Do you think more waters = less pain in labour?

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This is a theory I am developing based on a sample of two people - me and my friend. So my friend who was preg at exactly the same as me and is a very similar build was MUCH bigger all through the preg. When it came to giving birth, she was induced at 11am in the morning, and had the baby at 2am the next day. However, she couldn't even feel her contractions until they broke her waters at about midnight. Until then, the monitor/midwife was apparently telling her that she was having major contractions but she couldn't feel them. When her waters broke, there was a lot, apparently.

So me, I was induced on a Sunday night, and had my DD on Wednesday. It was a nightmare really, massively painful almost from the beginning. When my waters broke, there was relatively little I think, and I had a fairly small bump. My DD was also back to back which didn't help. But I'm just wondering, if you have more water, do you think it does something to help 'cushion' the pain?

I'm partly asking because my mate keeps saying she has a high pain threshold but I don't think it's got all that much to do with that - if you're not feeling the pain, your threshold for it doesn't really apply! And two hours of bad contractions is different from 30 hours I think.

Anyway, it's just my little theory ... and I'm pregnant again, and my bump is small! Uh oh!

I hope you're right because I'm 30 wks with DS2 and my bump is HUGE!! My waters didn't break until I was at the pushing stage with DS1 and I had a relatively manageable drug-free labour (and my pain threshold ain't brilliant!) so yes, could be that there's some truth to the theory. Am sure there must be someone who's got some proper stats somewhere?

Good news for you then maybe Snowtiger. So you don't think my in-depth survey of two people is sufficiently representative for a rigorous scientific study! Hmmm, maybe I'll go looking for some stats.

My bump was always small, didn't look pregnant at all when I sat down! When I was 10 days overdue, I had a scan to check my fluid levels, there were no measurable pools and I was induced that night. No other labours to compare it to,it bloody hurt, and I was shaking with pain near the end! But it wasn't bad enough to make me question doing it again, and I managed on G&A. I am a wimp by the way my pain threshold is pathetic!

I didn´t have much fluid with either & had 2 easy labours/births.

First was born one hour after first bad pain.

With 2nd I was 8cms until felt anything.

My NCT teacher said that the waters provide a cushion, and that labour gets more painful when they break. Mine broke early and the contractions were pretty painful straight away even though I wasn't very dilated.

I have loads of water (bit worried about there being too much in fact) 36 weeks today and i've not been able to feel any BHicks at all. SAme with my last pg. Didnt labour during that so who knows if it would have been especially painful

My water broke long before contractions started in 3 labours. All 3 were fairly quick - about 3 hours, 1hr 15 mins, about 2 hours - but pain levels were very different - agonising, easy, and not too bad respectively. (The 1hr 15 min one was induced which is why the timing is exact.)

Doesn't support your hyptothesis I'm afraid.

But I would add - if your friend is claiming she did 'better' in labour than you because she felt less pain, it's rubbish! Different labours lead to different amounts of pain even in the same woman, and not always in an obvious way - for instance my easiest labour was induced, instant strong contractions, but was caused least pain of all nonetheless (only had gas and air for about 20 minutes).

I had loads of water. The MW had to break them just before pushing stage. Until then I could obviously feel the contractions but no where near as bad as I thought they would be. I can't compare them to the contractions after the water broke though as it was literally before pushing stage so obviously that did hurt!