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!

Honeymoo - for me yes, but I think that's fairly unusual (hence MWs don't believe you) and mostly the case with a back to back labour.

Things I'd wish someone told me before labour;

The contractions do start off by feeling like period pains, then get more & more intense.

Feeling like you need a giant poo is normal and you have to push as if your pushing down your bum passage. You will probably poo but that's normal too!

In between contractions you feel ok again.

Don't panic! Remember it's mother nature doing her stuff and when it's over you'll have your beautiful baby (and the best cup of tea of your life)!

very very intense-you can feel them coming, your belly goes hard, you feel you are in the grip of something, it hurts like buggery then starts to fade...

you need to keep breathing, breathe through them, don't panic. They are bearable because of the gaps in between when you have time to recover yourself. I found I had to be standing up to be able to get through them once labour was properly established. Transition is hard as the gaps become almost non-existent (at least for me)-at this point I thought I couldn't do it. Having a hand to squeeze (hard), and being able to lean against someone helped me. Moaning helped too. It passes and becomes bearable again when you are on the other side.

I think that trying to describe what is a contraction feels like is impossible. I have had three births and each time the contractions felt different!!!! My first was a back to back labour, and all the pain was in my back, none in my stomach,also I was caught by surprise that I got some contractions coming one on top of the other with no break in between, this scared me. Second time, there was a sensation of intense cramping starting in the low tummy and gradually creeping upwards til the pain was in my whole tummy and back. It came in the classic "wave pattern". With my third, I thought I had a little trapped nerve one side of my lower pelvis, it was only when it happened the third time that I wondered if it was contractions!!! I continued chatting online here online on MN while using a contraction timer online, to discover three contrations later that they were 4 mins apart lasting a minute and I suddenly went "oh I am in labour!". So despite it being my third labour I did not know for half an hour that it was for real labour!!!!!

But I also had plenty of false labours with each of them, with contractions coming regularly at as little as 3 minutes apart and the midwives saying you will have your baby tonight, only for it to gradually go away again!!!!!

So for me the contractions never meant that labour was imminent, but when it was real labour and I was about to give birth, I knew it was happening and I could think of nothing but what my body was doing.

I think that the main thing is not to panic, easier said than done, know that the pain will go away and "breathe, breathe, BREATHE!"

When I had my first (DS) I woke at 1AM and felt very uncomfortable.

I got out of bed, went to the loo, walked around a bit and decided that the pork chops I had for dinner had made me feel sick.

After a bit I started to think, hang on I was due on the 3rd and it's now the 11th.

MAYBE I'M HAVING THE BABY

I rang the hospital and as it was my first, they told me to come straight in.

Woke DH and took 20 minutes to get to the hospital.

By this time it was 3.00 am. DS was born at 4.45am.

In answer to your question, if you have pork chops for dinner, don't think you have food poisoning, you're probably in labour.

Different both times for me. First time with DD they were a bit like that cramp you get when you have diarrhoea (sorry if TMI!). Painful, wave which progressed in strength and took my breath away. They progressed to waves all over my body from just the bump which TBH i found totally overwhelming and had an epidural which was bliss. Second time round they were a very localised stabbing feeling below my bump. I barely noticed them to the point that I only knew I was in labour when I realised they were regular and starting to get stronger. Gave birth just over an hour later. Only what I would describe as really painful for the last 30 minutes and even then not as bad as first time round. Only had a bit of gas and air and honestly didnt feel I needed anything much else. Try not to be fearful and keep your option open with regar to pain relief.

Mine started off like quite sharp trapped wind (thought it was the huge portion of chips I'd had that night)

Then it was like diarrhoea cramps, getting progressively more painful. Moving around helped me, as did having my dp rub my back so hard that he thought his hands were going to fall off (poor lamb - not)

Then it was like I was going to do a baby-sized poo

Then it was more tiring than painful having to push.

When the head crowed it was eye stingingly ouch but only lasted a short time.

Then what a relief, she finally came out!

Agree it's different for everyone - at least there are pain relief options if it's getting too much for you. Good luck!

"the head crowed" lol! That would have been strange! crowned

It does vary a lot depending on the person and also even for the same person. With DS I felt them really strongly at the front of my bits (round where you wee), not just in my stomach area which I wasn't expecting, I think it was due to his position. With DD they were quite different. Hard to describe though and hard to remember in that much detail afterwards, probably for good reason

utterly unbearable and you just want to die. i just wanted to lie on my side and cry, or on the tiles of the filthy bathroom floor, not caring.

