Anyone ever experienced this during childbirth... - Page 2

[staceychev]

Originally Posted by Casey44

One thing I forgot to mention... she was posterior. Could that have made a difference? She ended up rotating but I already had the epidural by then so I'm not sure if that changed anything?

Hmm. Interesting. I had labor pains in my thighs. DD was posterior at some point, but not by delivery.

[slsurface]

I haven't read through all the posts, but I wanted to tell you about my experience. I labored naturally for both my boys. Both times I experienced most of my pain during the first stage of labor in the hip, upper thigh, and buttock. With each contraction the muscles in this area also tightened. In fact, I experienced pretty severe muscle cramps and even tremors.

What gave me relief: moving during contractions (cat's breath pose especially), warm rice socks on hips and sacrum, and my husband and doula applying counter-pressure on my hips, sacrum, and buttock.

So you're not alone! Hope this helps.

ETA: Neither kiddo was posterior in my case, just very big (9lb9oz and 11lb5oz).

[Mother in Mercy]

I had that too!! That exacty pain -- shooting down my upper thighs, in the front. Oohh it was awful. I read about it afterward and it turns out a lot of people have it, but you never hear of it ahead of time! My baby was posterior, but he turned before the very end, so if the MW hadn't told me so (somewhere in the middle of my 46-hour labor) I wouldn't have known it when he came out. I did Bradley, too, and never took any drugs, except Pitocin afterward to stop the bleeding -- that's horrible that you could still feel it with an epidural in. From what I read, it has to do with a nerve that gets pinched when your womb contracts... maybe that's why it happens most often with posterior labors, because the head pinches something it's not meant to!

[SashaBreeze]

Oh my, yes, I have more experience with this type of pain than you can possibly ever want to imagine.

My first child I had regular tummy contraction type of labor and delivery.

Starting with my second child I had labor in my hips/thighs. No pain anywhere else. It is mind blowing painful. With my second child it took me rather by surprise and I was furious when we got to the hospital and the nurse told me I wasn't in labor but just having RLP because "women dont feel pain in their hips when they are in labor" it was one of the few times I have actually wanted to smack someone. Oh, and of course she was wrong, I was very very much in labor. This was before I learned anything about natural labor or birth choices so I was at their mercy. They would not let me stand or sit up but lay down they kept coming in and pushing me back down on the table. So yeah.... after that and some other stupid things I had an epidural.

After that I started looking around for information. I went to a chiropractor and from what he could figure I had dislocated my right hip when I had my first child and that it had never really set back right. We worked really hard leading up to my third birth and I was soooo hopeful. I think I actually cried when I went into labor with my third and it was in my hips again. But that time around I was able to stand and move around in labor and that made soooo much difference.

Both of my labors since then have been in my hips. Some of my babies have been posterior, some not. Weights have ranged between 7pounds even and 8pounds 7 oz. I always am hopeful that this time it will be different, but so far no luck. But honestly as if I can stand and push down with my weight on my feet or if I sit on a birthing stool or toilet than the pain is manageable. Believe me I long for the type of pain I had with my first because it is so mild compared to labor in your hips, but you and anyone else can do it as long as you have an enormous amount of support and can move around at will. I mean if it was all that bad would I have had as many more children as I have had?

Oh and apparently this type of labor is pretty rare. With my third my CNM had over two decades of experience and she was fascinated while be sympathetic with me because according to her she had never not once seen a woman labor exclusively in her hips/thighs.

I guess we are just lucky like that.

[mom2threenurslings]

I had that same pain during the posterior birth of my first (on my back, in a hospital bed), during the birth of my malpositioned 3rd (but much less painful in the water and I could find positions that were more comfortable than others) and with my 10lbs 14oz huge-headed 4th who was born at home in the water ... with him I changed my position in the water to being more upright/leaning forward and the sensation went away...it was the worst when I was out of the water waiting to get back in when he was moments from birth.

[ShadowMoon]

I labored and birthed naturally and felt all of my contractions in the area you described and always felt like I had to keep moving and stretching to make it go away. It wasn't a severe, crazy pain though.....just contractions. It was my first birth and my babe wasn't posterior like yours.

[Tigerle]

Yet another story: a friend recently gave birth and told us that even after getting an epi, she felt the contractions in her foot! The only thing that helped was counterpressure. When her husband was exhausted, they managed to rearrange the hospital bed so she fcould apply teh pressure gerself.
It takes all sorts of pain...

[mommaklo]

Speading hips

Didnt see an answer to this I hope this helps!

Originally Posted by Casey44

Which makes sense, but I already had very wide hips and my baby was under 7 pounds! Why would they need to expand? I think she was right though because the day after she was born I could not fit into pants I wore while I was pregnant! They would not fit over those widened hip bones!!

When I got home from delivering my ds I could not fit into a single pair of pants. It felt as though my hips had exploded. I knew that hips spread for labor, but I also heard about people eventually fitting back into their prepreg jeans and its didnt feel like I ever would, it felt like my "structure" had changed. I looked into "shrinxhips" which is like a belt you put around your hips the 1st 6-8 wks postpardum and it supposedly helps bring your hips in. I tried this with an old "girdle" type thing I had from when I was a size bigger and I wore it low on my hips every day. (I also didnt read all of this till I was 6 wks post) but it still seemed to work. Apparently "relaxin" is still in your system until about 8 weeks after and you can utilize it to guide your hips back into place. Some people I read said they even used a belt. It worked really good for me within a week of wearing it I could fit a couple pairs of pants again. Hope this helps!


wife to dh of my life, and mom to ds 3/10

[Kelly1101]

Originally Posted by Casey44

Ok- thanks for the information. A good massage would have felt good, my poor husband just ended up being as exhausted as I was! Is it normal to have your hips expand that much? (To the point where you can't get your maternity pants on?) They have shrunk some but I can tell they are wider than they used to be.

I'm sure hoping this pain doesn't come back again!

I also couldn't fit into any pants afterwards because of how my hips had changed. And I already had very wide hips, and a 7 lb 4 oz baby. However, she also was posterior-- and didn't turn during labor, came out sunny side up. I had some thigh pain but it was mostly just pain in my hips, I didn't get a single pain in my abdomen-- it was all just in my back and feeling like someone was holding my hips in each hand and trying to break them.

[SashaBreeze]

Originally Posted by Kelly1101

feeling like someone was holding my hips in each hand and trying to break them.

I hate that we have all been through this in one way or another. I hate when I am talking with other women and I talk about this type of pain and they look at me like I just came from Mars. Thank you OP for asking this question. It has made me feel less alone.

[LiLStar]

I had pain in my thighs like that with my first labor. I also described it like the world's worst charlie horse. dd was posterior. I was planning on using hypnobirthing but that was NOT happening with the back/thigh labor! I tried so hard to relax my legs during contractions but I couldn't stop my leg muscles from contracting any easier than I could stop my uterus from contracting. How did I do it without an epi? I did get one eventually, but not before laboring at home for nearly 2 days. I avoided it until then by being scared to death of hospitals in the south. After exhausting every pushing position imaginable, I did end up transferring and having a c-section

I did see a webster chiro throughout my 2nd pregnancy, and my labor experience was VASTLY different. I would compare the last 30 or so hours of my first labor to what the (reasonably brief) transition was like with my 2nd. Anterior baby, contractions all up front, and I was actually able to use some hypnobirthing skills. Like in the middle of a contraction I'd realize, oh, I'm tensing my legs, this is unnecessary and I'll be much more comfortable if I relax.. and then I'd just..relax them! I was pretty amazed that I was capable of it that time.