What hurts worse than childbirth? - Page 5

[meowee]

It depends on how bad your birth was... one of mine was horrifically painful, nothing in my life has topped it.

But, if you use my other births as comparison, the following were more painful: a pulled muscle in my back that had me in agony for 48 hours; repeat mastitis every 6 weeks for 18 months; a pulled muscle in my calf that, thankfully, did not last long, but the time it did last was worse than my non-horrifically painful births.

[moonfirefaery]

For me, dental work, having puncture wounds flushed with water, and having a doctor shove his hand up your vagina fast & rough to show his displeasure at your not having given birth in his hospital.

ETA - and charlie horses.

[Queen of my Castle]

what hurt more?
any sort of burning my body...it pisses me off so much!
the ring block (local anesthetic) when I sliced my finger
the unanestheiased (is that a word?) insertion of a cathertar, after my birth. that freaking sucked.

Originally Posted by Rockies5

do most people just not challenge their bodies, or endure any other kind of pain in today's society and therefotre childbirth *is* really the hardest thing they have (or maybe will) ever do? I'm struggling to understand because if what I've read here is normal then I may be doing a disservice in my childbirth classes by my opinion that it's work but not terrible or suffering kind of pain.
.

I just wanted to comment on this post- I know a lot of people were offended. I understood what she was saying. I think most of us except professional athletes and say, people in the army or firefighters, don't really know what their bodies are capable of, becuase sure they may have pushed them hard, but not to any sort of brink. I also think she meant in a more global sense, to women who have suffered war, abuse, opression or demanding physical labour every day birth probably isn't the hardest thing they've done. Even if it may have been hard or very painful, it paled compared to other things going on in their lives.

A

[angelcat]

I had horrible back labour, and altho I'd say it probably hurt more than a migraine, I still say a migraine is worse. So is visiting the dentist. I HATE the sound of the drill.

The thing is. at least with labour, I usually had at least a few seconds between contractions. A migraine is jsut unrelenting.

Then I again, I wasn't throwing up in labour. if I had, I might feel differently.

Also, I didn't have to look after a toddler during labour, and I had poeple lookiong after me. WIth a migraine, i have a toddler to watch, and when I throw up, it iusuualy upsets her so much she throws up too. Fun huh?

[Individuation]

Originally Posted by meowee

It depends on how bad your birth was... one of mine was horrifically painful, nothing in my life has topped it.

I'm really curious if that's the birth you had with my midwife. I just want to know. The homebirth I had with that midwife was a fair bit more painful and traumatic than my hospital birth--it would be interesting if you said the same.

[brightonwoman]

the hemmrhoids i got afterwards...
it was like the 'ring of fire' of birth, only it was over and over and over again.

I had some back labor, but not terrible. I tore, but not a ton. My baby had a substantial head (36cm/14.5in) and pushing took two hours...and i hadn't slept in two nights so I was pretty wiped out...but all of that, yeah, not really so bad. I think it's like some pp's have said--labor gives you breaks between contractions, and also once it's done, it's done. I only had one ring of fire delivering that head...with the stupid 'rhoids it was multiple times and that made it worse (not to mention the complete lack of laborland endorphins...)

[Datura]

Deep vein thrombosis and resultant pulmonary and cardiac embolism. I went through 10 days of aggressive treatment to save my life, but was unable to have a general anaesthetic even though they were doing surgical procedures (1 to 2 hours per day), so they would just up my demoral (sp??). It didn't do much to take the edge of the pain, so they had to strap me down and I'd scream until I passed out, then wake up screaming again. Occasionally they'd accidentally overdo the dose and I'd go completely unconscious for half an hour or so, that was a blessing. During the downtime in the ICU I'd just watch the clock tick down to my next shot.

So yeah, 10 lb baby au natural was noooo problem.

[loulie]

I had 40 hours labour, 3 hours pushing and a 3rd degree tear all unmedicated. Luckily I haven't experienced aything more painful than that! At the same time though, I found it wonderful that I was coping with it, right up until the last hour of pushing - when i realised I'd failed in my quest for a natural delivery (ended up with vacuum), and i might as well have given in to an epidural the day before!

[RachelGS]

Nothing. I've had kidney stones and migraines and pyelonephritis, and NONE of that hurt as much as childbirth. But none of it was as worth it, either.

[savithny]

Hour for hour, I'd rather repeat either of my labors than have my teeth scraped clean (assuming I"d have to sit through it for the same amount of time).

