2006-09-19 10:47:26 · 28 answers · asked by funky_chica423 1 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Pregnancy
Depends on how you look at it - when you're in labour, your womb is a big muscle contracting as hard as it can to open the neck of the womb (the cervix) enough to allow the baby's head to pass through. If this is your first baby, this takes a while, both for the womb's contractions to become strong enough to be effective, and also for the cervix to stretch. You will feel your womb's contractions - just like you would feel your biceps working hard to lift a heavy weight over and over. Not pain - more intense tightening and work. The contractions start gradually, don't last long and are not intense - you can easily walk and talk during them. As labour progresses, the contractions last longer, are stronger, and come closer together - they're getting better at their job!
Imagine your favourite turtleneck sweater a couple of sizes too small - you have to do a lot of pulling on it before you see your head emerging through the top.
That's what the womb is doing in labour, pulling on the cervix to open it, and your progress is monitored in centimeters dilation. The cervix has to stretch from 0cm to 10cm to allow the baby through. This takes on average 12 hours for a first baby, once that opening has started.
If you keep visualising what's happening, it's easier to cope with the contractions, especially if you've learned a relaxation technique, and are aware of how you're breathing - this is why antenatal classes are so useful. If you understand what's happening, you can cope much more easily.
Your body has it's own coping mechanisms also - you produce your own pain relieving hormones. These are powerful opiate-like hormones that keep you "sedated" naturally during labour! These hormones are produced much more when you are physically relaxed, and are stripped from your system very quickly by adrenaline - the hormone you produce when you are stressed (fight or flight hormone - primitive response to feeling intense negative emotions like fear or anger). So a relaxation technique you have practiced and perfected before going into labour is a valuable tool indeed.
The most difficult contractions to cope with are the final few - this is on purpose - as you body gears up for the second stage of labour - the delivery stage. Now your body deliberately pumps you full of adrenaline to wake you up and make you ready for the most physical work of your life (it's not called labour for nothing!)
These contractions are called transition contractions - you feel like they're overwhelming, and you feel agitated and restless, and this is where women often feel they've totally lost control, but this is all normal and part of the process. Once the neck of the womb is fully open, you then start working with the contractions to deliver your baby. This stage usually lasts 30 minutes to 2 hours max. The contractions are long and strong, but this time you're using them to actively help deliver your baby, so you're too busy to notice whether they're painful or not! As the widest part of the baby's head starts to emerge, the entrance of the birth canal is stretched paper thin - this is sore, very sore, but it lasts no more than a couple of minutes, and what a small price to pay!
Hope this is of some help - this is a description of the contractions of a straightforward normal vaginal delivery - there are many different types of labour and delivery that are not so staightforward.
2006-09-19 11:35:16 · answer #1 · answered by RM 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it depends. With my first, which is supposedly the hardest, I was fine til the last hour or so, when I Started feeling the contractions come. (5 1/2 hours total) I walked around, watched Tv and things like that. For my second though, I was in labor for a whopping hour and 6 minutes. for the whole 16 minutes I was pushing (3 pushes) I felt like I was going to rip in half. Both of my babies were smallish though. The first was 6 lbs 8 oz and 2 weeks early the second was 6 lbs 1/2 oz and 4 days late (I think they had the due date wrong) It all depends on the person and how big the baby is.
2006-09-19 11:43:15 · answer #2 · answered by Genny 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Natural childbirth hurts very badly. Epidurals help alot for the pain of child birth.
2006-09-19 11:25:58 · answer #3 · answered by dorada20737 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It hurts most people. The amount of pain depends upon the childbirth technique you use, your pain threshold, and if you have any complications. Check out which techniques have the lowest number of people that need pain medicine. The Bradley method has over 90% of people that do not need pain medication.
I have had hunger pains before that were worse than labor. I have had four children with no pain medication.
2006-09-19 11:09:55 · answer #4 · answered by pennypincher 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hell yes! I have never given birth but I have friends and family members who have. An vaginal birth hurts, however doctors or nurses can give you an epidural to significantly lower the pain. A C-section usually doesn't hurt until after the medication and drugs wear off. I have heard that the pain can last as long as a month after a C-section.
2006-09-19 10:55:43 · answer #5 · answered by Pink Princess 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I had an epidural and I didn't feel anything...even when the doctor and the nurse had to push on my stomach really hard to loosen the placenta after my baby was born. They give you a small shot before doing the epidural and it really doesn't hurt as bad as some women make it out to be. My legs, before the epidural kicked in did get really sore, but as soon as it began working I didn't feel it and it wore off a couple of hours after I had my baby.
2006-09-19 10:52:04 · answer #6 · answered by Ryan's mom 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yep the worst pain of my life. The contractions can be pretty bad but IMO recovery is much much worse than labor. Labor is over in a couple hours. It takes weeks to get over it though. I couldnt sit right for two weeks! It kinda feels like you pooped a spiked watermellon after wards. Its all worth it in the end though. I did it with no pain meds, I'm proud to say! LOL! The worst is after your waterbreaks, its pretty managable until then.
2006-09-19 12:47:03 · answer #7 · answered by shannonlbuck 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It hurts either way. The contractions hurt, if you get an epidural...it hurts, after the c section...it hurts, if you have it naturally...it hurts. If you want a kid, you are going to have to go through some kinda pain. Sorry.
2006-09-19 10:54:25 · answer #8 · answered by Brianna'sMomma 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
o.O
9 centimeter opening plus 9 pound 15 ounce, 22" long object = Worst Pain Ever. Did you know that your pelvic bone actually cracks during this process?
2006-09-19 10:56:00 · answer #9 · answered by gilgamesh 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
my first child i had a epidural and i pushed three times and he was out..it didn't hurt..i thought that the contraction hurt more than actual labor...also i had a cc with my second and that didn't hurt at all..but it is pain full afterward cause that is major surgery
2006-09-19 11:28:30 · answer #10 · answered by jesskhlr 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