I'm an OB nurse. I deliver babies for a living. I have never personally given birth or ever been pregnant. So here's my question....in all honesty, what does labor really and truly FEEL like....other than painful?
I mean, is it crushing, stabbing, ripping, aching, WHAT? I can't exactly ask my labor patients these kinds of questions...so I want to hear from you.
Because I'm approaching 30, and although I want children very much, to be quite frank, labor scares the bejesus out of me...all of my friends, with the exception of ONE, had totally drug-free childbirth. I just want the lowdown....what does labor FEEL like???
Had 8, 6 at home. Think of strong, long cramps, with burning, aching, tightening, that keep coming and get stronger, longer, and more intense, requiring all of your attention. But everyone experiences labor and pain differently, and everyone's threshhold of pain is different. A mother is no less a mother if she has pain meds or a c-section.
Had 8, 6 at home. Think of strong, long cramps, with burning, aching, tightening, that keep coming and get stronger, longer, and more intense, requiring all of your attention. But everyone experiences labor and pain differently, and everyone's threshhold of pain is different. A mother is no less a mother if she has pain meds or a c-section.
Wow Betty!! All those children and you still managed to become a nurse? I bow down to your superior womaness! Hope all your kids are healthy, happy, and strong! :)
I'm an OB nurse. I deliver babies for a living. I have never personally given birth or ever been pregnant. So here's my question....in all honesty, what does labor really and truly FEEL like....other than painful?
I mean, is it crushing, stabbing, ripping, aching, WHAT? I can't exactly ask my labor patients these kinds of questions...so I want to hear from you.
Because I'm approaching 30, and although I want children very much, to be quite frank, labor scares the bejesus out of me...all of my friends, with the exception of ONE, had totally drug-free childbirth. I just want the lowdown....what does labor FEEL like???
Shay, all the responses here should give you a good indication that labor and pain thresholds are different for everyone. I remember being scared out of my wits once I realized that they needed to induce labor (my H20 broke) and that I would soon be undergoing all that pain. But the pain is nothing compared to the ongoing fear and concern for your growing child that you will have for the rest of that child's days. MY sons are teens now, and their labors were relatively easy. I have a German "Frauline" stature, and am pretty big boned, I guess that may have had something to do with it. :rotfl:
I had no drugs with either child, not even an epidural. The only pain that satnds out worse than the contractions (think the most intense growing menstral cramps that start rolling one on top of another) was when the first child's head passed through. (they didnt do an episotomy, and he ripped me) but in that split second, during all the pushing, I remember thinking, "I am being ripped apart!" the next second, the feeling was like a fish or something sliding out of me. weird. He was a preemie though, and they took him right away from me. I started to hemmorhage, and passed out. Then they gave me drugs (which I kept asking for during labor, but they withheld) and I passed out again. Finally saw my son for the first time four days later when they let me out of the hospital and I was able to make it to the Allchildren's NICU unit. (where they had flown him, as he hadn't yet developed surfactant, and required a respirator) He only weighed 4.8 ounces, which was large for his gestational age, but now he is 6 feet 6 inches, and weighs 195 lbs!
The second son was a breeze after that. No complications, and I swear he was screaming as soon as his head was out, but body still inside! (is that possible, OB nurses?)
Epidurals were my very best friends through two births. Unfortunately, I went through 22 hrs of labor(epidural in the 20th hr.) with the first to find out I needed a C-section. I seriously thought I was going to die. I had a spinal w/ the scheduled C-section for the 2nd( NO PAIN!!). At first i though it was a curse having to have surgery, but I soon figured out how blessed I really was. I praise anyone who goes through l&d with no pain meds, because I could never do it.
I was induced for 3 of my four children. Pitocin is H@#%!!!!! I had IV stadol with my first induction (16 hours total). One shot of IM Demerol with my second (3 hours total). Epidurals with my last two inductions. My last epidural I got a "hot spot" in my abdomen (a spot where I felt all the pain) Went straight for a tubal after that. My third child was 9# 3 1/2 oz. (I'm 5 foot tall). Had a 4th degree lac and that was the worst of anything. In the end ALL WORTH IT.
OK, I already typed this once but it wouldn't post, so now you get the brief version!
My entire labor (that I felt) was 3 hours and 4 minutes. I progressed very quickly and got absolutely ZIP for pain. But if you have to feel it, fast is good
I had back labor. Contractions felt like extreme cramping/aching/twisting,tightening from mid back to my thighs. But with the end of each contraction was such heavenly relief! I even dozed off between them.
Pushing was a relief also, but at the height of each contraction was a burning, ripping sensation. The only pain I remember feeling in my perineum. This was odd to me, as I thought this is where all the pain would be at. Whether the ripping was actual or just a sensation, I don't know. I did have an epis, and those are a b**ch, recovery wise. Do what you must to avoid them. With a labor as quick as mine, (or an 8 1/2 pounder) there was probably nothing I could have done.
