Can you please describe what a contraction feels like?

[marthamay]

Hi there,

There must be some other first time mums out there like me who have no idea what a real contraction feels like! I am close to my due date and really curious now.

I would be really interested if those with more childbirth experience could describe what they feel like...

?????

Thanks!

I didn't want to scare the OP but now I feel the need to counteract the lack of realism on this thread. With apologies to the OP, my contractions were brutal. It felt like some enormous giant was scrunching me up into a tight ball and basically throwing me against a hard surface, over and over and over again. There was no pain free period in between either. A TENS machine was completely useless and I couldn't breath at all, basically, so all this "breath through contractions" business went out of the window.

But OP, I do think my labour was probably in the minority - DS was back to back and my contractions were very strong from the outset. But "just like period pain" is simply misleading and unhelpful.

To be fair, everyone's pains are different so some women will experience something that's closer to period pains.

For ds, my early labour pains were less than period pain and I got to 6cm dilated without really feeling too bad at all.

For dd, mind, it was blardy awful. Like a kind of sharp twisting stabbing pain. But that's being induced for you.

The first time round the pain was unbearable, it was the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life. No pain relief for the last 3 hours of labour (don't ask, long story) I ended up with a ventouse delivery, episiotomy and weeks of post-natal pain.

The 2nd time was so much better, a home birth, brilliant midwife, no-one talking to me (at my insistence in my birth plan), loads of G & A (can't recommend it enough), and a very powerful birthing experience. It was painful, there is no getting away from it, but the experience was so much better second time around. I didn't have a single stich and was doing the hoovering after 4 days.

It's difficult when it's your first, and it's so easy to give advice with the benefit of hindsight, but I would say try not to panic or get scared, and trust your body and go with your instincts

I didn't first time round and relied on the midwives to tell me how to push. It turns out (I read about it afterwards), they were telling me to do what they call "purple pushing", when you hold your breath and force all your energy down during the contraction. In my opinion, having gone through it and ended up with a purple face from all the blood vessels that popped in my skin, it's a load of bollocks and it didn;t feel natural at all. And it didn't work anyway as I was pushing for 2 hours and they had to get her out with the ventouse in the end.

It was the worst part of the labour and during my second pregnancy I read about it and decided I would just go with my instincts when I reached the 2nd stage. Of course, 2nd time round is always easier anyway. So with dd2, I just took a massive breath of the G&A and then made a weird sound back into the mouthpiece to push, it was like a massive power coming up from deep inside to push her out. Really amazing actually. I just completely focused and concentrated and no-one was shouting "push" at me like the first time, which tbh, was really annoying. I specifically asked in my birth plan 2nd time for no-one to speak to me and no-one to tell me to push. And in the photos my dh took after DD2 was born, my skin was glowing, as opposed to purple and blotchy after dd1.

Good luck with everything.

It must be pretty unusual though - do you not think most women forget how bad it was? (I'm not at all of course!) I've got to go through it again in a couple of months and I am terrified. If I had gone into the first experience expecting nothing worse than period pain, well the shock would have been way too much to bear and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have coped. I think it's best to be prepared for the possible reality - if it's not that bad for you then all the better. They don't call it labour (without dying) for nothing and I don't think white lies are helpful at all.

It must be pretty unusual though - do you not think most women forget how bad it was? (I'm not at all of course!) I've got to go through it again in a couple of months and I am terrified. If I had gone into the first experience expecting nothing worse than period pain, well the shock would have been way too much to bear and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have coped. I think it's best to be prepared for the possible reality - if it's not that bad for you then all the better. They don't call it labour for nothing and I don't think white lies are helpful at all.

Oh damn it, I started by saying "the worst pain known to humankind (without dying)", thought better of it and then left a random bit of the phrase in there! I obviously cancelled the post too late -sorry!

For me it was all in the lower back, felt a bit like food poisoning, I was in the bath shouting "but I need a POOOOOOOO and I can't get OOOOOUUUUUUTTTTT" (oh the glamour).

Yes it hurts, a lot, for a bit, but it's one day out of your life and you'll get over it. Good luck! x

With my first baby the contractions began like period pains and it took me a while to work out that they were actually the beginning of labour!!!

Then they turn into period pains x 1,000

Then when its time to push, you feel as though you want to poo a melon!

The bits in between just go on for too long...

Totally agree that the pain level is out of this world but it just one day and you get a gorgeous prize at the end of it

I dIdn't feel a thing in my front, all the pain was in my back. He was back to back with me and I ended up having an emergency c sect.

Whilst I found it v painful, I was induced which speeds it all up and its a bit harder to adjust to the sudden increase in contractions when the dose gets racked up, but I did find inbetween the contractions that the pain went away completely and was a peaceful few minutes before it all kicked off again! G&A useful, but just kind of takes the edge off - v good tip earlier on this thread though, try to relax and not let yourself be too consumed by the discomfort - it is only for a finite amount of time and once your baby arrives it will all seem worth it. Good luck!

