What did your labour feel like?

Question

Hi everyone! I’m compiling information for a blog post about labour that I’m writing. 
I’d love it if as many of you could reply, the answers will be anonymous! 
You can either describe it in a couple of words or full paragraphs doesn’t matter to me! I just think it’ll be helpful for new moms who are pregnant but have never been in before.
I had a c-section both times, although I was in labour the first time because I was induced. My second son was born Jan 3rd of this year. 
To me it felt like the pain took me to another world. I would stop me in my tracks and while I was having a contraction the whole world seemed unreal like it didn’t really exist... I had to keep moving through them because if I stopped they became so unbearable. Yes they felt like extreme period pains, but for me it was almost like transcending into another universe! 
I remember the pain as if it were yesterday even though my son is 13 years old now.
Please help me help other women!!
Oh, and for those wondering, my blog is babytalk.life and I’m a labour and delivery nurse with a passion for informing and educating new moms and families!
THANK YOU!!!

Answer

My Labour seemed to go on forever, in fact it lasted 18 whole hours. Contractions were horrendous, the pain I felt was like tonnes and tonnes of pressure in my bum. I thought I would poo myself 😂 (I didn’t) . 
The pushing part was so hard, by then I was just so tired, I only had to push for 25 minutes though 🙌🏽💙

Answer

I thought I had the flu or something that day as a FTM you don't really know what to expect. I didn't have Braxton Hicks contractions so at around 8pm I was having cramps but bareable enough to have a conversation, I did snap at my husband a couple of times though.lol but I also fell asleep and the intensity of the contractions picked up around 1230am they were more intense   my whole belly was cramping and my heart rate spiked up during them. I also had the urge to poop which I did during some of the contractions. I called the L&D after I wiped and saw blood and they pretty much told me I was a FTM and it's Braxton Hicks and it will get way worse. So I sucked it up did some hyno birthing breathing until about 330am by that time the contractions were so intense I couldnt speak through them! I couldnt even move really I felt it in my back as well as my belly. Told my husband it's unbearable and we need to go now I can't, as we were getting ready to go I had the urge to push so I did on the toilet I reached down to feel if anything was coming and there was!!!! Driving to the hospital wasn't that bad the contractions eased off a bit. We got to the hospital around 415 they checked me and I was a 10 with the damn water bag hanging out! At that point I was freaking out the contractions were manageable. Went up stairs pushed 3 times and he was out! The ring if fire is a real thing 😬 when they say push you push hard like your life depends on it.

Answer

I kind of feel guilty after reading everyone else's posts, my labor and delivery was so easy in comparison! My water broke at 8:20 p.m. Saturday night, I went to the hospital at 10:00 and contractions were definitely feeling like some strong menstrual cramps by then. I was checked in and only dilated to 1 cm. 3 hours later I was at a 4 and got my epidural as the cramping was taking my breath away. From then on it was smooth sailing...fully dilated by 4:30 a.m. with no pain whatsoever.  I pushed for about 2 hours with very little pressure and she was born at 6:47 a.m. Sunday morning.

Answer

36 hour failed induction after my water broke. Didn’t get an epidural till hour 28. I would say the last 6 hours before epidural were awful, a grinding pain that was inescapable. The last hour before the epidural I tried to bounce on the ball to get things to progress and it was a special kind of hell. The epidural worked briefly before all the pain was concentrated on my left hip, which was awful but ok. My epidural stopped working during my emergency c section but honestly, that pain was nothing compared to that last hour. I feel like the pain of the pitocin contractions was just never ending, which was what made it so awful.

Answer

My labor was weird... I had to be induced at 41 weeks. For the first 24 hours (they put me on pitocin first), I hardly felt any pain. But the nurses claimed I was having such strong and frequent contractions (with no dilation) that they actually had to keep decreasing the dosage of the meds to slow them down. After the first 24 hours, they decided to try a foley balloon. That was the worst pain I have ever experienced (and I have a very high pain tolerance due to having been a collegiate runner and experiencing two double jaw surgeries). With the Foley balloon came a lot of bleeding every time I walked. When it finally fell out, I felt so much better (it dilated me to about a 3). I ended up having my little one vaginally about 12 hours after the balloon fell out. Throughout the whole labor experience, I didn’t experience the feeling of like timed contractions (although I know they were occurring at regular intervals). Once the Foley balloon was in and after it fell out, it was just constant pain and discomfort the entire time. And then whenever I moved, I felt a sharp pain where I guess the catheter was. The last five hours before my delivery, I just felt very intense pressure down there like I was going to poop myself (although I understand it was probably just my son making his way down) and I remember actively feeling like I needed to hold him in when those waves of pressure came lol. Towards the end (when I was feeling this pressure), I remember begging the nurses to get my doctor to come in and see if it was time but my doctor wouldn’t come since he had just checked my cervix 2 hours earlier and he “needed to get some sleep.” 🙄 It wasn’t until the next shift of nurses came in and they saw me crying from the pain of the pressure that they finally convinced my doctor to come look. He determined pretty quickly that it was time to start pushing. Because the baby was so low by the time he checked me, it only took 10 minutes of pushing before I got to meet my sweet boy 😊 I did have second degree tearing during delivery though.

Answer

My labours were totally different for both my babies, almost 9 years apart, both without pain meds and vaginal deliveries. My first was a preemie (labor at 30 weeks, delivered at 31). I was given meds to help stop my labor, but that just dragged things along for 3, almost 4 days. Four days of extreme period cramps that gradually got worse in intensity until they spread to my back. I had to lay on my side (was on bedrest) and just sort of zoned out into another world for every contraction. Deep, slow breaths and shaking my foot during every contraction helped to distract me from the pain. It’s a pain I had never felt before, and only ever experienced during labor so it’s so hard to describe or compare to anything else!
My second was a little different. I was full term and this labor was hard and fast, rather than slow and gradual like my first. My labor started out like the intense menstrual cramps around my abdomen and became so painful I vomited, but after a couple of hours and especially after my doctor broke my water, my pains travelled to my legs so I could no longer walk I was so weak. I spent most of my labor on the ball and that really helped me to move without having pressure on my sore legs and also helped the baby descend into my pelvis, which allowed my labor to progress quicker. All in all, Baby was born in 7 hours (8 mins of pushing) on New Year’s Day 2019.

Answer

I remember stopping myself before I shouted, “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” realizing that I was not, in fact, some sort of captured spy being tortured.   I remember not being able to keep my eyes open through the pain. I vomited between nearly every contraction.
The funny part is... I remember what I thought and what happened, but to save my life I can’t remember what a contraction actually felt like.  I’ve lost all memory of the physical sensation.

Answer

My birth was straight out of the exorcism. The epidural was awesome! Then I hit 10CM and it’s like it stopped working. I had my baby vaginal. I had horrible reflux so I was throwing up on everyone. I’m still convinced she came out my butt. I’m seeing a colon specialist in a couple weeks , I’m still shitting my pants. Which is not normal. But I had back contractions , went to the hospital they made me walk for an hour. The contractions became unbearable.

Answer

I only had extreme back pains , couldn’t lay down and after my water broke i couldn’t lay down, sit, walk or stand. Didn’t even know i was having contractions but guess that’s what it was 😂

What did your labour feel like?

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