Even with all the vivid descriptions of pain here, it IS a pain you forget quickly. Otherwise we'd have a shrinking population!
Heather
Great post Heather! Pushing *is* a relief, and while I didn't get the episotomy I should have, being ripped apart made recovery a nightmare! I couldn't sit, stand, or even lay down comfortably for a coupld of weeks. I sat on sitz baths several times a day, and think I even developed hemmorhoids! It was such pain. If I wasn't on the sitz bath, I was in agony. Those things are really a relief. I thought I read somewhere recently that they have discouraged them in recent years, is that true? If so, they need to give episotomy/ripped moms some serious pain meds for the first couple weeks post delivery. But I feel even worse for the C-section moms. After my second birth, within hours I was walking around and feeling great, but my poor roomate who'd had a C-section was not so fortunate. I ended up doing things for her that the nurses didnt have time to do-- simple comfort measures. But I wasn't a nurse yet, but watching her in pain broke my heart. She couldnt even hold her baby, she was too weak and sore. Some girls I know now having their first babies claim they would rather have a C-section than deliver naturally, and that's a shame. They have no clue what kind of awful recovery they are wishing on themselves!
I had quite a good experience. My water broke just a little so my labor did not progress they started the antibiotics and potocin early the next morning. About an hour or so into the potocin the contractions started to me they were like sharp pains kinda like menstrual cramps but not bad. They told me I would not have her until 2 in the afternoon, but she came an hour and half after the potocin was started 3 pushes and it was done if they were all like that I would have alot more kids. I didn't need any pain killers after I had her the doctor said I delivered like a 2nd time mom I was lucky.
From one OB nurse (who has never been pregnant) to another--what it apparently feels like passing through the birth canal is if you take fingers and put them in either side of your mouth and pull horizontally, that is supposed to simulate "the burn" of birth.
LDR_Nurse
LOL ! Kind of close, but magnify it x1000!! :rotfl:
This is an interesting thread. How to explain the pain of labor? The most intense menstrual cramps you can imagine. The most burning of tissue being stretched...the mouth thing is pretty accurate. More pressure than you can ever think of. But then more joy than you ever had!!
It is true that you forget the pain of labor. I think that is one of the great mysteries of mankind.
However...........
Get an epidural....Why not??? Do we ask people to undergo other painful procedures without adequate pain relief?? Do we think people ought to undergo "natural" appendectomies? Or "natural" cardiac surgery?
Epidurals are much safer now than when they were "badmouthed" by labor coaches and childbirth educators.
I did not and will not forget that pain 8 year later....I literally had a lady partsl C/S! :uhoh21: And I was pitted...that is the most evil molecule made by man! I am sure it was made by a man :chuckle
I had an epidural when the pain got really bad and thankfully I had it last for a few hours after....whoooo boy! And you're right....pain relief is nothing to sneer at! I am a wimp and proud of it
I have given birth to two children. Both precipitous labours. Did not feel a single contraction until 8cm with either and when I did, they were right on top of each other. Pushing is heaven! Delivery is a really hot, searing heat, kind of sensation. I would not want to repeat the pain of childbirth, but can tell you that that kind of pain is nothing compared to an ectopic pregnancy. 36 days of hemorrhaging (because 5 GP's thought it was an incomplete miscarriage instead of a tubal), and by the time I got to an OB/GYN and had emergency surgery, the OB/GYN let me know just how close I was to death myself. I can honestly tell you that that kind of pain had me begging God to kill me - I just couldn't take it anymore. Normally T3's knock me out for 8-12 hours, they didn't even take the edge off of this pain.
Yes, childbirth is painful, and every L&D is different - but the positive result (baby!) makes you immediately forget the pain. And it is ALL so worth it in the end.
Wow Betty!! All those children and you still managed to become a nurse? I bow down to your superior womaness! Hope all your kids are healthy, happy, and strong! :)
My youngest is 5. The others are old enough to help. I couldn't have done it without their help, or their dad's help. I'll be finishing LPN school next week. Yeah!
I think contractions feel like leg cramps, or charlie horses, at least that quality of pain, although they are about 1000 times more painful, and the happen over and over for hours.The pain of actually pushing the baby out is undescribable it burns and stings like tearing type pain and also has extreme amounts of pressure. I have three children the first one I had a forcep delivery after the epidural had worn completely off and no other pain relief not even lido with the third degree repair, the second a shot of nubain 30 minutes before I delivered and the third nubain and demerol. I had pitocin with all three so I have nothing to compare that to but it was bad, but it is nothing you cant do and you get over the pain as soon as you see your baby.(really)
Betty_SPN_KS, LPN
276 Posts
Had 8, 6 at home. Think of strong, long cramps, with burning, aching, tightening, that keep coming and get stronger, longer, and more intense, requiring all of your attention. But everyone experiences labor and pain differently, and everyone's threshhold of pain is different. A mother is no less a mother if she has pain meds or a c-section.