Does anything...and I mean anything at all hurt more than child birth?

[cindyb]

I have had 2 drug free labours and while i have to admit that the 2nd was more painful (she was posterior) I would not for a second say that my labours 'hurt' or were 'painful' they were uncomfortable for sure but not painful. That is just me though but like others have said in here, I dont like to assiciate the word pain wiht birthing a child. I do believe however that pain is affected by your mental state at the time and if you arent able to 'relax' into whats happening and you try to fight it, i imagine it will be painful.

[ness]

My daughter is 4 weeks old so things are still fresh in my mind....
childbirth to me is absolutely the most painful thing I have ever gone through...can't describe the pain....loved the Epidural...

would i do it again...YES

[Mumma2three]

I think it's ok for people to say how painful childbirth was. Yes it's a miracle, but I dont' think we need to all feel that it was a good pain. I certainly didn't, it was in no way a pain I enjoyed. I enjoyed the end result, but not the process. Sorry. I do think the pain is quite quickly forgotten thus we go back for more, and that's nature's way of getting us to have more kids! But I don't want to gloss over something that every time, I dread and do not enjoy. Doesn't mean I dont' want the end result, or love it any less..

[~clover~]

I just want to say something. I wish someone said it to me before I had my first.
OK, it does hurt. Especially if you aren't prepared.
You need to remember to relax. Its hard, but you have to let your body do what it needs to do.
I was scared when I had DD1 & started trying to fight the pain. It slowed my labour right down til it almost stopped after 5 minute part contractions.
They gave me pethidine & in the end I did get through it without a ceaser. They were talking about it.

After I had DD1 my view on birth was feeling like you are being torn apart inside.

Now I've had 2 more my oppinion has completely changed. With DD2 I worked with my body. It was still painful (for me), but I got through it alot easier.
DD2's birth is the one I feel was the most amazing. It was drug free. I had 20 hours of pre labour, which I walked around town with, then about 9 hours of actual labour.
I hung at home til I thought I needed something for the pain, but when I found out I was already 7cm, I was so proud of myself that I didn't have anything for the pain except one breath of gas when I had to stop pushing for a bit.

DS's labour I feel was too fast & intense. It was over in 5 hours from start to finish. No prelabour, no warning. At all.
I did demand pethidine in transition, which I got, but it didn't start working til after he was born. It wasn't too hard on my body or anything, it was the mental part of it.
I don't know why, but my brain just couldn't comprehend that it was all over already.

It is hard work, but you have to tell yourself you can do it. Its hard, but make sure you relax through the contractions. In my mind with DD2 I was actually telling the bottom half of my body to relax.
When you get there & it does hurt, don't be scared of the pain. It IS normal.
Don't fight it. Let you body do what it was made to do.

Please don't be scared. You can do it. Just remember that.

[~Raven~]

Alibaby - what i reckon, is that if it was that bad, noone would ever go back for more than 1 child

I reckon it's gonna hurt like hell but it's gonna be sooo worth it!! Bring it on... I'm ready

Pain with purpose!

That's the spirit Great attitude!

[Salsa]

I went thru labour and delivery (30hrs from start to finish) 2 weeks ago.
Yes, it hurt - but I wouldnt really say it was pain, if that makes sence?
It was intense. The contractions grip your body, but you gets breaks in between and you know it will end. For me it was not an enjoyable experience and I was not one of the post delivery elated women that you sometimes hear stories of or see photos of (the imediate photo of when they handed him up to me I look horrified )

Basically it was alot of hard work, hence it being called labour. The actual delivery part was most difficult because the pressure to push for me was so strong, but the actual pushing was HARD! Painful, no not really, not for me anyway, it was more the hard work to push that I struggled with. I wasnt prepared for how hard pushing could be and by that stage I was exhausted.



I would imagine that it would be far worse to suffer burns or such than to have a baby. I think there are probably a few things that would be much worse 'pain' wise.

[~Raven~]

Actually I can think of another.

Attempted manual removal of placenta with external uterine massage. Hurt a hell of a lot more than birthing the baby 10 mins before.

[C~Q]

Jumping a horse with a broken collarbone was worse. Every jump was agony.Bx

Oh no poor horse!! Why would make you do such a thing to an injured animal Bec?!

Heehee!

