I am terrified of any pain, and fear childbirth..?

Question

experienced moms. How painful is child birth? with drugs.. without drugs. I plan to give birth naturally b/c i have the idea of drugs in my system. I barely take pain-killers when i have pain.. and c-section how painful is that. I fear this one the most.. what were your experiences like.. truthfully

Answer 1

Honestly, giving birth was the easiest part of my pregnancies - both times. I am now pregnant with my 3rd, and labor is the least of my worries. I did both of my deliveries all natural, and although there are some pains, its nothing that cannot be handles without drugs. Go into your child birth with the attitude that your beautiful baby will soon be in your arms and no amount of pain is going to seem like much.

Answer 2

No matter how you do it, childbirth is probably the most painful experience you'll ever have. If you are "terrified of any pain", then you might want to rethink your natural childbirth plan. Luckily, we have advanced technology. Epidurals can make labor much more comfortable. You wouldn't let a dentist drill on your teeth without anesthesia, would you? Then why go through childbirth without anesthesia? It's unnecessary in this day and age. And you don't get a gold medal for "natural childbirth" either.

Personally, I have had 3 C-sections, the last one with a hernia repair and a tubal ligation. I had spinals with all three. It is a painful process, but if you take your pain medication, there should never be a point where you are miserable. Do your research. Take a childbirth class. And don't let people scare you, because people LOVE to tell their terrifying tales of woe. The best advice is go in with a plan, but keep an open mind. You have no idea what childbirth will feel like, and no one can tell you what it will feel like. But the fact that women do it over and over again should tell you that it's something we get through....and choose to do again.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Fear is what causes the most pain. Feeling unsafe and not supported don't help either. The main thing for you to do is learn to relax. Be in a place that you feel safe. The drugs that are used today are moderately safe, but unnecessary for most women. Any drug that goes into you goes into your baby. If more doctors were honest about that, maybe the epidural rates wouldn't be so darned high.

I have had a c-section, 2 hospital VBACs (1 with episiotomy, 1 with a natural small tear) and one homebirth. While my homebirth had the most complications, it was the least painful of all of them. C-sections are major surgery and yes, they are quite painful. Mine was totally uncomplicated and I had an "easy" recovery (no popped stitches, no infection), but it still took me MONTHS to get to where I could get out of bed and carry my sweet baby around with no pain. You need lots of help and possibly strong painkillers to get through the recovery period. I won't go into how many complications there can be for you and baby. When they are actually NEEDED, they are a godsend. But many that are done today are not necessary, regardless of what the doc tells you.

My first VBAC with the episiotomy hurt badly only when the stupid doc cut me before the lidocaine took effect. And that made me tear even worse. 99% of the time episotomies are so not needed and cause worse tears than would happen if you were allowed to stretch naturally. Docs are very impatient and want births to be on their schedule. I had residual pain and problems from that birth for months also.

My VBAC with the natural tear was great! I only needed a few stitches and I had no problems with them or moving around within a day or two.

And I did love my homebirth and will have any future children at home. I felt safe and secure and loved. Labor was a breeze and recovery was SO much better in my OWN bed with my kids and family around me.

Don't fear birth. Trust your body. If you can, find a midwife and stay home. You can do it just like the millions and millions of women before you have. Check out http://www.empoweredchildbirth.com for more info and some wonderful stories. You also may want to check out Hypnobirthing and the Bradley method. I've heard great things about both.

Answer 4

My labor was induced with Pitocin because I wasn't contracting after my water broke. So, it was more painful than regular contractions. However----just stay focused on something. Bring a photo of someone close to you or a nice relaxing landscape (i.e. a beach, water, whatever you fancy) and try to focus on it. And if you decide to get the epidural, don't feel ashamed. I had every intention of a natural birth with my daughter. But, the contractions were coming right on top of eachother (because of the Pitocin) and my nurse encouraged me to get the epidural. (I worked in the Labor and Delivery unit I had my daughter on...so I knew they would provide sound advice.) Boy was I happy my nurse suggested the epidural. I was tensing up so much during the contractions that I was working AGAINST them. Once the epidural was in....I dilated very quickly from 5 to complete simply because I was able to relax. Birthing plans change with each situation. You will do great! Just focus and breathe through your contractions. And if you need an epidural....so what! Plenty of women do, and we are still excellent mothers! :)
Another thing to think about....the pain must not be all that bad or no woman would have more that 1 child! That should ease your fears a bit! :)

