How painful is childbirth on a scale of 1-10?

[Blackitty]

1 being a breeze
and ...
10 being the absolute worst pain imaginable?

I am due in March. First baby and would like to know what I’m in for...

Cannot recommend hypnotherapy enough - individual tailored to you though , not a group. About 6 secessions of an hour each. It allowed me to totally relax and enjoy the sensations.the hypnotist enabled me to experience the contractions as short and the space between them as long and relaxing. The midwife couldn’t believe how calm and relaxed I was. And I remember being tense as it I such a wierd thing to experience, and then relaxing into it and being able to marvel at the feeling of the head . The most amazing sensation ever!

Bet you wish you hadn't asked! You'll be fine. As we all are x

I had my first baby in July, I'd say it was around a 7. I used a birthing pool and had gas and air. No other pain relief other than paracetamol which I had at the begining. I was induced, 20 hours in active labour and had an episiotomy, I pushed for 4 hours, the last hour of pushing I was out of the water in stirrups and had gas and air taken off me.

On paper it looks like a fairly bad time but honestly I am a wimp and I thought it was fine. Pain was bareable because its not there long and like others say you are fine between contractions. I think the real life saver for me is that I did not panic, I was totally calm through the whole thing whereas sometimes even with period pain before giving birth I would panic and the pain would seem so much worse and end up making me sick and faint. I'd really recommend hypnobirthing and a book called 'the positive borth book'. I've had diagnosed panic disorder for 12 year prior to giving birth but did not feel panicked at all during labour. Another tip is that I had my eyes closed the whole time to stay in my 'bubble' and did not ask or check the time during as I didn't want to know. I was vaguely aware of it getting light and then dark again but time feels different in labour, it didn't feel like it was 20 hours. Labouring in the pool definitely helped!

Good luck! You can do it.

10 and more for me. and in labour for two days, but you forget the pain pretty soon after.

Gosh get the epidural if you need it. My third was in a funny position and due to him being my third (with potential to labour very quickly) they were very wary and I had a pre emptive epidural before contractions started.

It was great. I sat eating ice chips and watching The Office until I was very far along. A few contractions at the end were unavoidably painful but my epidural wasn't 100% coverage and I chose not to top it up toward the end.

Every woman is different. Both me and my mum have very painful contractions from the beginning. My sister has more of a period pain build up. I have very intense painful contractions but I have had 3 very easy births with a tiny tear with number 1 and no tearing at all with 2 and 3. Basically no damage internally or externally.

Everyone is different.

2, I found it uncomfortable rather than painful.

DC3 there wasn't any pain at all with the contractions and I had to an emergency c section (footling breech).

Ooh yes agree with PP, give me childbirth over gallstones any day but I'd say it was 8-9 for me. Good luck, remember you are not in constant pain with childbirth, it's contractions that come and go. In between them, you feel surprisingly fine so I found it helpful to just concentrate on them one at a time and just focus on getting to the end of that one contraction.

Try not to worry yourself. As you can see, every single labour is different. Pre-epidural, the pain for me was off the scale. Baby was back to back and I couldn't even stand. I had to be carried to the car and then from the car into the hospital. Gas and air did absolutely nothing. Post-epidural, no real pain at all. Just uncomfortable pressure when it came to push. Whereas my cousin has had 2 with just gas and air and said both births were fine.
Just know that you will be able to deal with whatever it feels like, once it's happening you will just get on with it. Don't be afraid to take whatever pain relief you feel you need, regardless of what your birth plan says.

Probably about an 8. For comparison, 10 for me was the time I was having a cast placed on my broken leg prior to having it X-rayed. They didn't suspect how badly it was broken (full spiral fracture of both tibia and fibula), so didn't realise that even the tiniest movement was causing the bone faces to move against each other.... Morphine didn't even begin to touch the sides of that pain.

As for labour itself, I was induced and on the drip. All contractions were in my back, for which I needed gas + air, paracetamol, codeine, heat packs, and eventually, diamorphine to cope with. I wonder if baby was back to back during labour, but turned during birth.

Pushing oddly barely hurt at all in comparison. From what I remember of it anyway. I certainly don't remember any sensation of a ring of fire during crowning either. The diamorphine would have been wearing off at the time, and the gas + air had been taken off me as well. So in theory it should have been the most painful bit, but wasn't.

10! I was fine until transitioning and then distinctly remember saying to DH that I wanted to die. Sorry! BUT I am now pregnant again a few short months later and so clearly it's worth it (I'm due March too!)

I would add that the epidural does carry significant risks. I was forced to have one (long story) but they pushed the needle in too far, causing something called a dural tap. It meant that the epidural worked really well for about 30 minutes and then would wear off completely, meanwhile I had to wait for an anaesthetist to come back and top it up whilst yelling and screaming (was on the drip so my contractions were very intense). More importantly though meant my recovery was awful and was in hospital for nearly a week afterwards and could barely walk for several weeks after and had to have two operations post birth to fix the damage they had done- I am NOT having an epidural again.

If men gave birth it would be classed as “the worst pain known to man.”