DS born after IOL and abruption, and by EMCS. From early on after induction the pain was unimaginable and just felt wrong. I now know it was due to the abruption. Even as a first timer, I just knew it wasn't the 'right' pain, although I was in too much pain to articulate this beyond panting 'it hurts' over and over. DH knew I was in distress and not just in labour, but the unhelpful mw just said 'it's supposed to hurt'.

DD was born vbac at home in birth pool. I would describe the contractions I had with DD as like a wave. The sensation built up each time, starting low down, then agonisingly crashing all the way trough my body and then ebbing away, to start all over again. I didn't feel the actual contraction as such, just the pain. The IM left me to labour and birth with no intervention, no coaching and no instruction. I was loud, DH said I made guttural and 'instinctive' noises. I did not hold back my noise or 'direct' my energy into pushing. I needed to vocalise to focus. No problems, just a painful, natural, noisy birth.

I know everyone is different, but it does hurt, a lot. Actually, I agree with gaelicsheep that contractions are brutal. The TENS machine/birth pool/g&a did become completely useless and you can't breath at all, let alone through contractions. But I think you do forget it quickly if all goes well.

Do trust your own instinct and ability to birth your baby, find a way to focus yourself and it will be over before you realise it has begun. Honestly! But it will hurt, a lot!

Sorry for long post!

My waters broke before I was aware of having any contractions at all (apart from BH which I'd had on and off throughout the 3rd trimester). I went to hospital and started getting rhythmic period-type pain when we were waiting to get into the maternity unit. I spent ages waiting for a room, and spent most of the time trotting to the loo and back again as the contractions got harder and harder (for me, from being 'interesting' to being something you couldn't talk through, couldn't walk through, couldn't move while they were happening). I was sick twice, pooed out everything there was in my body and was sitting on an upright chair most of the time, back straight, hands clenched on the sides! Got to 8 cm in the waiting room without any pain relief, then finally got a room and g+a. At this stage, contractions were close together and much more 'whole body' - my entire torso was convulsing each time. But it's a good pain, in my experience - literally you feel like you've just finished doing a million stomach crunches and you think you can't do another but oh no, here we go again... Definitely relax. Definitely know that they build up from a small amount of pain to a peak that gets higher each time, but it doesn't last for long and then you have the bliss of scooting down the other side and a break before the next one.

I had done NCT classes and was all ready to bounce on birthing balls, walk around, have an active labour... it all went out the window. Once I got into the room, I got up on the bed, on my back, classic knees-up position (which is apparently wrong as it makes your pelvis narrower) and I couldn't have moved if you'd paid me. The transition phase I didn't notice. I didn't swear at anyone. I didn't want any more pain relief than I had. I just wanted to get on with it.

It helped me to listen to the baby's heart slow with each contraction and then pick up as the contraction was peaking - it meant I knew it would be over soon, and that he was doing OK. I had a powerful sense that we were in this together, and that he and I had to get through it. I was very, very calm and didn't make a sound, apart from a low groan as I pushed him out, mainly because I was concentrating on what I was doing and screaming would have been a waste of energy. I found delivering the placenta to be much harder work, because gross, and being stitched was a bummer (no pun intended, but farking hell, it was WOEFUL and went on and on. TAKE THE PAIN RELIEF FOR STITCHING IF IT'S OFFERED TO YOU!!! I could have had gas and air but I was on a high and wanted to concentrate on looking at my DS. Big mistake.)

OP, you can see everyone has a different experience of giving birth, and of what contractions are like. I would say the main thing is to accept what's happening to you as part of a natural process. Do whatever it takes to get through it, but don't fight it. And know that it's really all worth it in the end.

On the positive side, I did it all with gas & air and lived to tell the tale, although I may sound somewhat scarred and bitter that's down to the attitude of the MWs rather than the pain itself IYSWIM. Second stage much easier and less painful, although it was very long for me (3 hours after DS's head first appeared). Third stage and stitches a doddle.

Oh, and I do think women forget the pain. I think it's part of, or the reason for, 'baby brain' (even Anita Holdcroft's study on pregnancy shrinking the brain). I think we have to forget the pain, or we wouldn't have any more children!

I think that "forgetting" bit never kicked in for me. That's why it took me 2.5 years to even let DH near me again.

OP, do try and relax after each contraction. DH and mw didn't talk to me much at all, I closed my eyes, rested on the side of the pool, and DH swears I fell asleep for 30 seconds at a time. Don't remember that, but there we go!

gaelicsheep there's nearly 4 years between my DS and DD. I think it's because DS birth was hell and I couldn't get over it, very long story. However, with DD, it went so much better that I really do feel differently. I couldn't consider another child ever again for well over a year first time, but 3 months after DD I was willing to consider another (at some point).