Answer 5

I was in the same boat as you. I am not one that likes to take anything and feared giving birth. The contractions came and I went to the hospital. They broke my water there. The contractions were like a VERY bad period pain. I could not take it any more so I chose to get an epidural. I felt nothing. I did not even know that they stuck anything in my back. Honestly. I could not feel anything. They had to tell me when to push. I could not push him out so they tried the forcips. The doc could not even pull him out so they took me for and emergency c-section. Not bad at all. They just doped me up with the epidural. Had a little pain the day after but nothing severe. I got pregnant again when my son was only 3 months. The doctor told me that it would be best to do a scheduled c-section because my insides might not be healed and if I tried natural birth I might bust open my incision. So, I had a planned c-section. I had to get a spinal with that and it was terrible. I felt like someone was stabbing me in the back with knives. Nothing like the epidural. Alls I can say is that childbirth is painful but you forget all about the pain when you see your new addition to the family. Good Luck!

Answer 6

Okay, here's the truth coming from me:

I tried to have my son naturally because the thought of having a needle stuck in my spine and all the potential risks involved scared the crap out of me. I did good for a little while, then asked for the IV pain medication they offered me because the contractions were a little intense. Then they induced me when the contractions started getting further apart. After that, I was miserable. I was out of it due to the IV pain med, but I could still feel every ounce of pain from the contractions. I finally asked for the epidural. I was so focused on not moving during my contractions that I barely noticed the epidural going in (a little sting). I got to take an hour nap before it was time for my son to be born. And I still got the urge to push, so I guess it is different for everyone. After my son was born, I could feel the doctor stitching me up (I had to have an episiotomy), but no pain. An hour later, I could sooo feel my episiotomy! But it wasn't so bad. They gave me some pain meds that I only took half the dose of, and I was fine. The best relief from that pain was an ice pack. HOWEVER, my left butt cheek felt like it was asleep for about a week after that. That was the only downside for me as far as the epidural goes. I plan on getting another one with this baby. It's a personal decision, so think it over. And I'm also terrified of pain, so I know how you feel. Congratulations and good luck!!

Answer 7

I was induced, went through 24 hours of labor (10 hours with an epidural) and then ended up having a c-section anyway. My son was stuck so the doctors had to take turns pushing on my lungs (a lot like cpr) and then used a vacuum to get him out.
The C-section doesn't hurt at all when they're doing it. It's just a little weird knowing what they're doing, but I was more focused on the fact that I was about to meet my baby for the first time.
The most painful part for me was the recovery. I was trying to recover from surgery while also trying to take care of a newborn. You get no sleep, and the worst was trying to have a BM. However, you start feeling better after about 2 weeks after birth, and almost back to normal after 6 weeks. I wouldn't say it was pleasant, but I can and will do it again.

Answer 8

C section i heard is very painful the days after but you take viocodin and you will be OK for the time it works. My situation on the other hand i took a pain killer when i was 5 centimetres dilated felt good got the epidural right before 8 then when i got my morphine button accidentally fell asleep pushing the button woke up gave birth and had no pain what so ever walked around with my son sat up with my legs crossed(let you know he did rip me when coming out) for pictures the only thing that i was tired! good luck not using drugs :)

Answer 9

Epidural, Epidural, Epidural.

There is no medal or award for not getting one. My wife's comments in the middle of labor was "man, this is really boring" thanks to the drugs (as compared to the 30 minutes after her water broke until the epidural came in which she was digging her nails into my hands so hard that I think I still have scars).

You won't get a c-section without drugs, and then there is the chance they'll have to gas you (if the epidural doesn't take) which can make you and the baby a bit drowsy.

Answer 10

I have had all 3 of my babies with no drugs. I just hated the idea of not being able to get up and move around right after having the baby, and I hate the idea of the risks that come with it, like backaches, headaches, etc...(My friend ended up getting alot of side effects with the epidural) But anyways, I had all 3 of them and was able to tolerate the pain. It got really really bad at the very end, but it was already time to begin pushing and it was over with quickly. Im not going to lie...it did feel like dying towards the end. But as soon as the baby is out, the pain is gone and you have a beautiful baby.