DS1 - 8 with a few moments of 11! Long back to back labour that ended in c-section. The worst bit was when the doctor asked me to lie on my side - just felt bone crushing and I said if I had to stay in that position I would need more pain relief - was much better once I could get in a comfortable position again.

DS2 4.
I was unbelievably lucky to have very straightforward 7 hour labour, just gas and air, no tears, it really did feel as though my body just knew what to do, so it can happen!!

You will be fine.

I don't think it's the pain so much but the not knowing how long it will last - if someone said they have a dentist appointment and it might take 4 hours, on the other hand it could take days, you would be much more anxious about it. If you knew your labour would be over successfully at X o'clock that day it would be more manageable.

I've got really good memories of my births. It's not like normal pain which just hurts. Yes it does hurt, but it's tempered by the excitement of what you will be holding in your arms soon. It's good pain.

1...I thought it was wind. If it hadn't been for the fact I was 3 days overdue, I wouldn't have bothered going to the hospital.

9 but every single labour is different. I had no pain relief other than paracetamol (!!) for either labour which didn’t help. I also have useless contractions - irregular and not progressively stronger which makes it hard to feel like things are progressing and then tough at the pushing stage as there is no contraction to push with. Even the MW was like ‘well they were a bit rubbish’ when it was all over

I found the pain after the birth way worse that during i.e peeing through stitches. I would go for the method that reduces tearing the most. With an epidural you are more likely to need other interventions and tear as a result so in my view are saving up the pain for later.

It’s such a broad question OP because women have such different labours and make such different choices.

If you have a long arduous Labour (no way to know this in advance) and you’re determined to do it naturally with no pain relief or just gas and air then it’s probably going to be a solid 11 and shit!

Equally I know a first time mum who gave birth in the car on the way to the hospital after a 30-45 minute Labour. She said it was scary but not bad pain wise.

Realistically you’ll probably be somewhere between the two. Would recommend you don’t make big decisions RE pain relief until you’re actually in Labour and avoid water birth unless you’re confident it’s what you want. I was warned it’s harder to get you out and change to epidural if you change your mind in the birthing pool.

I endured about 2 hours of contractions before accepting pethidine (it was night time and I was exhausted) then another couple of hours before I could have the epidural. Epidural is awesome but the pressure is still really really uncomfortable feels like your bum is actually going to burst. It’s manageable though.

Start to finish my Labour (the part I was contracting for) lasted about 20 hours but as a 37 week induction I understand I was very very lucky!
I’m already pregnant again so it can’t be that bad.

The little person does make it feel entirely worth it!

Without trying to scare you, it was also a 10 for me. I was completely gobsmacked by the level of pain and felt shell shocked for months after. They gave me an epidural about 12 hours in and it was the best feeling ever x1000.

I would highly recommend just going straight for the epidural. It ended with a C section anyway, and the pain of recovering from that was nothing compared to contractions.

I guess it is different for everyone though. I have two friends who told me they didn't find it bad at all. One did hypnobirthing and apparently it's amazing. Don't know if they are doing that atm though?

With epidural- 5!
Without epidural -10+! But much quicker and better recovery and strangely sitting with my 3 month old I would do it again in a second. The feeling afterwards is the best in the world and the pain won’t matter.

You are talking yourself into it being horrific. In truth for many people it is fine, manageable, not painful.

My experiences were fine - but I went to extra classes about this.

I think you need extra support and to read positive things about it going right. You can pay for training to reduce pain and stress. You can read books where it all was ok.

Another vote for hypnobirthing!

I had what felt like a fairly rubbish time with DS1 (only gas and air but I was scared, the hospital midwife was mean and it hurt a lot).

Second time around I invested in hypnobirthing classes and practiced at home with the book and cd. It totally changed my mindset before and during labour so I wasn't afraid. I learned techniques to manage the pain. Gave birth at home in a pool feeling very relaxed and in control. I'd rate it 5/10 for pain with the exception of the head crowning which made me do a moments frantic backstroke trying to get away! 😂

OP, the worse thing you can do before labour is listen to other people's horror stories. That's just going to worry you more! Check out the hypnobirthing resources online and keep calm!

It's always going to be painful. But if it's worse at average you will feel so proud of yourself it's always worth it. Think it makes you realise that the second the baby is born you would jump into a fire and burn to death if it you had to do it to keep this tiny being alive and safe. I watched my best friiend give birth, I knew I loved her but after watching her I admire the hell out of her now, women are really amazing sometimes, x

Try and avoid being induced (I know, not exactly a choice, usually!).

Nothing prepared me for not having one ‘rest’ between contractions for 26 hours. Just like one big long endless contraction. The actual ‘baby comes out’ part was a breeze compared to the main part!

That said, my friend says she’s quite enjoyed her 3 births (one slightly less). We look at each other during this conversation and wonder how anyone could lump us both into the same category called ‘vaginal birth’. There is literally nothing in common with our experiences!

You’ll only have your birth, not any of ours. And presumably you’re giving birth in a lucky country, with all the mod cons and staff and drugs, so give yourself over to the experience.

1. I wasn't offered anything more than gas and air. Stitching without anesthetic was worse.