Was childbirth the worst pain you've ever experienced? - Page 5

[nandodianenicole]

childbirth hurt like hell, but getting my impacted wisdom teeth out was worse, that pain lasted for days....

[_betsy_]

It was one day, and I knew it was only for a portion of one day - it would be over. And I'd have a baby at the end of it all, an idea which rocked my socks off. It was the worst pain I've ever felt, but I've never had a kidney stone or broken a bone.

It was manageable for me, even with the Pitocin induction. I never felt a natural contraction - I got to 100% and 4 cms without feeling a thing. I wonder how much more manageable labor would have been without the pit. I'll find out next time, 'cause there's no way I'm letting them talk me into that again!

[Bensmommy]

I would call DD birth "intense" (fully unmedicated, Bradley birth) and DS birth "painful" (DS was a failed epidural- before I knew any better ). I'd have to say that the pain during DS birth was pretty awful; I think about as bad as my gallbladder attacks

[monkeys4mama]

Unfortunately for me it was. It really really was. Now I can't really say that I've been in serious other pain all that many times, so take it for whatever that's worth. Birthing was extremely difficult for me and far more painful than I expected. I had convinced myself that if I was just prepared mentally and phsyically and emotionally, then I would sail right through and it wouldn't be painful at all. Or at least that it would be a different kind of pain, a tolerable one that would be different from other pain. Not so! It hurt like h*ll!!! I've broken my arm before and had my appendix out and neither of those things hurt even close. I've messed up my back bad enough that I couldn't get up from a chair or hardly walk, but that was nothing compared to labor pain. My wisdom teeth weren't a big deal, even though I got dry sockets. Nothing next to birth pains though. I envy those of you who had the kind of mild or moderate birth pains that I'm reading about.

[Flor]

Absolutely, worst pain ever. I knew it couldn't last more than one day (my ob c-s induced births after so many hours).

[StrawberryFields]

Yes. By far. I've had some pretty bad pains (kidney trouble, TMI! anal fissure TMI! stomach flu from the devil, and many many broken bones. But none of them left me begging for a hospital and an epidural like childbirth did. And I never, ever ever ever in a million years thought *I* would get an epidural.

Now, all that said, it was still the greatest experience of my life and I fully intend to attempt another unmedicated homebirth with #2.

[MommytoTwo]

I have had 2 c/s so I never got to pushing and crowning but I can tell you that the hours of pitocin contractions after the OB broke my water were the most painful experience of my life. I thought I was going to die and I was just hoping it would all end quickly. Before he broke my water it hurt (on pitocin) but I was coping.

[zinemama]

Without a single doubt. Worst. Pain. Ever.

Now, I know that it was "pain for a purpose" and all of that. But that doesn't take away the fact that it was the worst pain I've ever felt in my life.

[guestmama9908]

No not even close to the worst pain I have ever had.

The pain from this flu virus I have right now is MUCH MUCH worse :

[zinemama]

Without a single doubt. Worst. Pain. Ever.

Now, I know that it was "pain for a purpose" and all of that. But that doesn't take away the fact that it was the worst pain I've ever felt in my life.

[Thalia the Muse]

It was extremely painful. Probably the worst pain I ever felt, although like some of the other posters, I'm finding my recall of what it actually felt like kind of hazy. Worse than an untreated UTI, worse than pleurisy, worse than the time I cut my thumb to the bone with a blunt knife (bagel-slicing accident ...). After the first four hours, I stopped getting "breaks" between contractions -- it was just steady waves of nauseating pain, that peaked but never completely subsided in between. I think maybe that was what people mean by "back labor"?

I had gone into the birth with a "wait and see" attitude toward pain relief, and I did eventually opt for the epidural, which provided immediate and complete relief.

On the other hand, I never got "after pains" at all. Nursing was never painful; I could feel my uterus contracting, but it wasn't unpleasant.

[mamameg]

Heck yeah. Worst ever. Hands down.

