The pain of labour....Question for new mums...?

Question

Hi,

I had my baby just over two weeks ago and he's the best thing that's ever happened to me.

During the later stages of the pregnancy, I started to really worry about the labour and how much it would hurt. All of my friends who'd had children told me that yes, it did hurt, but it was a good pain and you forgot about it immediately afterwards.

They LIED ! I was expecting it to really hurt, but nowhere near as much as it did. If I have another child I'll definietly get myself booked in for an epidural !

My question is.... Am I just being a complete wuss, or is there anyone else out there who found it the most unbearable, excruciating experience ever ?

Answer 1

Hey thanks for reminding me! My second is due in january! I had a 3 day labour mostly on gas and air until the last minute when I had a trip in an ambulance to another hospital and a big epidural and a ventuse. The little man ended up in SCBU but at least he was OK in the end. The worst bit was the ambulance, and when I got to the big hospital they were all rushing around, they put that drip in that speeds up your contractions and then I had no pain relief at all and contractions every couple of minutes. Ouch. But you do kind of forget, however last fireworks night my little lad was on my shoulders and he poked his finger in my eye and I had to go to hospital with a torn retina. They asked me how much it hurt on a scale of 1 - 10. Before childbirth I would have said about 7 or 8, but after childbirth I said about 2!!! LOL. ;o) The good thing is nothing else seems to hurt as much anymore. WISH ME LUCK EVERYBODY! After reading all the answers thats me not sleeping tonight.............. ;o)

Answer 2

YOU ARE RIGHT!!!!!! People lie! It was the most unbearable, awful pain that cannot even be imagined. I thought I was dying - and at times wished that death would come quickly. The deal with the epidural is that you don't get it right away. You still feel the pain (for me it was hours before I got the epidural), but it is a miracle when you get it. The good news is that over time, you do forget how terrible the pain really felt. If you remembered forever, no one would ever have another child. My daughter is now 2 years old, and although I remember the pain, I think I could handle it again.

Answer 3

It so depends on the labour you have. My first two were easy enough - not a breeze you understand but bearable and forgettable in terms of the level of pain. My last one was excrutiating in the extreme and an experience i will never ever forget as long as I live! She was back to back and got stuck as I had been induced and my cocyxx (spelling!!) was in the way - it usually moves out of the way during the progression of labour I was later told. Anyway she had to break it to get through so the aftermath was also quite painful for both of us. If you do decide to have another one the labour would probably be completely different in terms of pain and time scale. I've been told that no two labours are the same and in my experience that is so true. Book an epidural by all means but you might be pleasantly surprised if you do choose not to. Good luck x

Answer 4

I never had an epidural. I finally agreed to one with my last baby as I was getting pretty miserable but I had gone from 3cm to 10 in 20 minutes (guess that is why I was miserable) so it was too late. I think everyone has different thresholds for pain tolerance. I knew women who just booked c-sections because they did not want to even think about labor and delivery. I personally had all 3 of mine naturally. Was it painful? Yes. Was it awful? Maybe. Once it was over it was just a flash in my memory. Maybe it was worse because you had so much anxiety about it. By all means, if you have another baby, let the doctor know that you want the epidural. But every experience is different. Next time might not be so bad. Congrats on the little one!

Answer 5

I have 3 sons and yes it is the most excruciating pain that i have ever felt in my life. You are not a wuss, so dont worry. I coped with gas and air for all of my pregnancies, cos i'm terrified of needles. If i weren't i would have had an epidural. But your friends are right about the pain, it is painful but you will forget what it felt like in about 3 to 6 months. I would like another child myself but am scared cos i know the pain is bad.

Answer 6

No you are not being awuss! It's bloody painful! Everyone has a different pain threshold so some people can handle it. Definitely have an epidural next time.
The only pain I have experienced which was on a par with (or possibly worse than labour) was when I had a bout of renal colic when my first baby was 5 weeks old. Pain was so bad I kept throwing up. Apparently renal colic & kidney stones are the closest a man will ever get to experiencing labour pains. If men had to give birth they would have come up with a better pain free method by now!

Answer 7

You are not a wuss. It was the worst pain I have ever had the pain meds didn't even help the only relief I got was from the epidural I thought it was very unbearable and than I had to have an emergency c-section.
My experience with child birth was soo awful. That's just my case My daughter was healthy and I'm very grateful and thankful to have her!
It took me a long time to get over my experience
Be proud of yourself you did it !! Never be ashamed to ask for pain control

Answer 8

No you're not being a wuss. I've had three children and with the first 2 I didn't really feel anything because of the wonderful epidural. My youngest I just had in May was a different story. They gave me the epidural but it didn't work. He was 8lbs 7oz and let me tell you that hurt really bad. I will never forget that pain and that's why I got my tubes tied. No more babies for me.

Answer 9

I too thought like you - there's no pain really that unbearable you can't cope with. Thought I'd breath through the pain - the stuff I had learned in my yoga class - how wrong i was! Opted for epidural after pushing for over an hour with no result, no you are not a complete wuss, why be brave with all the drugs you can have, doesn't add up to me, no point in suffering! x

Answer 10

Hey!
I used to hear all sorts of stories before I had my 2.
I was induced with my first. I tried gas but due to an operation as a child the mask brought the trauma back so I couldn't have gas and air and pethidine was whack, it didn't do anything so I screamed for an epidural and typical me the anaesthetist was busy in surgery and by the time he came rushing in it was all over (yeh cheers mate!) I digress......I felt so much pain I felt sick and cried for my Mom, it racked my entire body with pain and I actually believed it'd go on forever ( as opposed to 3 1/2 hrs!). When my Mom eventually woke up and realised the phone call from the hospital in the middle of the night wasn't a dream she came and smugly chuckled, 'I bet you won't be doing that again?!', to which I replied, 'Oh yes I will', why? cos it was worth every miserable minute. My second was born on the living room carpet which as you can imagine was completely natural, surprisingly my memory of that pain was that it wasn't that bad, but then I was distracted trying to play it down for my first who was a toddler and was completely fascinated by what was unfolding. I digress....AGAIN! What was the question? Oh yeh......it hurts alright and yeh I never experienced anything like it before or since!!