Pregnacy/Labor pain!!!

[RMulieri]

I am going to add that every woman is different and no matter what you decide for your labor experience, or what ends up ultimately happening the end product is still wonderful and a miracle and you should be commended..Women who do labor with drugs vs naturally are no different or better.Each are special.I have to say I was quite offended by a neighbor that rudely told me since she had all 4 of her kids naturally at home, and I had mine in a hospital with drugs that I was "not a real woman", and I didn't let my"body do what it was meant for".Some people can't do it naturally or at home for medical,or personal reasons, and it is a personal choice as well.Whatever you do decide good luck to you.

 

[nikkers]

I know it is different for different people and there is not a definitive answer for this.... but I'd love to hear different opinions on it.

Just how bad is the pain of childbirth? What would you compare it to in terms of pain? Can you get through the pain with breathing/mental techniques? Is it true that after you have your baby you forget the pain? and if you are answering this please tell us if you had drugs or a natural birth please... also any other information you'd like to give on the actual pain of child birth would be very appreciated.

My husband and I are planning on starting a family next spring, but honestly, over the last week or so I am just wanting to get pregnant and have a baby so bad! I don't have any kids yet so I can't even imagine what the pain of labor must be like. I'm lucky in that I never really have had bad cramps with my periods or anything like that...

anyway.. thanks in advance! I hope this ends up being a very interesting thread!

I haven't read everyone's replies yet. I can't wait to read everyone's experiences. I have 2 children, both of my labors were completely different.

I was REALLY scared of labor. My labor with my DS was not pleasant. He was due on December 19th, and born on January 3rd. I was induced. I had back labor. It was SOOOOO painful. I opted for a epidural. That definately made labor more tolerable. However, I was in labor for over 24 hours. I pushed for over 2 1/2. I ended up having a episiotomy, and they used forceps to get him out. I swear there were at least 20 people (not family members) in the room when he finally came out. They take extra precautions when using tools. Plus it was shift change for the nurses. So, I had both 3rd shift and 1st shift nurses in the room. It was very overwhelming. My DS was 9 lbs 14 oz. I am not very big, only 5 feet. Being very honest the worst part was the tearing. I tore to the 4th degree, not all the way through, but pretty close. They had to call in a specialist to stich me up. I was VERY sore for several weeks after. My nurse told me that she had been an labor and deliver nurse for over 20 years, and this was the worst birth she had experienced. She told me that, so I wouldn't be scared to do it again.

As I said my DD was a completely different labor. My water broke at home. I went into labor 2 weeks early. I opted to have an epidural again. I literally pushed for 10 minutes. IIn the room was me, DH, a nurse, and my doctor. My daughter was 8lbs. We were really able to enjoy her birth.

It is great to hear other people's stories to prepare. No matter what it is worth all the pain in the world! Good luck!

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I didn't know you could feel that much pain and not pass out. That said, it was a few hours for a lifetime of love, and I had a very easy pregnancy. I'd rather have an easy pregnancy and a harder labor, if you know what I mean!

I had an epidural, but the effects wore off just as I went into hard labor. Plus, the doctor didn't think I needed an episiotomy, and she was wrong...DS looked like a c-section baby, his head did not squish at all, and I tore.

No, you don't forget the pain. That was almost 11 years ago! But, you do put it in perspective. Childbirth is not fun (at least not for most people), but usually they consider it worth it. Having a baby and being a mother are two different things. It doesn't hurt you physically when your child is hurt or in pain, but emotionally it is much harder. For me, being a mother is much more difficult than having the baby, but it's also infinitely rewarding.

 

[BellyBaby]

I had my son pretty young. Induced with the stick, then picto, and back labour, and he was 8 lbs. I took Demerol b/c the nurse scared me. "are you sure you don't want some, b/c if you wait too long, you can't get it". I wasn't too bad, but being young and inexperienced, I took it, I liked it, too. It altered my concept of time. Pain didn't seem too bad. But many hours later my ob suggested I get an epidural b/c he thot I'd be too tired to push if I didn't sleep. So I did. He was probably right. I awoke and we still needed forceps after 18 hrs total.

