Honest experience of childbirth

[BumbleAw]

Honestly speaking, exactly how painful was it? Have you experienced anything that's hurt more?
What was worse, contractions or pushing?

I'm currently pregnant with my first and expecting it to be the worst, most painful, experience ever, just wondering if that's about right.

Also, not to denigrate anyone else's experience but obstetric risk aversion creates intervention in a number of what might be 'natural' labours.
So I was schooled by a passionate yoga teacher about trying to have a birth that marshaled all the bodies own systems of help if safe.
I did feel a bit like I had to fight to have an unintervened birth - but I had it in hospital to just cover an emergency. This is the tight rope you walk in a hospital. They are trained to intervene.
I didn't mention before that I did have gas and air for both and a tens machine for the second (which I thought really helped).
I had to relent and be induced for both which meant the labour was very rapid in my case when it started so I did panic a bit.
That's why for my second I did a lot of hypnobirth prep.
Luckily for me I had them both as naturally as I could do. I didn't want an op if I could avoid it.
My second I had upright which makes so so much sense to me.
I did feel absolutely heroic as if had climbed Everest and won a war. I got a lot of well done mum from staff.
But 'Natural' childbirth in a hospital is a kind of contradiction in terms.
But it's worth fighting for what you can achieve with their amazing help of course. My stitches second time were done brilliantly by a female surgeon and were much less painful because she was so skilled.

I personally never felt so stringent about avoiding intervention. The thought of a home birth filled me with horror because I wanted to be where the help was. My birth plan had my preferences but I was firm that I would follow what the medical professionals thought was best to ensure me and my babies were born safely. If I’d refused intervention when DS was born, he and/or I may have died. His heart rate plummeted and I was haemorrhaging. Having an EMCS gave us the best chances of surviving. I don’t feel anything negative about that because it wasn’t a ‘natural’ birth.

BeingA.
💯 I wanted medical support and advice and safety.
But given that the progress of labour is poorly understood it seems, many births are intervened upon that might not be.
Interventions can create problems too but necessary interventions are what we all want for sure.
Obstetrics and maternity services are working to reduce risk across the board but this does have an impact on births which could be left alone. That's my understanding

@BeingATwatItsABingThing the study referenced people presenting at a&e with chest pain. After checks showed they were experiencing heartburn rather than a heart attack, they generally rated their pain much lower, even though what was physically happening hadn't changed.

I think we've all heard enough birth horror stories to panic that something awful might be happening to us or our baby, even when everything is progressing normally. For example, I completely panicked (as did medical staff) when my body started pushing before I was fully dilated, but now I understand I might have been turning the baby, and cervical examinations aren't the be all and end all. Transition is a good example too; knowing that feeling means you're nearly there (and not that you can't do it) can be really helpful.

I definitely don't mean we should refuse all intervention and I'm glad everything worked out for your family. I've had 2 inductions too. But as with everything else baby, knowing what the wide variety of 'normal' looks like helps us trust ourselves and our babies.