[number572]

As dp & I watched a birth scene on the film "wonderland" late last night, he said "why do other animals in nature seem to have less pain than humans when having babies?" In this scene, the woman was screaming & crying & her face & body just made it look awful. So I told him about several websites & articles that I'd come across about women who've had a virtually painless birth. But then I was thinking... these are all just stories in passing & have NOT ever heard firsthand of a woman who had a very easy or painfree birth experience. Have any of you?

On the side: I hate it when they show birth scenes as semi-horror scenes! Especially when dp sees them!! It really freaks him out & makes him question whether we should be ttc or not now that we are (unofficially

).

 

[Quickening]

Hey!!!!!!!!!!!

Where'd you hear that from (in your signature?) Half of it is W.N Murray, the other part is from Goethe. I'm really excited to see someone else quote that!

Back to the topic, I went into my labour/birth not really expecting it to be painful, and it wasn't. Some of the times, the contractions were intense, strong tightening but not painful. They were most intense when I was being distracted by others in my environment. Once the distractions stopped I fell into that gap in betwen thought where I wasn't really in control, my body was! It was a breeze after that, no pain except two internals b y the m/w

: that I didn't really want. I know better for next time, those internals HURT!!

Birth itself was exhilirating : ) It definitely was on the brink of being intensely pleasurable but i was inhibited by the mw being there and didn't go into it too much.

So much for the screaming and swearing etc that my family said I would do.. yeah whatever : ) I kept getting told "Wait and see" and boy I sure rubbed it in after I gave birth :LOL

Someone tried to tell me animals in nature experienced birthing pain just as bad as we did... and on asking what experiences they had to go by they said farm animals they observed. Well geez. I was under the impression animals liked birth to be a private thing, not observed by humans especially who arent even of the same species and may pose a danger to the birthing animal??

 

[plantmommy]

(raising hand gleefully)

Me! My second to last birth didn't get painful until transition, when I needed dh to keep me relaxed by cueing me on the start/mid/and end times of cntrx. Then they were painful only if I got out of my zone. So, I could only really say it was painful for about one hour.

My last birth, pretty much the same thing, but even less painful. Cntrx felt pinchy only at their peaks during transition, which was maybe 15-30 seconds. Confused me, as the tightening of them lasted much longer, but I only counted the pinchy part and couldn't figure why the cntrx were so short. I didn't believe they could be working to dilate and efface. Transition couldn't have lasted more than a half hour, and when I started to feel pushy and felt how low the b.o.w. was, I was in a state of disbelief that I'd possibly gotten through transition already, because it was all so quick and painless. Then the fetal ejection reflex kicked in and there was absolutely no question that it was time to push. LOL!

I've got that birth story posted on the birth stories forum, do a search for "back deck" or Reid.

With dd, the midwife didn't get there until I was ready to push, because I only called her when (in retrospect I know this) I was in transition, and with ds, again I delayed calling and saying "come", and you can see the result in my sig! I definitely think being alone with dh played a role.

 

[number572]

Thank you both! So nice that your births were so beautiful, I'll check out tha birth stories section of this site soon. I'm planning on collecting birth stories & these posts & printing them out for dp when birth gets closer. Men must feel sort of disconnected during birth. Even the ones who are right there, talking & massaging & reading & all... but actually growing & delivering a babe vs. depositing sperm & fetching ice cream & reading about it, is such a monumental difference in our roles. So, it would be a stretch for dp to understand how on Earth a birth *could* be painless or at least not excruciating. We plan on either homebirth (my first choice) or birthcentre waterbirth (his first choice b'c it'd be our first, & its just a few minutes from a hospital if something were to go wrong - he doesn't have that "i trust my body gene" that i do i guess) & don't want meds at all. Herbals & oils yes, but no meds.

Quickening ~ hmm, I'll have to fix those quotes! I save quotes & have for many years, I have them all in a huge word-file... so I just copy/paste different ones from time to time. thx for the heads up

 

[LadyWulf]

I have a very painfree birth with my daughter. I was in a hospital and i was induced with pit and cytotec. I managed by simply relaxing completely during each contraction. For the most part though i didnt even feel them until about 20 minutes before she was born. They didn't hurt as much as just make me want everyone to be silent and let me relax. I had no pain meds with her.

Here is the kicker. With my son i had an epidural and was in horrible pain the whole time.

 

[guerrillamama]

There is a very big part of me that cannot wait to have another child because I feel pretty sure that next time it will be mostly painless.

I never made it to the hospital with ds because by the time I finally decided to call the doctor and get moving, the contractions were coming too fast. I tell everyone my labor was freakishly fast, but the thing is... between y'all and me... I think that it was fast but maybe not FREAKISHLY fast, yknow? And maybe it's just that I wasn't feeling the pain as much, or in the way that, I expected to or had been told to expect. One reason I think that is because I remember when I bought take-out dinner, my hand was shaking, and I wondered if maybe I was pumped full of adrenaline and didn't even realize it. I was feeling contractions at that time, but could talk and walk thru them, no problem. Looking back, I think my midwife would have wanted me going to the hospital then.

