprised at the number of people on here who have had truly awful experiences and rate it as the most terrible thing that has ever happened to them.

While it's certainly not how I would choose to spend a day neither of my experiences were hideous. I had an instrumental delivery with DS1 after being transferred from home and while the birth wasn't what I hoped for it wasn't terrible. DS2 was fine.

For me, what keeps it from being terrible is that you know it will end, you know you get a scrummy baby at the end of it and you know that women have gone on to have second babies for centuries.

I found tumour pain far more debilitating and surgery infinitely more frightening.