When you have a baby... what hurts the worst during labor?

Answer 1

I've had two babies each without an epidural. All I had was whatever they gave me in the IV. I was sooooo tired the first go-around that by about 20 hours of labor, the contractions woke me up each time, and I woke up screaming. That one took about 25 hours, and I was 10 days overdue. The worst pain with this one was the pushing him out part. The placenta really sucked too, since I thought I was done, and had to do another pushing session.

With my second son, I knew the drill and I knew what to expect. The birthing process really wasn't nearly as bad. The next day I was sore, but not nearly as bad as after I got my tubes tied that day, and THAT was the worst pain I'd ever felt in my life!!! For weeks my insides burned with pain because of it! I remember hurting for a while after my first, but this pain after my second was unbelievable.

I hope this helps...
;o)

Answer 2

Transition..that's the last few cm that you have to dilate before you can push and the contractions are very strong and long but that stage goes by faster than earlier dilation and contractions.This is the time many women throw up,start saying "i cant do this" and start shaking...it's a crappy feeling but once you get past transition the contractions are not as painful and you finally get to do something besides sit and take the pain you get to fight back with pushing.Pushing the baby out does hurt but it has been done for century's.My first two babies were 9 pounds and 7.5 pounds and i had zero meds and the smaller baby hurt more but when i had my 3rd and 4th i had a c-section because of breech and recovery from that is waaaaaaaay worse...avoid a c/section at all cost.Epidurals are way over used and can lead to alot of problems for you and baby and that can push you towards needing a c/section.I recommend you read "a thinking woman's guide to a better birth" and "born in the USA" these books will educate you alot and anyone who has "what to expect when your expecting" should throw it in the garbage.

Answer 3

I had an epidural with all of mine (3 kids). The worst part for me was the after birth contractions. This is when you have already delivered the baby and your uterus starts shrinking back to size. They hurt worse than actual labor contractions. Well to me anyway. I have a rather high tolerance for pain so going through my contractions where not that bad. I never had a child with out an epidural so I can't really tell you how that would feel. I don't think I will ever know either.LOL

Answer 4

The worst points are transition and crowning.

Transition is the final part of dilating. The contractions are usually pretty close together, intense and there is a lot of pelvic pressure at this point. Fortunately, for most moms, transition is also the shortest part of labor. It may be a super intense 15 minutes, but you can do it if you remember that it means you're almost there!

Crowning is the point when the baby's head is stretching you and about to emerge. It burns and is often described as "the ring of fire." If you try hard to relax and breathe, you can make it through this too. I think I fought against it with my first and that was why it felt so bad. I was more relaxed with the other two and it wasn't as bad. (All three were unmed.)

Answer 5

The contractions. I was in labor for 24 hours. I had an epidural, and I still felt the pain. My doctor said 1 in 10 woman metabolism will burn through the med too fast. The med last 1 1/2 for me then I felt everything. After 24 hours of pain my doctor had to do an emergency c-section. Everyones birth experience will be different. But for me it was bad! I thought I would get an epidural and most of the pain will be alleviated. Boy, I was wrong! My sis-inlaw was only in labor for 2 hours with both her daughters. She had no pain meds. I was so envious. Good luck!

Answer 6

Well....I had a c-section. So the recovery was a pain!!! But as for in labor...i had 41 hours of contractions...and i have to say the contractions were the worst! Especially when they were on top of each other. It was such a blinding pain. I kept thinking that if the contractions would go away i could handle the rest of the pain.

Answer 7

my contractions hurt before i got the epidural!!! i had them all day and they just slowly increased in strength and frequnecy until i knew that they were hard enough to be labor.
they weren't bad until i was going from ante partum assesment to delivery..that's when i was walking in the hallway and i'd have to stop and take some deep breaths to get through a contraction and then it was over and i was fine, then it would hit again...yeah, i was ready for an epidural.
having an epidrual didn't make me want to try it naturally AT ALL! i saw the dr stretching things out down there and yanking around and i was soooo glad that i didn't feel anything!!

the craziest part.... when the nurse grabbed my hand and placed it on my baby's head. i wasn't expecting it and it was the most unforgettable experience of my life. it sounds kind of weird, but it was so neat and it made me want to push even harder to get him the rest of the way out!!!

take care and take comfort in knowing that your body is made for having babies and it knows what it needs to do...you just go for the ride:)

Answer 8

For me, it was definitely the contractions during hard labor. I could tolerate the hours of contractions prior to hard labor, but I wanted to jump out of the window for those hard labor hours! Pushing felt good for me....it made the contractions stop.

Answer 9

It all hurts but for me the strangest pain (maybe the worst) what the vaginal burning while the baby's head pushed through. I think its the stretching and tearing but with the epidural it felt odd.

Answer 10

The contractions hurt me the most but i got an epidural so it helped a lot! You don't really feel any pain after that, only pressure. I even received an episiotomy and still didn't feel it with the epidural only afterward.