[Kewpie]

Yes and no.

First 4 hours were hell. I couldn't relax, throwing up left and right, it was horrible. That 20 minutes spent in the observation chair were pure hell.

Once I got in the shower and could finally focus on breathing and relaxation techniques I wouldn't call it painful at all. There was pain, but it was painful.

ETA - All back labor, start to finish.

[treehugginhippie]

Absolutely yes. Nothing can compare to the pain of my natural childbirth. I've had back surgery, filling w/out novacaine, food poisioning & 4th degree tear. I'm one of those special unique people who had butt labor...yes butt labor. Someone described it perfectly "a red hot poker up your butt" and I felt it constantly and with regular front contractions too. I welcomed the pain of labor with open arms but the last 6 hours was death pain.

[Full Heart]

Well depends on what birth we are talking about. My 2nd and my 4th? Oh yeah. Wanted to die type of pain. Forgot I was in labor. Thought I was in some hellish torture.

The other 4? no where even close. Getting my wisdom teeth in was worse (I drank to get through that my whole mouth was swollen). Gallbladder attacks was worse. Getting fillings with no pain meds was worse (which is why I let the wisdom teeth come in in the first place lol). Anal fissure was worse (that I literally clawed my legs to the point of bleeding cause it hurt so bad). Breaking my toe was a blinding pain.

Some labors are gonna hurt more than others. Some women are always gonna have hellish labors some only easy ones. Some like me get a mix. Of course I belive position of baby, dehydration, stress, not able to relax, scar tissue, etc all play a role too.

[Flor]

Originally Posted by treehugginhippie

Absolutely yes. Nothing can compare to the pain of my natural childbirth. I've had back surgery, filling w/out novacaine, food poisioning & 4th degree tear. I'm one of those special unique people who had butt labor...yes butt labor. Someone described it perfectly "a red hot poker up your butt" and I felt it constantly and with regular front contractions too. I welcomed the pain of labor with open arms but the last 6 hours was death pain.

I swear I had "leg labor" but I've never heard of anyone else. It was like the most intense burning cramps in my thigh muscles.

[treehugginhippie]

Originally Posted by Flor

I swear I had "leg labor" but I've never heard of anyone else. It was like the most intense burning cramps in my thigh muscles.

It's wierd that you say this! I was talking with my friends MW a 2 weeks ago and she said she had a woman with thigh labor one time (out of her 600+ births).

[crunchy_mama]

nope, worst experience of my life was the stomach flu. I cannot say I have had a lot of other experiences I would call painful. No broken bones, gall bladder attacks, appendicitis or etc. I had my wisdom teeth removed, but that went very well.

[savithny]

Nope.

The suspected appendicitis when I was 12 was worse. The scald when I poured boiling water down my chest while making oatmeal was worse. I had an ovarian cyst rupture once, and that was way worse. For long-term pain, I've had migraines that were harder to cope with.

Labor, for me, was like really bad menstrual cramps, plus a killer backache, right up to the end before my water broke. IT was pretty high on the pain scale, but it wasn't *severe* - if that makes sense? It wasn't unmanageable, it wasn't sharp or fiery. It was serious discomfort, but I didn't sense it as traumatic pain - it was like an abiding pain. That came in waves, washing up on the shore, and left again.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Not even close. The worst pain I have ever been in was a toothach. I would gladly give birth over and over again to never have to deal with toothach pain again.

I was also in more pain when I smashed my finger in the truck door last year. I thought for sure I was gonna pass out.


I didnt have easy labor pains either. With my dd I was in labor for 12 hours 9 of those hard labor. What made that labor unique was the fact that from my first ctx they were 1 min apart and lasting a min. or more. So I was having piggy back ctx along with double peaks. I cant even begin to describe what it was like. But I would still do that over and over to not have a toothach again.

My labor with ds was more normal in that I had 3-5 min ctx and a 10 hour labor with 8 of those being hard labor.