kindly describe the pain you felt during delivery?

Question

describe the intesity of pain when you gave birth to your first baby

Answer 1

I had both of my kids unmedicated.

It does hurt, but it is less like a torturous pain and more like a lot of hard work. In many ways it is like running a marathon in which you can't stop running if you want to, and you don't know how long the marathon is.

Labor is different from any other physical activity in that you body does it even if you want to sit down and take a break. You are along for the ride. So what can you do? Keep hydrated, make sure you have energy, pace yourself, and keep your spirits up.

For myself, at the beginning of labor I just stayed on the computer playing games. You do NOT want to go straight to the hospital when you think labor is starting. You will be bored off your rocker! There is nothing to *DO* there besides think about labor for 14 hours or however long it takes. So in early labor, I stayed home eating what I wanted, drinking what I wanted, playing computer and board games to keep busy and distract myself.

After a while it starts to get more intense. What used to be a tightening of the uterus gets stronger, and lasts longer. The contractions come closer together so you get less of a break in between. At this stage you can no longer focus on other things like games. It helps to count off the seconds of each contraction - and then you know about how long the next will last. It also helps to treat them as milestones - just as if you were running a marathon and set your sights on a tree - you congratulate yourself when you pass that tree. Small milestones.
So after each contraction passes, you congratulate yourself, focus on relaxing your muscles (tensing up makes it hurt more and take longer) and remind yourself that you have passed that contraction and you will not ever do that one again. You are moving forward.

About this point you will probably get a feeling that you *need* to go to the hospital. You will be right.

Once there it is common for labor to slow down a lot. This is because you are no longer in a familiar, comfortable environment. You are around strangers who will be setting up IVs and other things that may stress you. The body's natural response to stress is to slow labor down. This goes back to the cave days when it might've been a tiger stressing you out. (Obviously we don't want to give birth near a tiger.) So again, focus on relaxing. By this point your muscles are fatigued and tensing up will only make them more fatigued.
It helped to remind myself that I am strong, and even if I was going through a very challenging experience, I promised myself that it would not last more than another 4 hours. And I can do *anything* for 4 hours.

When you hit transition (dilating from 8 to 10 cm) that will be the most challenging part. For most women, this is the part where you break down and think, "I can't do it." I think this is a biological response because it seems common to so many of us. Again focus on relaxing your body. Count off your contractions and remind yourself that you are only moving forward towards your goal. You are strong and you CAN do this. You are nearing the finish line.

Pushing. The next part is pushing. This is where the "ring of fire" comes in - but to be honest, it is not like you expect. You expect that the skin stretching would be the worst part of labor. It isn't. Pushing feels like release. Not to be totally gross, but it feels like if you are constipated and have to go #2 REALLY BAD and you have been holding it. When you finally sit down to go, your body is pushing whether you want to or not. And even though it might hurt to do it, it is such a relief at the same time.

When the baby is out, you will be hit with a wave of euphoria. Honestly you feel like so f***ing tough. Like you could push over a mountain if you need to. This lasts a few days. You will get to see, hold your baby. If you are going to breastfeed, try to do it right away. It is amazing but most babies are born knowing exactly what to do.

Sorry for the novel, but I really wanted to give you a lot of detail of what to expect. You have a challenge ahead of you, but you CAN do it. You are strong and you have the power within you to do this. And I say this as someone who would never, ever, run a real marathon.
Congratulations on your baby.

Answer 2

I will try to describe to you the pain I had with my first labor.

For me it started out with a tightening that would creep around my entire belly and tighten up and hold there for 40-50 seconds. These would come every 8 minutes or so for about 6 hours. I could easily walk through them at that point.

After about 6 hours of these tight grabbing feeling contractions I had dilated to 3 cm. And then they became more intense. They then felt sort of like the worst period cramp you've ever felt in your life. I don't know if you've ever had bad period cramp's where you roll up in a ball and try differant positions and nothing seems to help much. But thats sorta what it feels like. But they only last about a minute and a half and go away to come back like 2 minutes at that point. Then I got an epidural. *Thank the Heavens for Epidural's* After I got the epidural I just mainly felt preasure. When my baby was literally coming out it did feel like a ring of fire. I think what that is, is your birth canal stretching. You know like if you pull your thumb one way and your index finger the oppisite way the skin will burn. Well sorta like that.

But my second labor was much worse then my first. But both of them wasn't too bad. I can honestly say that I wouldn't care to go to the hospital right now and go through either labor my 1st or 2nd all over again to have my kids. If they weren't here already I mean. The pain isn't so bad that it stopped me from having a second child. Believe me, you will see it really isn't as bad as what you may have heard. Take in every second of it, your labor will be a memory that later you will feel SOO proud of and you will cherish every part of the memory. So don't panic, relax and take it all in.

Good luck! I wish you a fast and easy delivery to a healthy baby!

Answer 3

Everyone is different...some have a lot of pain some barely have any....I had back labor and didn't know the difference it is very painful....when I had my first baby it started out like a bad case of cramps and gradually got stonger and it felt like it came in waves....slowly building up then gradually easing off til the next contraction. Birthing classes help a lot and explain everything..it is worth it to go to them if you have that choice...my daughter did and I learned stuff there that I didn't know after having two kids!! I was with her when she gave birth to my grandson, her first, and she said it felt like a lot of pressure. Hope this helps you...Good Luck! :)

Answer 4

It was not as painful as I was led to believe honestly ...... When my water broke my daughter sort of slid out like a fish and that was it ... After that I just felt too tired I don't even remember feeling the pain anymore .......

Answer 5

According to Carol Burnett, "I think" if you grab your bottom lip and try to stretch it over your head, that's what it feels like.

Answer 6

never given birth myself, but my friend says it's "like a ring of fire"