The pain in my first labor was awful. I had really psyched myself up that it would be very managable. When it started, I was like "This is it? No sweat!" As my contractions got more and more intense, like very powerful menstrual cramps and back pain. I felt like I must be making a ot of progress. When I found out that I was only about 1 cm after 12 hours, I was crushed. I got talked into pictocin, and from there it was HELL. The pain was so bad that I really felt like I was sinking down a black hole and I would be lost. I was literally grasping at my dh because I felt like I might sink away somewhere terrible at any moment. Very scary. I ended up with an epidural.
With ds, the pain was similar, but I guess my expectations were more realistic and I was determined to not "lose control." I felt more confident, and I was able to breathe and vocalize through the contrax much better. They never got as intense as with #1. I was laughing and crying with joy in between, because I now understood what a magical thing was happening.
It