My daughter (10 yrs later) was different. Labour started on its own. Irregular contractions (just like #1) Needed the picto (darn), pain was terrible, decided not to be a hero. I had only progressed couple inches from midnight to 4 pm next day. Figured, screw this! Took the epidural, it was mild, nothing like my first epidural that took away all feeling. Once I was relaxed and calm, dialated like crazy in no time. This one definately took the edge off, but felt very weird/uncomfortable pushing towards the end. Felt like I was pushing forever with no progress. But it does, it just feels like the baby is moving back up between pushes, so don't get ticked off. I was ticked that baby #2 was also over 18 hrs. She was facing upside down just like her brother, Dr. said "Ah, no wonder that took so long. Her little head had a huge dent in it. Poor thing was jammed up against something. I felt guilty for pushing her head into some bone that was in the way. (you have weird thots when you're in labour) Dr. said I likely have a pelvis that moves my babies down wrong. Odds I'd have 2 like that was like 6%. I was just proud I pushed her out myself.

Meanwhile, my cousin cruised thru 4 babies, no drugs. Some women are just built differently. Those non-drug ladies who condemn the drugged are wackos who were just lucky and don't understand not everyone is built the same. Plus, our babies are bigger then they've ever big nowadays. And now that my daughter's 3, I know pain threshold is a huge factor. She gets needles, falls, and scrapes her knees/bleeding, and she gets up, "I'm okay". I'm like, "what"??? My son cried over everything. So I'm hoping she'll give me lots of grand babies one day with little pain.

Most of us want a drug-free delivery, and if you give it your all, that's all you can do. The package is always more important than the delivery.

 

[Miss Mo]

Absolutely nowhere near as painful as I had expected. Not a comfortable experience but much easier than walking round like a whale for 9 months in my humble experiende. I'd do childbirth again before pregnancy (and I had a pretty easy pregnancy!)

My labour was 2 1/2 ish hours from first contraction til having baby with us and the worst bit by a long shot was trying to get to hospital in the car without the baby coming out! LOL!! On arriving at hospital I was sent straight to the labour suite and told I could push now if I wanted. I don't remember that being particularly sore, more like effort. Did kind of sting (???) a bit at that final push when I had a 3rd degree tear but that was over very quickly!!

Very positive experience!

mo x

 

[snoopy5386]

I had a natural birth with DD. It was very important to me to have a natural birth for several reasons. I will admit, part of it was to test myself, to see if I could do it, but the more research I did, the more I wanted the natural birth. I couldn't understand why your whole pregnancy you couldn't take any drugs because they might hurt the baby but then they were more than willing to give you a ton of drugs during labor. There have been many studies that show that even "safe" drugs like epidurals, stadol, and pitocin can affect the mom and the baby, it may not necessarily be life threatening, but it does screw up the "natural" way things are supposed to be. I also believed that if women could give birth without drugs for thousands and thousands of years I could do it too, and that was a sort of mantra that I repeated to myself during labor, that and the thought that right now at that same moment, there are other women around the world going through labor with me, and we are all doing it together. I highly recommend Bradley classes, they are a 12 week long series of classes that teach you techniques for natural childbirth as well as teach you tons about the physical and physiological process of childbirth. Also, www.mothering.com is a great website with a great set of message boards that tend towards all things natural and crunchy.

 

[nessz79]

I might be weird then. My first pregnancy was twins...no pitocin, no drugs. 2nd was back labor with pitocin, no drugs. 3rd was totally normal with no drugs. While I think pitocin certainly amps things up a bit, I don't think it makes it unmanageable. You are right though-the experience is in the eye of the beholder. At the end of the day there is no badge of honor that they give out for going drug free-its a personal choice. So if you need drugs, by all means, ask for them. If I were to pop another out (highly unlikely at my age now) and the pain was that bad, I wouldn't hesitate to ask for some type of relief.

