Pain Free Birth - can it happen? gimme stories

[DivineMrsM]

i'm reading Hypnobirthing and the concept makes a LOT of sense to me, but the skeptic in me is doubtful.

so anyone who has actually experienced a pain free or less painful birth, please share your story with me!

thank you!

[sdejje]

I would consider all of my labors to be pain free. To me, contractions just feel like a muscle stretching and opening up. Relaxation definitely works wonders with labor.

Pushing, on the other hand, is not fun for me. On the bright side, it doesn't last very long at all!

[sky_and_lavender]

This link has tons of birth stories of pain free births. These moms all used Hypnobabies (which I'm using, too, for my first birth.)

Enjoyable Births (comfortable, pressure only)

Good luck creating a vision of birth that works for you and your baby.

[zoebird]

i didn't use hypnobabies, but my pleassurable/ecstatic birth is linked in my sig!

[Veritaserum]

Yep! Read the stories in the link above. I'm another fan of Hypnobabies (which ime is more effective than HypnoBirthing).

[callieollie]

I had a virtually pain-free birth using hypnobabies. I had 2 uncomfortable contractions while I was in the car going over bumps in the road and pushing was intense for me but overall, it was comfortable. I was a skeptic too!

[Clairesoula]

I didn't do Hypno anything, but had a pain free labor. I thouroughly enjoyed myself and things didn't feel really even all that intense till I hit transition. I have to say that being in water for the last part of labor was wonderful and I enjoyed pushing. It was intense, but not painful. Good luck!

[cottonwood]

I do think that some sensations (not all, sometimes pain is just pain!) can be perceived in different ways, depending on what your belief system is. I'm thinking, for instance, of the "ache" I sometimes feel when I'm becoming very sexually aroused -- under different circumstances I could totally see regarding that exact same sensation as unpleasant, but it's not, it's something I love. My undisturbed labors were a lot like that for me, and overall something that I really enjoyed. The real pain (i.e. something that you can't "interpret", it just is what it is) for me happened with my first birth which was overly managed/observed, and with my subsequent relatively undisturbed births when the baby's head hit my sacrum, which I very strongly suspect had to do with previous injury to my back/pelvis/hips. The baby moving through the birth canal spontaneously was incredible, one of the most awesome things I've ever felt.

[Shelsi]

I had a totally pain free hypnobabies birth. Heck it worked so well she was a surprise UC! The story is linked in my siggy.

[super mamabug]

I had a virtually pain free birth with Hypnobabies and am planning my second. It is possible and wonderful to feel everything without fear or pain. It is not feeling free and that is the misunderstanding. It is intense and challenging. But it can also be enjoyable and not painful. I only had a moment of pain during transition and it was like a minor cramp. I turned to DH and said, "it hurts?" thinking something might be wrong. My daughter was born 10 minutes later. No pain during labor, pushing, crowning etc.

[DivineMrsM]

you all are so inspiring! i can't wait to deliver this kid! 24 weeks to go! lol

[Penny4Them]

Hi, I had same question a few weeks back and you can check out the great responses here http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1068730 .

Also, I was completely empowered by Guiditta Tornetta's beautiful book called Painless Childbirth. It offers meditations and ideas to support your entire pregnancy. I read it in my last trimester and only wished I had it sooner! It helped me heal some things from a previous pregnancy loss, and some things that rattled me about my daughters' births. It's really so beautifully written and will serve as great inspiration to me as I birth my Baby Boy sometime within the next month. (I'm now 36 weeks.)

Here's to the best birth experience you can possibly have!!!!

[*MamaJen*]

Mine wasn't 100 percent pain free, but it was really manageable. I kept on zoning off into laborland, and that was almost pain-free. The pushing stage actually felt kind of good. I didn't mind that part at all.
I will say this: my labor was fear-free. It was very calm, very peaceful, very intimate and very safe. There were a few contractions during transition that kind of sucked, but all in all it was a beautiful experience.

[TzippityDoulah]

my last birth (UC) was SO wonderful, beauitful and peaceful!!! but it was also the most painful thing I've ever felt in my entire life.

I'm intrigued by the idea of pain-free birth. I totally believe it happens for some people. I also don't think that having a painful birth means a less meaningful or peaceful birth.

[Girl Named Sandoz]

Here's a link to my painfree birth story:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1079514

I don't think birth is meant to be painful. No other normal bodily function is (eating, elimination, etc). As long as both your body and your mind are prepared (healthy, well nourished, relaxed etc) a painfree birth should be the norm, not the exception. In our culture we are very far removed from that because we keep interfering - mentally, emotionally, medically, socially - in what is meant to be an organic, biological process.

[MoonStarFalling]

DD's labor felt like very light cramping right over my old c/s scar. If I didn't have the scar maybe I wouldn't have even had that much. I never took hypnobabies but I do well at meditating through cx. Labor wasn't intense at all. I kept smiling and saying "this is SO EASY"!

[TzippityDoulah]

Originally Posted by Girl Named Sandoz

Here's a link to my painfree birth story:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1079514

I don't think birth is meant to be painful. No other normal bodily function is (eating, elimination, etc). As long as both your body and your mind are prepared (healthy, well nourished, relaxed etc) a painfree birth should be the norm, not the exception. In our culture we are very far removed from that because we keep interfering - mentally, emotionally, medically, socially - in what is meant to be an organic, biological process.

some biological processes do involve some measure of pain. We get sick and our bodies fight it off causing us pain for instance. it's a healing pain. but pain none-the-less. sometimes very painful.

I'm just not sure why pain is always seen as a bad thing. good things come from pain. there is much joy to be had when going through a painful process. pain isn't always far from joy. sometimes they are almost the same thing. you can experience total pain and total joy in the same moment.

My last birth was a complete UP and UC. nothing went wrong. everything was perfect and all I could possibly want. and yet it was the most pain I've ever felt. and i would eagerly do it again. but yeah sure I wouldn't mind a painfree birth either! I'd happily welcome that.

[MamaChicken]

I had pain-free births with my DD and the twins. Both were hospital births with the same MW and I used Hypnobabies. The boys were definately more intense since I birthed in a freezing cold OR - the birthing kept stalling out. I ended up maxed out on pitocin and still didn't have any pain. The MW finally broke my water since I had been in labor for 8 hours, was 9cm dilated and completely stalled out.

So even though we had some real stumbling blocks, it was a beautiful birth.

[lovebug]

OH.... OH :

[Girl Named Sandoz]

Originally Posted by HennyPenny

some biological processes do involve some measure of pain. We get sick and our bodies fight it off causing us pain for instance. it's a healing pain. but pain none-the-less. sometimes very painful.

Yes, of course sometimes our bodies experience pain. That's why I said *normal* biological processes don't involve pain; only sick ones do. Pain is a way of the body alerting us to something that is "out of balance", it's the body's alarm system. Pain tells us to pay attention to a part of the body that is not functioning in its normal state. For example, normal digestion is not painful, but diarrheea is...alerting us that there is something out of balance in the digestive system. Flexing muscles usually isn't painful - unless they are stiff, torn, overworked, etc. The body in its intact, healthy, normal state is painfree.