BTDT-Moms who have been in labor

How bad is it?????? As much as i really want to go into labor on my own, i'm really petrified..i heard u have to be 5 centimeters before they give u epidural...how painful is it?? I'm such a baby..not good with pain or needles or anything...
with my first i was induced and i got the epidural before i was in any severe pain..i think they gave it to me extra early.

Re: BTDT-Moms who have been in labor

for me it wasnt SO bad. Of course the contractions are painful but up until the point I got the epi, I was still able to tolerate them. I wanted to rest so I asked for it earlier than I had originally planned. I received mine (both times) at 4cms. With my first mine wore off a little before I was ready to push so I pushed for the hour without it. With my second I was given another dose before I was 10cm and was able to push with it. HEAVEN

The Epi wasnt painful for me. The only discomfort I had was when they were pushing on my lower back. I have back issues and that was killing me. But a normal person wouldnt care lol

Message edited 5/16/2012 4:29:48 PM.

Re: BTDT-Moms who have been in labor

When I first started getting contractions, they were tolerable. When I was in full on labor, the doc stopped my epi so I could push more effectively and honestly I was crying like a baby. It hurt a lot.
I hope you have an easy time mama.

Re: BTDT-Moms who have been in labor

It really wasnt bad...i didnt get my EPI until i was 7cm...I didnt even really need it then, but I didnt want to miss the window to get it. Unfortunetly it didnt work for me and I felt everything, was it painful yes...but nothing I couldnt handle, I just concentrated on breathing. My actual back pain from he EPI after was worse than labor!

Re: BTDT-Moms who have been in labor

I think my experience might be rare but I'll answer....

Labor sucked - it was 30 hours of waiting, not eating, leaking, more waiting, not sleeping, more leaking...

That said, I did not feel a lot of pain during labor. I don't know if it's different from doc to doc or hospital to hospital, but I got my epidural before I was 5cm. I know this bc I never got past 2.5-3 (the resident was being generous) and delivered via C-section. My water broke on it's own 11 days early. I had pit, but my contractions were never super painful. The internals hurt me way more.

Don't stress about it now. Whatever your labor will be, will be. Just focus on the prize at the end!!

Re: BTDT-Moms who have been in labor

Truthfully it wasn't pretty. My water broke and within 2 hours I was having peak contractions every 2 mins. They were painful. I never dilated past 3 cm. after 16 hours they let me have an epidural even though I wasnt dialated enough because my contractions were about a minute apart. I know I did a lot of screaming and crying. I'm not usually a baby and have had plenty of broken bones, surgeries, including major dental surgrey. Nothing compared to labor. After 22 hours I ended up with a csection.

Re: BTDT-Moms who have been in labor

I went meds free for the entire thing. It was really the last hour and a half once I was 10 cm and the OB broke my water and said it was time to push that it HURT -- I mean really, really hurt badly. The rest of the time was manageable. I was 5 cm when I got to the hospital -- and 9 cm an hour later. So mine went fast. Then an hour later I was 10 cm (it's usually 1 cm an hour -- I have no idea why I jumped so fast!). I'm not saying the other 4.5 hours was a walk in the park, but it was really manageable and not that bad. Plus you KNOW why you're in pain... it's not like when you hurt a part of your body and don't know why it hurts and you're freaking out. This is labor -- it's pain with a purpose. Knowing that helps a lot.

Re: BTDT-Moms who have been in labor

I slept through most of my labor with Seamus

I woke up at 6am with bad cramps. Took showers, DH got ready and we got to the hospital after 7am. They checked me and I was already 7 cm !! To me it was like really bad period cramps

Re: BTDT-Moms who have been in labor

Not gonna lie, it wasn't fun... but it was a different kind of pain than anything I've ever felt. What surprised me was that I was ok between contractions. It's not like on tv, where a woman goes into labor, screams twice, and out pops a baby. I had a few minutes to catch my breath. I kept telling myself that I was built for this, and that DD and I would be just fine. I told mysef something we learned in my prenatal yoga class. "Just one more breath. Just one more breath. You can do this. You are one contraction closer to your baby."

Don't be terrified. Crack hoes and women in mud huts and pierced teenagers from Kentucky do it every day. If they can do it, so can you.

Re: BTDT-Moms who have been in labor

Re: BTDT-Moms who have been in labor

Contractions are the worst pain I've ever experienced felt like an elephant jumping on my uterus but with that being said I didn't cry I asked for an epi as soon as I could get one. After that it was smooth sailing It hurts but you will get thru it

Re: BTDT-Moms who have been in labor

Birth Story

Re: BTDT-Moms who have been in labor

I lost my mucos plug and had a bloody show at 3 am with my DD. I had contractions shortly after that which were bad and painful but bearable. Got to the hospital at 9am and the midwife who examined me said i was wasn't ready just yet and to walk around the hospital for a few hours and come back! It was a 90 degree day in may and i felt like i was going to pass out walking around the hospital with the heat and the contractions together so I asked DH to drive to roosevelt field mall so I could at least be cool. Walking the mall with contractions was horrible, I had to stop and sit every few mins and the pains just began to become more and more intense! DH bought a pair of shorts and got a chinese lunch lol which now I think is funny, at the time not so funny! After 2 hours I couldn't take it any longer so we went back to the hospital I was admitted, given an epi right away luckily, had my water broken for me, given pitocin and had my daughter at 7:30 that night. Overall an exhausting but well worth it experience!

Re: BTDT-Moms who have been in labor

I am SOOO bad with pain.
I practically fainted from a splinter once- no joke.
I have to say I was just as petrified as you- I spent my whole entire pregnancy in fear of the birth.
It was bad.

So I start having what I think are contractions in the middle of the night, start timing them etc- they were painful but nothing I couldn't handle.
Call the Dr at 6 am- they say- ok come in to the hospital- we are here anyway for some C sections- we will check you.

Get to hospital around 730 am- again, contractions, but they are manageable.
Dr takes one look at me and says- ok I will check you but I have a feeling you are not very progressed because if you were you'd be a LOT more miserable right now.
He checks and is like "WOW- you are 4-5 cm. Let's get you admitted and get you that epi now!"
I was shocked.
I am such a baby with pain and honestly- it was manageable at that point.
So I got my epi soon after and that was it. Bliss.
Didn't feel another contraction until it was time to push.

I think what made it manageable up until that point for me, was that I knew they wouldn't last long. So I'd feel the pain, look at the clock, and be like- ok by 7:15 this one should be done.
So there was a relief in site.
I have suffered through kidney stones though- and those are enough to make you beg for death- and unlike contractions, there is no let up in that pain.
Maybe that is why I didn't think they were so bad....

But from one pain wimp to another- I really have to say going into labor was not as bad as I thought at all!

Re: BTDT-Moms who have been in labor

Re: BTDT-Moms who have been in labor