Did you feel the "ring of fire?"

[nova22]

I hear all kinds of hoopla about the "ring of fire" that you are supposed to feel when the baby is crowning. Do you feel it? I never really experienced it. I always attributed it to being so relieved to be pushing; my body seemed to block out the pain. It was absolutely nothing compared to transition, or when the OB tried to move a cervical lip, or when I had to get stitches for a tear after my doctor yanked my baby from my body (note extreme bitterness ).

Back on topic...is this something you have experienced?

[Peony]

Nope.

[insahmniak]

Nope.

[BirthInStyle]

I never felt it either. My midwife even asked me at the time if I felt it and I really didn't. I think I was too focused.

[barefoot mama]

Yes. I had it for my first 5 births. For all of those, I hated hated HATED the pushing part. The ring of fire was awful for me. With my most recent birth, I had NO pain whatsoever with pushing. No ring of fire, no nothing. Of course, the last part of labor for that particular baby was so incredibly unbelievably excruciatingly painful I think I deserved it

[Patchfire]

Oh, yeah. Not so much with dd, but definitely with ds. And his head WAS bigger.

Still. I had a contraction, he was crowning, contraction stopped, so I'm standing there, burnnnning, and I start singing, with my doula. "I went down down down and the flames just went higher. Oh it burns burns burns... that ring of fire... that ring of fire."

[~Heyokha~]

I felt burning but it didnt feel as bad as the description of ring of fire, so I am not sure

[broodymama]

I never felt it with either birth.

[Bartock]

I felt the burn with ds2, I would think so, the docs were all like "ouch that musta really hurt, look at the size of his shoulders"

[HappiLeigh]

I felt burning, but I don't think it was really ring-like.

[Vespertina]

I, too, felt a slight burn or sting.

[Blue Dragonfly]

Oh yeah. Both times.

[savithny]

First time, nope. NOt even all that pressure people describe. I pushed for about 40 minutes and I think everything was numbed up by the time he'd descended that far.

Second time - YEP. Much faster birthing (I didn't really push, she just whooshed out). When my water broke she crowned instantly and yipes, there was that ring of fire. DIdn't last long though.

[Jade2561]

Nope, neither birth. A lot of pressure but no burning.

[4lilfarmers]

YES! i remember saying to the mw "this has to be the ring of fire"

[kerikadi]

Yes, with #3 and #4.

Keri

[Luv2bemommy]

No, not really. I did feel a lil tingling but nothing that would have stopped me from pushing!!! The overwhelming urge to push was greater then any burning. LOL

[seren]

Not with dd1. Hospital birth and the OB gave me shot down there to numb it.

With ds I was shocked when I felt it. I'd heard people talk about it, but didn't really think much about it. As soon as I felt it I knew what it was. And I felt it with dd2.

[velveeta]

Yes, but I only pushed for five minutes or so. It felt more like the burn you get when you have a micro tear in your vagina, and then urinate. Or if you have a UTI. Well, more intense, of course, but that is the *type* of pain for me.

It was not insane probably b/c he was born so soon after he crowned. Plus, he was not in the birth canal very long.

[wednesday]

No, didn't feel it. I only felt pushing urges, nothing else. I was pushing for a very long time (4 hours) and at the end my midwife finally did a tiny episiotomy. I didn't feel that either. I assumed there was pressure on the area for so long that it had gone numb.