When I was 12, I had something they thought was appendicitis - I had every symptom including the rebounding pain, fever, and elevated white count. The only reason I didn't have an appendectomy was that they had to call in the surgeon. BY the time he was there, I suddenly felt better. I judge all pain against that night and labor/birth didn't even come close.

[speakfromwithin]

For me getting a tooth filled hurts worse than giving birth did.

[spedteacher30]

gallstones (i seriously thought I was dying!)

the allergic reaction I had to a dye test (I thought my leg was going to explode, and they couldn't get all of the dye back out of my knee so i had to wait for most of it to be absorbed and excreted).

[memiles]

Osteochondral Autologous Transplantation (OATS)-a knee surgery where they harvest bone plugs to restore cartilage. I've had it done twice, and both times I've wanted to die for about 5 days afterward. My doc promised a pain pump the second time, but forgot. :

The first steps after being non-weight bearing on a leg for 8 weeks. Just kill me now.

The fall that resulted in the injury leading to above surgeries and rehab.

And kidney stones while 25 weeks pregnant.

[milkmamma]

What is more satisfying or rewarding than childbirth?

Mine were quick (ds1=5hrs, ds2=45 minutes) and they hurt but I got two beautiful boys...a migrane has never given me anything

[meowee]

Originally Posted by Individuation

I'm really curious if that's the birth you had with my midwife. I just want to know. The homebirth I had with that midwife was a fair bit more painful and traumatic than my hospital birth--it would be interesting if you said the same.

Yes, same midwife .

[Novella]

Quoting back to the Rockie05 comment on whether we push our bodies:

Originally Posted by Queen of my Castle

I just wanted to comment on this post- I know a lot of people were offended. I understood what she was saying. I think most of us except professional athletes and say, people in the army or firefighters, don't really know what their bodies are capable of, becuase sure they may have pushed them hard, but not to any sort of brink. I also think she meant in a more global sense, to women who have suffered war, abuse, opression or demanding physical labour every day birth probably isn't the hardest thing they've done. Even if it may have been hard or very painful, it paled compared to other things going on in their lives.

: I didn't take it in an offensive way. I've often wondered myself, just how far and under what conditions I could push my body. ('cuz I'm pretty-much a big wuss, but figuring out the mental game of labour made me wonder if I could apply that to other goals/painful situations). Cavaet: None of that disqualifies the experiences of other women. If you say it was horrific, I believe you!

The worst pain I have ever experienced - FAR greater than childbirth/healing tear/nipple pain - was dislocating my kneecap. Absolute agony! One of the EMTs who attended dropped the profession shortly afterward. She was an acquaintance (it's a small town) and I always thought she was well-suited to the role. I ran into her later and told her I was sorry she wasn't doing that job anymore. She told me that in part, her decision to leave the job was influenced by seeing me in so complete pain (while 8-months pregnant). I was dumb-founded.

[dantesmama]

Nursing through thrush and mastitis (at the same time) with cracked and bleeding nipples, when DS1 was only 5 weeks old and had trouble latching properly and spent an average of 6 hours a day at the breast. Just remembering that pain makes me nauseous.

For me, childbirth is more intense than painful. I can think of plenty of things that would probably hurt a lot worse than giving birth.

[savithny]

Originally Posted by Novella

The worst pain I have ever experienced - FAR greater than childbirth/healing tear/nipple pain - was dislocating my kneecap. Absolute agony!

OMG. Last week I was getting up from kneeling on teh ground and I felt something in my knee slide sideways -- hover-- and then snap back into place. It hurt so completely that my vision went grey and I thought I was going to pass out or throw up or both.

Neither of my births has *anything* on that. Fortunately it lasted only a few seconds for the most acute pain, and a few hours of afterpain. I don't know what happened.... but I think my kneecap shifted around and then back... Ergh.

[wildmonkeys]

Nothing. I actually thought the thread was a joke at first

I have broken bones, had root canals, etc. still...I thought the thread was a joke. I remember being really pissed off after my first delivery that it had been so much worse than I'd been promised in birth classes and otherwise :

[GooeyRN]

Nothing ever hurt me as much as labor. I had an abcessed tooth and root canal, MANY migraines, broken coccyx, nipple necrosis (yes, part of my nipple rotted off) mastitis with abcesses, metal removed from my eye, corneal ulcers, and none of those things even compared to labor. My labor was augmented with Pitocin. It was tolerable until that point. I did tear, but healing wasn't bad at all. Its those darn Pitocin contractions that I will never forget.