Ditto. DS will be nearly 4 when this one's born in June. There will be no more!

Since my last "labour" I can report that my contractions are painless. It's the cervix expanding that's flipping painful. It's what I always suspected with the first three, but you can't really tell when it's wave after wave of pain washing over you where exactly it's coming from. Explains why the TENS didn't work at any rate.

The last "labour" was virtually pain-free, due to the fact that no part of the little blighter got anywhere near my cervix despite large amounts of syntocinon. I was having massive contractions (slight over-stimulation at times) yet no pain at all. The most painful part of the labour was the obs reg trying to reach her head to get a foetal scalp monitor into it.

She came out by crash c section. It was by far the least painful of my four births.

I found the pain bearable till the waters broke and then it really was agony- after90 mins of that i had an epidural and it was the best desision i ever made. I still do not understand why there is such a resistance against epidurals- apparently in france they are standard practice. People had given me strange disapproving looks when i suggested that I was not against having one- it was heaven once i had that epidural, a really relaxed and calm experience and next time i will not go through 10 hours of labour before i opt for one.
I just do not get the advantage of suffering when it can be avoided.you will be fine whatever you choose though.

I wish I could bring myself to have an epidural this time. But I am absolutely terrified of having that thing in my spine, of having to stay still while they insert it, and of potential after effects. I think it'll be good old water and gas and air for me again this time (will not contemplate opiates), unless they've invented some miracle drug in the meantime.

Reading this has made me think that maybe I'm not a total wuss! All the pain I had was in my back and it was very, very, very soreintense which is the same as those who had back to back labour are saying. The MWs didn't say that was what I had but then a lot of things passed me by that day . Kept going on just G&A until DD got stuck after 3 hours of pushing when the anaethetist announced he was giving me a spinal for theatre (and by then I wasn't going to argue). Feel a bit hardcore now!

I also didn't get a slow build up, my first contraction was like when your back 'goes'and you think you've really 'done something' to it (has happened a few times to me due to various things) and it takes your breath away, 40 minutes later I had another one and then I was off.

My abiding memory is of the shuddering at the base of my skull and in my tailbone with every contraction...and I swear I could still feel a faint rhythmic pulsing in my bum once in the postnatal ward (not sore, just...weird).

But at the time I remember thinking if I had to rate the pain 0-10 (10 being 'completely and utterly unbearable, find me an anaesthetist for an epidural NOW'), I would say it was, at it's worst, an 8.5. No picnic but room for a bit more.

I would say, OP, the thing to remember is that everyone's pain is different because everyone's body/baby/position is different (note I didn't say everyone's pain threshold is different, that's so patronising and implies people who can't cope with pain are a bit rubbish and lack mental 'strength', when in reality they are probably simply in more pain!.

So you might be lucky and be one of those 'I really didn't feel anything' types (I do know one of those, she said she was 'distressed' because her last baby shot out without so much as a push and it was all a 'terrible shock'. Needless to say, I have very little sympathy!).

And if you do have a 'dear god, make it stop' experience you will survive/decide on stronger pain relief/want to do it again some day - I do!

it did start off like period pain, but then got worse - but with dd1 it all happened so fast - the pain was very intense, and of course I wanted it to stop, but it's a bit like climbing a mountain or something - of course you wish it wasn't so steep and that you were at the top already, but you know that you've just got to do it anyway!

Don't be scared - be matter of fact!

gaelicsheep EVERYBODY'S experience is different and some women really don't find the experience too agonising, even if you did. (Of course, many do - but there are as many different experiences of contractions as there are labouring women IMO)

My sister had four kids with no pain relief stronger than paracetamol and a warm bath at home. After (very soon after) each labour, she described the sensations as "intense, but really not too bad". She's one of the lucky ones!

My own experience was that I was convinced for the first couple of hours that I had trapped wind. I kept wanting to go to the loo IYKWIM. When I realised the twinges were happening rhythmically and powerfully (and at around 90 second intervals) it dawned on me I was having contractions. Mine was not a "textbook" labour either - the contractions were strong and fast within a couple of hours. When I got to hospital, I was only 2cm, but after 15 mins of monitoring was 3cm, so contracting quickly. At that point I would describe the contractions as being in the realm of "serious discomfort" rather than really painful.

My baby was breech so at that point I was whisked off for an EmCS.

The spinal injection really wasn't too bad at all - I hardly noticed it, so try not to worry about that if you have an epidural.

The worst pain of the whole thing were my sore abdominals after the operation and once the epidural wore off. But they gave me something for that and I was able to pick up my baby and (gingerly) get out of bed within 24 hours.

Good luck OP and everyone else expecting!