Like LadyWulf, it was just about 20 minutes for me - and a wild 20 minutes it was. But now that I have learned so much about HB and UC here, I realize that most of what I was feeling at that point was fear and panic. If I had been expecting a HB and if my birth partner and I had been emotionally prepared for that, it's entirely possible that I would have felt very little pain at all.

I can't have another kid any time soon. 5 years AT LEAST. But man... every time I read a HB story on here I get all gooey! I really can't wait.

 

[number572]

ooooo, how i wish you all could be part of my birthing-circle! i need you! feel like flying on a spur-of-the-moment trip to miami within the (hopefully) next year or so??

thx for the stories, i'll definitely pass them on. i'm so happy that all of you have had such cool births in your lives!

more are definitely welcomed & appreciated...

 

[earthmama007]

With my son it was terrible! I a MW, MW's assistant, a friend and my DH. There was too much stress. The only time I wasn't in pain was when I locked myself in the bathroom to regroup. (I stayed ther for 3.5 hours until my son was crowning) I didn't conciously know what I was doing but looking back I secluded myself to labor my way. Then with DD I was by myself mostly. I called DH as they got stronger. He came home about1.5 hours before DD was born. I called the MW to come when I knew I was in transition. She came about 15 mins before DD. It was AMAZING and I know it was painless because I didn't have people hovering me every contraction.

 

[plantmommy]

I have to think, in retrospect, that the pushing stage would also have been very different if my m/w had shown up during, rather than after. I had nobody there but me and dh, and he sure hell wasn't telling me how to push or anything. He was just there, putting cool cloths on my forehead. If my m/w had been there, I think I would have intellectually let myself rely on her, rather than on my own body's instinctual knowledge of how to push that baby out.

Pushing wasn't painful, mind you, and hasn't been for me in the past, either, but the process was very different when I had an observer. Much more controlled.

 

[Mamabeakley]

I did not have a painless birth, but I wasn't expecting one. I've always had severe menstrual cramps and especially when passing clots. So I knew that for me, having my cervix dialate hurts. On the other hand, once I was completely dialated giving birth, it didn't hurt any more, and I could get right down to the business of pushing. Obviously not everyone has menstrual cramps like I do, so logically it makes perfect sense to me that some women would naturally have little or no pain during labor.

The good thing about my experience was that I wasn't afraid of pain, either. And actually, I think labor taught me some things about how I could have dealt better with cramps for years!

And the other thing I wanted to say is that I think men DO have their own experiences of birth - they're just different from ours. I know that I felt amazingly supported by my dh b/c he was so fully present to the whole experience of my labor and birthing. The midwives were even impressed by him! I think he had a very positive experience, just as I did, but I can well imagine that under different circumstances he might not have found ways to be involved and could have had a bad experience.

 

[plantmommy]

Interesting.

I do have painful menstrual cramps. At their worst, the cntrx felt like strong menstrual cramps, briefly.

I'm curious about how I'll experience cramps from here on out. Although I would say the afterpains were actually more painful than my labor cntrx!

 

[doctorjen]

My second birth was very nearly painless. My first labor was short (6 hours) but very intense - I never had any build up phase, and knew I was in labor instantly from the first contraction.
At the end of my pregnancy with my second, I had days of painless, mild contractions. I also was seeing a group of CNMs at a hospital, and I was pretty nervous about getting whoever was on call, so I think I had a fair amount of anxiety about going to the hospital. The day dd was born, I had some more mild, irregular contractions, and a little bit of bloody show in the morning. I stayed home for an hour or so later in the morning, but then was so comfortable I decided to go to school (I was in med school at the time) I started to notice mild contractions again around 3 in the afternoon, but they were barely noticeable, so I stayed in class. I even walked the 1 mile home! At home, I cooked supper, ate with my family. I read to ds at bedtime - and just noticed that I would need to breathe a little deeper with contractions - but still no pain. After his bedtime, dh started to wonder if I was in labor, but I told him I didn't think so, but that my low back was a little achy. He offered to rub my back in the shower, so I climbed in and let the hot water hit my back while he rubbed my lower back for a while. I was in heaven. I didn't feel a single contraction in the shower, and just figured they had petered out again as they had many days before. I decided to wash my hair, and dh went out of the bathroom. While I was rinsing out the conditioner, my water broke with a huge splat (dh could hear it from the living room.) I figured real labor would start, then, as it had with my first. While I was climbing out of the shower, I had a contraction - and the urge to push! I yelled for dh, and then things got a little crazy. He dragged ds out of bed, I called my friend who was planning to come with us and support ds. I also called the CNMs' answering service - I never did speak to a MW when they hadn't answered in 2-3 minutes, I called the service back and said to have the MW on call meet me at the hospital. Dh dressed me, and left me with the friend who had arrived in a big hurry, and ran out to pull our car up. We all started down the stairs to the car. 2 steps from the bottom, I could feel baby crowning. It took some effort to make myself understood at that point, but I finally convinced dh to carry me back upstairs. Dd was born on the next contraction, in my living room, with one leg still in my pants! The only discomfort I felt the whole time was in trying not to push while we were rushing around. My friend caught her in one of my bath towels (which little ds had run to get while we were coming up the stairs) and scooped her up to me immediately (I was sitting on the edge of our couch's hide-a-bed)
My other births weren't painfree, but weren't difficult really either. I love to tell my own clients my birth stories, in an effort to combat the horrible stories they often hear from their families and friends!

