Has anyone had a 'painless labour'?

[prunegirl]

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During my first labour I was panicky and scared, it did hurt.
During my second labour I was relaxed and calm, it hurt less. I felt crampy for the last twenty minutes, pain for the last few prior to birth.

(Funnily enough the last moments prior to baby being born, and the actual birth haven't hurt at all, with either DD.)

My state of mind had everything to do with it, absolutely everything! I read Spiritual Midwifery, during my second pregnancy, that did it .

My second labour was very low on pain. At the time, I put it down to being at home, but my next two homebirths were very normal, painwise.

Despite the relative lack of pain, I still went through the normal emotions during transition - "can't do this, let's finish it tomorrow".

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silence is a scientology thing.... scientologists must birth in silence.

lavender
you're back

I had a pretty easy labour, not exactly painful but definitely uncomfortable, like really strong cramps and backache. I can understand how you can go through the first part of labour without realising but when it comes to time to push it's pretty hard to mistake it for anything else!

Also confused as to how you can not realise you are pg, unless the baby is born REALLY early; apart from the fact I put on 3 stone and had no periods I felt totally different throughout my pregnancy.

Emphatically, NO!

don't think so, isn't it because Tom fires blanks?

no idea....
I find other culture and religion's tradition around birth very interesting.
Did you know that orthodox jewish women usually do not have their husband present at the birth as he must not be present when she looses any blood.... and that can happen at many different stages in labour. There is a lot of doulas in that community (I believe for that reason)..... and these doulas are volunteers like doulas who support women in holloway prison.

As you know I support many women (29 to this day) and the vast majority the father is there but I have to say that there is something to be said for thsi to be a "woman's business".... Don't get me wrong I would want my own DH to be there (and he was) at my births BUT there is something more efficient, intense, "womanhood ritual" like when it's only women in the room.... difficult to explain....

Prunegirl, I suppose for my answer to make more sense it would help to read spiritual midwifery! It's more than just calmness, for me it was a case of reviewing my whole outlook on childbirth. It was a case of throwing out all of my current (society induced) notions regarding birth as almost a medical procedure. So, I totally agree with what you said about there being a lot more going on than just being calm and relaxed. What you said about womankinds outlook is really apt because for me to acheive what I feel I did with DD2's homebirth, I had to evolve my outlook from what it had been before, I had to change it completely . I had a fantastic doula from afar (she didn't make it to the birth) she was my mentor throughout my pregnancy, a fantastic source of encouragement and and I felt her beside me on the day. Your comment really hit the nail on the head.

But no, regarding the original question, I didn't have pain free births . Though I can honestly say I enjoyed the pain that I did feel, because for those couple of occasions throughout my whole life, it's probably the only constructive, useful and welcome pain I'll ever know!

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Prunegirl, that's the one! When it was passed on to me to read, I didn't really think it would be my read of the year. There are religious references, which weren't specifically relevant to me, but I think the thoughts and feelings can be applied to whatever you (anyone!) does believe in IYSWIM. I think though the book was not all there was to my evolution of mind , it was the starting point to me going on to find my real views on childbirth, rather than the ones foisted upon me by all and sundry.
LOL @ 'trying to be 'spiritual'. If you were ever going to give it a go, childbirth has to be the perfect time! Even for cynics.

Thanks for that clarification Lisalisa - now I know more
I didn't realised you had 4 sections....

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I wish I had painfree labours. Mine were both completely different, but both painful. I had a lovely midwife the second time round. She had miracle hands They were lovely and warm and when she pressed them on my lower back - heaven! Unfortunately DH took over with his cold hands.
Orgasm giving birth I'm not sure if I would have been more embarrassed doing that or pooing!

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha bonk

picks up head from floor and places it back on shoulders.

well I've read about people who don't feel pain when they dilate - and one girl at my baby massage class found out at a mw appointment at 39 weeks that she was 4 cm dilated (she hadn't felt a twinge at that point) [green]

wonder if it is at similar to the way some people never get period pain?

Well, it hurt for me before I even knew I was in labour - in fact I was constantly told I wasn't...and it still hurt A LOT.

I didn;t have a completely pain free labour with DS2 but i would think it was as close as you could get. It all happened at about 7.30 at night, my DH was out and I kept needing a wee! I then kept getting little cramps like a period for an hour and thought labour had started but thought I had hours to go. I phoned DH at about 8.45 and told him to come home but explained that it diddn't hurt that much and not to worry! To cut it short, we went to hospital as I had a blood Hemorrage during my last labour and they were worried that it might happen again. I got there at 10.03pm and was 9cm dilated and he was born at 10.20pm. I had gas and air and that was it! This easy labour made up for my first 2 though, DS1 took nearly 50 hours to come out (i was induced) and DD was about 13 hours!