I agree. My 2nd was induced with pitocin and was so much easier than my first without pitocin.

 

[HGD24]

I met with the anesthesiologist (sp?) about a month before delivery to go over pain mgmt options should I need them...something that I suggest all moms-to-be do just so that you can be fully prepared and not making decisions in the heat of the moment.

My pain was very tolerable at first, but as it got more intense (about 1 hour before pushing), I asked for a spinal (different than an epidural) which only numbed my lower back and pelvic area. I was able to move myself around in the bed and even squat during delivery. I loved that I could move around and not be forced to lay on my back the entire time.

I did yoga while I was pregnant and used the breathing techniques to focus and that seemed to help ALOT with pain management and the amount of energy used in delivery.

Please don't let the thought of labor and delivery get to you. The minute you see those little eyes looking back at you and then you get that first smile, it will all be worth it!

 

[mombare]

This is a fun thread!!! I have had 2 deliveries...and to this day I believe the first "paved the way", if you know what I mean!!
First labor - 15 1/2 cm head (that's big, when you think about dilating to 10 cm). I seriously thought I was going to die. I was not dilated or effaced (sp?) when my water broke so my body had a lot of work to do. Pitocin was started almost immediately and after and hour I was given a narcotic because it was too early for an epidural. Note to self...don't ever do that again! I slept for a little while and then started dry heaving...bad, real bad. They finally gave me an epidural after about 7 hours. Heavenly is the only word to describe that feeling! I think I even told the anesthesiologist that I loved him. Well, heaven didn't last forever because the drip ran out because I was in labor for so long. The nurses got bubbles in the line and by the time they got it hooked back up it was too late. I pushed for 2 1/2 hours with no epidural, dry heaving between contraction, and it felt like my innards were being ripped out. It was absolultely horrible...but went away when she was placed in my hands. Oh, and we had to use a vacuum and I had an epesiotomy all the way to the backside! We still tell her she has a big head!!
Second labor - 13 cm head...nice! Although he was 10 pounds, I would take another delivery like that any time. Again induced for the same reasons as the first, but labor was shorter (only about 12 hours total instead of 27). I got an epidural again, but that didn't go as smoothly - if the doc asks for a scalpel that is it not a good thing! Got it figured out and it went smoothly. I only had to push for about 10 minutes with him - again, think of a smaller head and a paved path! I did tear a little bit, but nothing compared to the first cut!
I think you need to do what is right for you, but go into it with an open mind. I have a friend who insisted on doing a "natural" birth, but didn't hesitate to take oxycodone for weeks afterwards! That was kind of funny.

 

[mejkjj97]

I did yoga while I was pregnant and used the breathing techniques to focus and that seemed to help ALOT with pain management and the amount of energy used in delivery.

Same here. Cannot say enough good things about Yoga when pregnant and post pregnancy. I did not do yoga before getting pregnant but I went with a friend and loved it. It was just very relaxing but at the same time we held poses for longer periods of time to practice breathing through the pain.

the post delivery, it was a baby and mommy class. It was just a nice bonding time.

 

[aprilfoolwed]

Just how bad is the pain of childbirth? What would you compare it to in terms of pain? Can you get through the pain with breathing/mental techniques? Is it true that after you have your baby you forget the pain? and if you are answering this please tell us if you had drugs or a natural birth please... also any other information you'd like to give on the actual pain of child birth would be very appreciated.

I didn't read all the replies yet, but here's my story:

#1 - water broke on my due date (right at midnight - my daughter wanted to be very prompt!) and tiny little contractions started, but I had no pain. Went to the hospital, got scared for a number of reasons and got an epidural. I could feel NOTHING - and had a totally painless birth. But I hated every second of it. I felt detached and like a "sick" patient rather than a mom. There's a lot behind this story - and the birth itself was just a small part of it. But - early epidural (4 cm) and had no pain whatsoever. HOWEVER - I did have an episiotomy and that hurt like heck - for years.