I just remembered, I found it very useful to count through my contractions. They do come and go so I was able to quickly get to 30 and then have a rest.

They are like

Really

Really

Bad

CONSTIPATION!

I think they are like the absolute opposite of an orgasm: waves of intense pain (rather than pleasure!) and I find it very hard to pinpoint the exact parts that hurt.

For me (unluckily) they were nasty pains from the very first one. At first, all pain concentrated right down in my cervix. No dull aches for me, it was a kind of tearing pain. It was definitely wave-formed....starting, building, and dropping off. However even the starting and dropping off bits, which I'd imagined might be achey or period pain-y were actually searing and nasty.

Went from that to indescribably painful all over my stomach, with the epicentre at my cervix as if someone was cutting me

Sorry, but that was what it was like for me. Labour was bad, bad, bad! I have also never lost the memory of them as people say you do - wish I could!!

Mine felt as if I was sitting on a bread knife and bouncing up and down on it !

I expected my contractions to be all around my belly, but instead they were low down at the bottom of my belly, just where you get your period pains.

I knew from the very first contraction that is was a contraction. I never had the aching period pains to begin with, I just went straight to contraction.....contraction....waters....followed by another 2 days of on/off contractions. Extremely painful tightening.

It helps to count, I agree. At the start of each contraction, visualise climbing a hill and count to the top of the hill (peak of the contraction), then count down again. It helps with the breathing too: breath in 1-2-3, out 4-5-6-7, in 8-9-10, out 11-12-13-14 etc.. So, in a way, you're using the pain, not fighting it.

At the very end, though, I had a constant contraction, maybe 10 seconds respite, but that only lasted about 10 minutes, then it was bearing down (use the contraction to get the baby out, I've never needed to push per se) and such a relief. The crowning is an "ow ow ow" moment but very quick and the rush when baby is born is awesome.

Good luck.

Oh god I bet you wish you hadn't asked now OP! Reading this is making me feel a bit queasy about having no. 2! Lol at opposite of orgasm (good description) but bread knife...?

sorry but f-ing horrendous!

It varies hugely - I've known people say they were like an ache and they could walk around/have a bath. Mine were so agonising I couldn't move at all or even think. It was like an incredibly intense gripping, squeezing pain low down exactly where you get period pain, but 1000x worse.

I know mine were unusually bad because I was doing that involuntary mooing/bellowing that women in labour usually do at transition or pushing stage, and I shouted at DP as I couldn't bear him to touch me or speak to me - the MWs were sure I was about to give birth but in fact I wasn't even properly dilated yet. (In fact I ended up with a section both times so never got that far.)

I don't think all this should scare you though, OP because remember there is such a thing as an epidural, and I think it's useful to know that contractions aren't always some kind of manageable stage that you can deal with by rolling around on a birthing ball and doing the right breathing. I was prepared to do all that but the pain was way beyond anything I could deal with. I didn't have to ask for an epidural, they were wheeling the stuff in and telling me I might want to have one as soon as they saw the state of me. If you feel the pain is really unbearable and you can't handle it, you can ask for help - that's what it's there for.

OTOH, some people's contractions are not so bad. You don't know what you're going to get so it's wise to ask for everyone's experiences.

For me, not like period pain...but more gripping/vice like. No real way to describe it. You may have easily manageable contractions for hours (mine were easily manageable for over 24 hours) - but when they get full-on you probably won't be able to talk through them.

Mine were earth-shatteringly painful both times. On the other hand, my friend said she found having her legs waxed was more painful. Hope you are more like my friend than me .

I think they're like that awful gripey pain you get w/ bad tummy bug or food poisoning...

hell

I remember almost looking forward to having contractions - knowing that it was finally happening, but 2 weeks past my due date and no sign of anything at all I had my waters broken to induce labour and was put on a drip. I was told that my baby had moved back to back so I had back labour. It was horrendous, I lasted for a handful of early contractions on gas & air (which disagreed with me - I felt like I was having a really bad drunken room spinner!) and then asked for an epidural - my midwife said that the pethedine wouldn't agree with me. What a relief! The pain radiates throughout your body - you know it's just in your back but it seems to take over your entire body. But guess what - I'd go through it all again in a heart beat for my little girl!