How would you describe contractions?

[NewMamma21]

FTM just trying to get an idea of what contractions might feel like.
I know this may be way off but the only 2 things I’ve experienced which I feel I could compare with are

1. gall stone attacks (undiagnosed for ages); they felt like my stomach had cramped up & wouldn’t release, shooting back pains & felt like someone was squeezing my lungs.
2. IBS; that feeling of really needing the toilet, stomach cramps, cold sweats. All coming in waves then okay for a bit then another wave.

I didn't find them at all like period pains...more like your insides are being tightened up way too tight.

A PP said earlier that they are like a chinese burn on your uterus. This is spot on !

I think they are nothing like period pains!
My contractions were sooo sore from very early on. I was scared of every single one.
I was actually shocked at how painful they were. I was always of the mentality before being pregnant that they are just sore period pains. No. No they are not.

Initially mine started as period pain, as the hours went on (around 36 hrs total) it was like being stabbed up the bum - like a clenching, shooting all body pain.
I couldn't go the toilet and I couldn't drink, was vomiting bile.
I honestly really enjoyed the pushing part compared the labour.

Sounds horrific, but I'm only recalling this in an abstract way if that makes sense.

@BounceyBumblebee

The start out like period pains. The end up feeling like your body is tearing itself in half.

Exactly like this, for me. My contractions were so fast I never experienced the ‘break’ between them that you’re promised!

I've had a gall bladder attack which needed urgent surgery - but that wasn't like labour to me. I've also got IBS but that isn't like labour either.

I think everyone perceives it differently. I felt labour to be like really , really severe period pains which gradually became incredibly painful . Then the actual birth was like passing a burning bowling ball out of my vagina. DD is 36 but I can still remember the terrible burning as she came out.

Like someone was firing a sharp lightening bolt through my body on repeat.. I was induced though and had strong contractions from the start.. I had an epidural in the end.. and an EMCS.

Mine were like period pains which came and went, got stronger and stronger as time went on. My DD was back to back so later on in established labour my back was really painful, I was in a birthing pool which helped with that massively but had to be moved to theatre in the end.

Mother of all period pains. And once they get bad you can’t do anything, not walk or even talk. One wouldn’t be so bad - pain threshold wise personally for me would it’s less painful than leg cramp, but it keeps coming back which is why it’s overall worse.

nothing like gallstone attacks, those were mainly under my right rib, sharp, radiating pain. also made my shoulders hurt.

contractions are localised just above the pubic bone, dull period cramps that come in waves at first.

honestly, you'll know it

Waves of intense and excruciating pain, similar to period cramps but 1000x worse.

You can pack your hospital bag between the waves, I'd recommend having it ready beforehand though.

All my contractions were in my back, no one told be about that! I had one at the front, like a ripple of pain.

DS1: Posterior - no idea about contractions as there was just a continuous wall of pain for which I had an epidural - earlier they had been like very strong braxton hicks but as soon as my waters broke...........

DS2: Combination of braxton hicks and period pains but they gave me an epidural swiftly as baby was very unwell and in case they had to do an emergency caesarean.

DD1: No idea. I was induced and insisted on an epidural before they switched on the syntocynon drip and by the time the epidural was finished Labour was under way naturally and dd was born 2 hours later.

IMO in 2021 no woman needs to endure severe pain - ever.

The only way I could describe it is like you're being hugged really tightly.

I believed (because I'd read on here) that they were like big period pains. For me they were not. Nothing like a period. I like to think i'm pretty hard but they were almost unbearable and I think I'd have been better prepared if I wasn't expecting big period pains. But everyone experiences contractions and labour differently so they might feel like that for you, but I think the best thing to do, is go in with no expectations.

@ArchbishopOfBanterbury

Honestly, I've had worse period pain... it was so painful I was regularly sick. In contrast, labour wasn't as bad for me. The "waves" built and released in a way periods didn't. But it was that kind of feeling

^
Agreed
I was expecting much worse - and then she was born :)

Period cramps that get intensely stronger over time and don’t stop. I had so many worries as a FTM and I don’t know if I would have wanted to read a thread like this beforehand. Op, you will be fine. Yes it hurts but your body takes control so you just have to go along with it. Try not to tense up or panic- the pain is normal and people have been going through this for forever.
When your period pains have intensified until the point you cannot speak through them at all and you are holding on to the door frame for dear life, it’s time to go to hospital in my experience.
At the end the contractions don’t really stop at all and it feels very much like a burning pain (you’ve dilated so it makes sense, but I wasn’t prepared for it), then you will get a very intense urge to go for the most enormous number 2. Pushing to me was similar to going toilet when you’re constipated - obviously more intense and very sore, but similar.
For the record my babies were both 10 pounds or more and I only had gas n air. Nothing at all wrong with pain relief, that’s just to explain how much your body is capable of getting through this and if you get a vaginal birth you will soon recover.
I found stitches worse to be honest as I’d “done my bit” and had never been stitched up before. Gas n air saw me through that but it was v uncomfortable.

Good luck 💕

Period pains that get progressively stronger and closer together.

It’s basically massive spasms of pain. Think your worst period pains x 100

Like your body is tearing in half but the pain is in waves. It’s not really a manageable pain but it just happens and there isn’t anything you can do. Once the baby is out the pain goes and new pain comes in, being stitched or further cramping. Most of the time people look back and think it wasn’t THAT bad, but at the time it is very bad.

I agree with the Chinese burn on your uterus comparison!

Absolute hell on Earth being stabbed with a hot jagged knife in the guts repeatedly. Awful. I only had a 2 hour labour so it was 0-100.

Really bad period pain. Of course it’s not constant and comes in waves, so you have time to rest between contractions.

No DC here yet (currently 20+5 weeks pregnant) but had a MMC last year and had medication to induce the MC so I had (what I assumed were) contractions.

As others have said, like REALLY bad period pains that come in waves. I usually nap when I have bad period pains but I couldn't sleep through these, so I knew these were different.

People laugh when you say it's like period pain, like that's impossibly too mild. It's not like period pain in intensity/pain level. It's much more intense than that. But in terms of the area and kind of sensation, yes it is or at least it starts out like that and just builds up and up and up. I found it totally overwhelming and it felt like it was in my whole body. It blanked out all other sensation even Vision /hearing etc.

The only good thing is it is a wave so it grips you and then passes. Which is fine in the earlier stages but I could never get hold of it later on.

Agree with the really bad period pain description.

My contractions didn’t come in waves though. It was constant and impossible for me to measure how frequently they were coming. There seemed to be a lot of focus in ante natal classes on measuring contractions and timing them. It really threw me that I couldn’t do this - there was no discernible start or end and I wish I’d known this was going to be a possibility.