#2 - went with a midwife this time. Had a waterbirth. I studied hypobirthing and relaxation techniques prior to the birth, and hired a labor doula to help during the delivery. My labor was rather controlled. I was very good at relaxing - I had no idea I was even in labor for hours. My water did not break until I was 9+ cm (which may be why it was so easy to control pain). Got to the hospital at 7 cm. gave birth 2 hours later. I think I had extreme discomfort for about 30 mins and PAIN for about 10 mins. No drugs used at all.

#3 - another midwife-attended birth. Water broke spontaniously in the middle of the night. went to the hospital and slept for several hours before I was in transition. No drugs. used hypnobirthing, different positions etc. Did not birth in the water - it didn't feel right, but did use water as pain relief. This was an atypical labor (baby was sunny-side up, cord around neck twice and hand was tethered to neck by cord) and was a little lengthy. I'd say I had pretty serious pain for about 40 mins (midwife was trying to turn the baby manually - hurt like crazy).

My natural births were sooooo much easier in terms of recovery. and the pain was not the worst pain of my life - although it is quite intense for a period of time.

If you are prepared, you can do it easily with no interventions. Best wishes!

 

[labdogs42]

Hmmmm...I can't actually answer this question because I have one DS and he was born via planned C-section. I just wanted to chime in about my experience as well. DS was measuring big at my 40 week appointment, so they did an ultrasound and estimated his weight to be around 10 lbs already. Since he hadn't dropped and I wasn't dilating, my OB recommended scheduling a c-section for the next day, so he didn't get any bigger. I was a little disappointed at first, but I was able to go home, read up on the c-section chapters of all of my pregnancy books, stop at Target for some magazines to read in the hospital, and have a lovely dinner out with my DH the night before my baby was born. Oh yeah, and he came out at 11 lbs, 0.2 oz., 24.5" long, so I'm pretty glad we didn't let him wait any longer to come out!

I don't know if I had a better recovery because it was a planned c, vs an emergency c, but I really didn't have any pain or issues with my c-section. I did take the pain meds they prescribed and I was able to breastfeed. My friend who is a nurse told me to to try and be a "hero" and to take the meds and I'm glad I did. I only needed them for a week or so. Oh yeah, she also told me to get up as soon as they would let me after the birth. I was up and walking around about 12 hours after the birth. Maybe that helped, too.

So, make a plan, have an idea of what you might want, but know that birthing is unpredictable. Be ready to go with the flow, trust your judgment, and do what feels right for YOU. That's the best you can do!

Oh yeah, I loved being pregnant! My pregnancy was fantastic!

 

[Camno's Mama]

I might be weird then. My first pregnancy was twins...no pitocin, no drugs. 2nd was back labor with pitocin, no drugs. 3rd was totally normal with no drugs. While I think pitocin certainly amps things up a bit, I don't think it makes it unmanageable. You are right though-the experience is in the eye of the beholder. At the end of the day there is no badge of honor that they give out for going drug free-its a personal choice. So if you need drugs, by all means, ask for them. If I were to pop another out (highly unlikely at my age now) and the pain was that bad, I wouldn't hesitate to ask for some type of relief.

That was just one nurse's experience. I'm not sure what the industry standard is, and I have nothing to compare it to as both my babies were born that way.

I wish I could have done it without drugs, and I held out for a long time, but the labor wasn't progressing, and it was extremely helpful to me. I'm a pretty tense person to begin with. The breathing just wasn't doing it for me!