 

[Court]

Just wanted to say that the reason it's less painful for animals is because their pelvises are wider than ours, due to them walking on all fours. Also, humans have larger heads in relation to our pelvises.

I went into this birth thinking it wouldn't be that painful after all that I'd read. But, I had back labor pretty bad, so it was extremely painful for the last 2-3 hours of labor. Even during pushing, the cntrx hurt immensely. I made lots of grunting noises and occasionally did some screaming and cursing. But, it made me feel better

. My dh was very close to me during the labor and pushing, almost like he was inside my head. He helped so much. My m/w were very hands off and very calming. I'd say, "I can't do it anymore" and she'd say, "you ARE doing it."

This is just my opinion ofcourse, but I think the degree of pain you feel is based a lot on your own anatomy and genes. During my period my back is the only thing that cramps and hurts - and that's what happened during labor.

My point is that it may be scary to see someone else dealing with the pain of birth, but once you're doing it, it's very empowering. I look back on my homebirth (to a 9 lb baby) as the most painful, yet the most amazing, exhilirating time of my life. I found a strength inside me that I didn't know I had.

(Sorry to crash the thread, just really wanted to say that)

 

[party_of_seven]

I have had 4 births that were pretty much pain free.

My first was a hospital birth-no meds(until the last 5 minutes anyway

). I labored just fine and dialated to 10. I pushed and pushed until the doc decided he would "help me out" with some forceps. I was given a spinal to help, but it was the most excruciating thing ever. Until that point I would say that that my birth was pain free.

My second was a homebirth.(because of birth #1 I was not going to set foot back in the hospital) I had an awesome labor. I did just fine until I hit transition and realized that we hadn't called the midwife. I paniced at the thought of having the baby all alone. I don't think that I was in any pain though. I just didn't like the paniced feeling that I had.

My 3rd was definately pain free. (a home birth as well) I didn't even have a transition. I was walking around and doing my usual daily stuff until the last half hour. Dh didn't believe that I was in labor. I had a midwife present, but she was not allowed in the room. Dh and I caught #3 by ourselves.

My 4th was an awesome birth as well.(another HB) It was much like #3's birth. I was determined to have a water birth in our big garden tub. I was laughing and joking, and told dh it would only be another 1/2 hour or so....he said 'no way, your labor is not that strong' The baby was born in another 1/2 hour. My 4th birth was definately the easiest.

I think that most of the pain in childbirth has to do with fear, (unless of course we are talking about a posterior baby or something abnormal) and not being relaxed. I found that the more I knew, and the more confidence I had in myself the easier my births were. I long to have the opportunity to have another birth.

Its so awesome!!!

GL to you!

 

[amyjeans]

My labor and birth wasnt painful, just intense. The story is in my signature.
According to the dictonary, pain is a direct result of illness or injury. Neither of these apply to the natural process of birth.
Also,animals have natural painless births because they don't watch TLC or Discovery channel, or have other animals around them convincing them that birth is painful.
"Let the monkey in you do it." Ina May Gaskin.

 

[squintz22]

Both of my were fairly pain-free. It wasn't 'comfortable', but I didn't and don't think it was terrible. dd1 was born on the 3rd push, and dd2 on the one and only push (the bed caught her as there was nobody around yet, she came fast!).

I have miserable cramps too, and most of the contractions felt like really bad cramps to me. I did the same thing during labor that I do during my really bad monthlies....lay in the bed, ignoring everybody and everything, think about other things, how it doesn't last forever, there's a fantastic prize for this, and let my body do what it needs to do. I couldn't stand to have people touch me, let alone talk to me though!

 

[love2all]

nak-
my first and third were virtually pain-free.....
an hour of pain total w #3, but none with #1
my 2nd is a horror story that won't be shared- i spare you

 

[Dreaming]

:

 

[Quindin]

I wish... maybe next time

My aunt she just went into birth and did not even know it was happening because it did not hurt at all!!

 

[mehndi mama]

I sure as heck wasn't comfortable during my labors, but I only had what I'd call actual pain after my water broke. Before my membranes ruptured, all my contractions felt like BH contrax, only a bit more intense. With my second baby (whose membranes stayed intact until crowning), I didn't even know I was in labor until I decided to check myself & realized that there was a bulging amniotic sac right there! I knew something was strange, and I was far from comfortable or even calm...but I wasn't in pain.