 

[caspersmom83]

I have 4 kids....3 born w/out an epidural, 1 born with a failed epidural Worst.Pain.Ever. Bar none. I was a screamer.....screamed my freaking head off with 3 of them. My 3rd labor was "easy" if only because my water never broke. It really cushioned the pain of the contractions and I was chatting and laughing all the way up until she was born....all 8 lbs 10 oz of her My worst was my 4th, my son. He didn't want to come down and I was having double contractions with no breaks in between. I think my water was leaking slowly because the contractions were horrid. To make it worse my doctor didn't believe I was in labor and tried to send me home with a sleeping pill It's a good thing I knew I was in labor and refused to leave. I screamed so hard I was climbing the sides of the bed. Finally I asked for an epidural and it only took on one side. I tell people it was about as helpful as having half a broken arm LOL. I can imagine if an epidural actually worked that it would be delightful I didn't even feel the epidural needle and you've never seen a woman in labor hop up so fast to get one.

Would I do it again? Oh hell no I remember after DS (#4) was born I told DH "I don't EVER want to go through that again". I had nightmares for years afterwards. Now DH is "fixed" and I don't have to worry anymore

My best advice? Get the epidural Good luck!!!!!!

My doctor tried to send me home also by the time hey realized I was right it was to late for the epi...

 

[tigger813]

1st daughter: 37hrs of labor, 2 epidurals and then a c-section.

2nd daughter: scheduled c-section

Painful, yes! Forget it, no, but the pain goes away and you have a wonderful new adventure to enjoy!

Like you said, everyone's different so just think about a life that is never boring and having many fantastic memories with your family, especially at WDW!

Have fun

 

[nannerbadnanner]

I was induced with both of mine, had an epidural before the pain really started, and really had no pain whatsoever. Heck, I never even really felt a contraction. I was really worried about the pain so I was incredibly relieved!

 

[Twende]

From what I have read, I am going to be the odd ball here.

I honestly do not experience pain while in labor. I do not even associate the word "pain" with childbirth.


I have had gallbladder attacks, kidney stones, cancer, thirteen abdominal surgeries, and a ruptured uterus. Those were painful.

Labor and birth are powerful, all demanding, and forceful and the most difficult work I have ever done; but not pain for me.

I have contractions, not pains. They are usually about 3 minutes long and my labors have all been over 24 hours. My smallest baby was eight and one half pounds. My largest was near ten pounds. I have birth all three at home, in my own bed, surrounded by family and friends, and the dearest doctor I have ever met!

I used Bradley Training for my births. I found it worked very well for me and allowed me to tune into my own body.

Educate yourself and then learn some more. It is a fantastic experience! Savor every second of it!

 

[snoopy5386]

I never got to finish my story before so here it is: My water broke 2 days before my due date. I had basically no contractions for 8+ hours. I had to go to the hospital because I was GBS+ and needed the antibiotics. I sort of got railroaded by the midwife to get labor started since it had been so long and no contractions and I was at risk for infection. They gave me cervadil which is inserted into your ****** and sits on your cervix to "ripen" it. They told me at 6pm that they would take it out at 6am and see how things were going. I was looking forward to a long sleepless night in the hospital hooked up to a monitor. An hour later the 1st contraction hit and the cervadil fell out while I was peeing! The contractions were super, duper intense, they started out at a minute apart and only got closer, with many double peaking one on top of another with no break. I barely had time to move from the birth ball to the bed in between contractions. Our hospital had a jacuzzi tub for laboring but there was no way I could make it down the hall, so I never got to use it. After about 4 hours of super intense contractions I thought there was no way I could do it any longer, no way I could last all night like this. Turns out I was 10 cms! It took about another hour for the pushing contractions to start and then another hour or two to push DD out. I ended up with an episiotomy and then she was out in two pushes. Overall it was pretty close to the birth I wanted, but I did have some regrets. For the next one, I will be out of hospital. I would love to be at home, but DH won't go for it, so we'll do a birth center. I'll also have a doula to advocate for me and push me. When you are in the throes of labor it is hard to do what you ideally want, ie I think if I had pushed in a different position then I wouldn't have needed the epi. Midwife asked if I wanted to change positions and I said no, and didn't push me to change, I wish someone had, even though I didn't want to at the moment. Did it hurt, yes it did. It was painful and absolutely exhausting, but so totally worth it. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Like someone else said, I wish I could give birth to tons of babies, but not actually have to raise them!

 

[Munchkin'sMommy]

I have not read all of the resposes, but I will say that before I went into labor, I was so scared because I did not know what to expect. It was my first child and had heard nothing but horror stories from my friends, relatives, even my own mother.

Yes, it hurt like hell and it was the absolute worst pain I have EVER felt in my life and I cried like i have never cried before. But.....it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be either. The epidural helped immensely, (I HIGHLY recommed it) and even though it took the dr almost 2 hours to insert the stupid needle because of scar tissue in my back, once it was finally inserted, it worked immediately and I fell asleep for a while. I also had two totally awesome nurses that made sure I felt as little pain as possible. I was only in labor about 10 hours and the last 2 hours were the absolute worst in terms of pain and pushing. My son would not rotate no matter how much I pushed and the dr (just my luck my dr was not on call and my son was delivered by a dr who had the bedside manner and personality of Hitler) tried to turn him himself. Can you say pain??? He still would not rotate anymore so the dr push him back in and I push some more and still nothing.... when he was pushed back in, he got stuck on the pubic bone and had to be suctioned out and then they had to use the foreceps to get him out in a hurry because he was going into distress and both of our heart rates were going all over the place. The had the NICU team standing by because before he was was suctioned out, he started passing meconium and they were afraid he had ingested his own poop.

And to add insult to injury, by husband could not take all the pain I was in and left the room. So had to call my mother at 0500 to come to the hospital to help me through the rest of labor. My mother was the first to hold my son after he was born. And had it not been for her, I would have never made it through labor alone. As they were suctioning him out, I screamed so loud that my husband said that everyone in the hall including the nurses, stopped what they were doing. At that point, nurses started running into the room to see what was going on. There were probably close to 20 people in the room. My son knows how to make an entrance!

He was born at 39.5 weeks and looked like a preemie but not for long.

Is it worth it? Yes. Is it a pain you will ever forget? Probably not.

But what helped me was to educate myself and read and ask as many questions as you can.

You never will know what it is like until you experience it yourself.

 

[Shmily1]

The actual pain of childbirth for me was the contractions before the birth. I have two, DS18 and DD17, who were both born naturally with no medicines for pain. In the small town we live in, Epidurals were not available except certain times of the day when DS was born and, although they were available for DD's birth, I'm terrified of needles and chose to not have one. I would do it this way again every time!!!

With DS, my water broke at home and I had him 13 hours later. He was stuck a little, but after the doctor reached in and let DS slide out over his hand, all went smoothly. It sounds much worse than it was, but I did tell the doctor one time to stop, stop. He said, ok what for? I said, Are you sure he's coming out where he's suppose to???? He looked down and said, yep, I'm sure!!!

DD was induced at my request. I had been on the medicine to stop her from coming early ( a lot of stress during the pregnancy with DB dying and all the emotions of that) and when I was told that I could have her any time, I chose to have her the next day so I would be out of the hospital in time to have Easter with DS since it would be his first one. The induced labor was so much easier!!! I talked with my friends, the nurses, watched tv, etc until about 3 pm and then they said they were cutting off the tv so DD could be born. I told them I was watching Guiding Light and they could leave it on a little longer. They then explained that um, no, she wouldn't be waiting until it was over... she was coming NOW!!! They were right... she was born less than 30 minutes later!!!

They are totally worth it!! You will not forget it but it won't be something you say you'd never do again either. Oh, and if there is anything at all you want to buy for yourself, you should get it NOW!! You'll never have any money and never buy yourself anything again after you have the first one!!!