Seriously though, I think there are many things that hurt more than childbirth. I had a tonsilectomy (sp) when I was 15 and the recovery from that, and the infection I got after sneezing and ripping open the wound (ouch) hurt waaay more than cb.

[~breeze~]

My gall stone/bladder attacks were worse. I had to have my gall bladder removed due to it being FULL of stones.... after 3 years of agony with Dr's trying to convince me it was heartburn before having an ultrasound done & finding out the truth!

I have also been suffering similar attacks recently... almost exactly the same actually but not sure what it is due to my gall bladder already having been removed LOL

I agree that childbirth is a different kind of pain... one that many woman around the world keep coming back for!! (so it cant be all that bad hey!)

Good luck & please dont get yourself all worked up thinking about the "pain" of childbirth.... its a beautiful experience, try to relax as much as possible & enjoy bringing your new baby into the world, we are very privalidged (sp?) to be able to do so!

[echidna]

The one thing about labour is, that although it hurts like mighty hell for some and not too badly for others, there are a lot of pain relief methods out there.

I broke my arm when I was pregnant, and I wouldn't say it hurt more than labour, it was just sudden and intense, and I couldn't take any drugs for it. So I'd say some things are bad. But no matter how bad things can hurt, there is always some form of pain relief (except in some circumstances, it cannot be given).

[Tegam]

im with ozzie and lulu: Dentist and Heartbrake...... Labour just wasnt painful to me tho....

[krisp]

To be honest I've not experienced anything that hurt as much physically, but all the time I was hurting I kept in the front of my mind, the pain was there for a reason. I wasn't in pain because something bad had happened or that I'd had a horrible accident. In fact it meant each and every painful contraction was bringing both my precious children closer to being in my arms.
I would however say that yes there is lot's of things that hurt more - they are the emotional pains that you can't control.
The pain of childbirth is all part of the miracle and wonderment.
Good luck for your birth, I hope it is all you hope it will be.

[Smoke Jaguar]

I didn't want the pain of birth the way my mother described it. I absolutely did not want that to be part of my experience. Wanting a different experience wasn't enough, so I did a lot of homework and preparation, did my Hypnobirthing course and can tell you that the only thing I would call 'pain' was what I felt when I had to get in the damn car, after labouring at home, to breathe DS out. The car trip was horrendous, so it's homebirth for me, next time! I also had excructiating SPD pain through pregnancy, and that was painful.
Like Spring Angel, I would call the birthing process intense. With my preparations and visualisations (knowing what muscles were going to be doing what) I was able to embrace what was to come and I ended up 'humming' through the whole thing. It was really great.
Having a small shard of broken glass tuck in the part of your foot next to the ball of your foot is painful. Having a 'doctor' in a first aid station on a Greek Island attempt to inject a local anaesthetic into said ball of foot was far more painful than anything I think I've ever experienced...so painful I asked him to stop and just dig in there for the glass with his little blade!
The pain from having bruised and messed up the cartilage of my front ribcage, pain that lasted for many weeks, after a big horse riding accident (and even breathing was a calculated exercise) was what I'd actually call painful.
And, yes, recovery from wisdom tooth extraction is up there at the top of the painful list!
Birth was 'zen', just as I wanted and planned it. If you don't want it to be 'painful' then ask how you can avoid a painful birth You'll get loads more useful information that way.
Oh, and I also had a drug-free waterbirth. Water is a great way to birth, especially if you're anticipating 'pain'.
Don't take for granted that if you go without epidural you're gonna have an excruciating experience. It's just not true, as a rule.
You are allowed to plan for the birth you want - the right midwives will support this wholeheartedly and point you in the right direction for preparation.
If you are planning a hospital birth, you especially need to work for the birth you want - it's not just going to happen. If you decide to 'let the doctors make the decisions' and you'll 'go with their flow', you're asking for your birth experience to be hijacked. (yes, I know this doesn't happen for everybody - just a hell of a lot of people, a lot of whom I know personally, before I am shot down here!).
Trust me, the preparation beforehand is great insurance - you'll be glad you did it Don't be afraid to ask what your body is going to do during birth (and your uterus - birth classes run by hospies don't tend to go into enough detail about what the uterus is doing during labour, and why it's doing it).
Just remember, it CAN be done without the cliche'd 'pain', ok? If you want the pain, different story (though if you knew it could be done without stress and without pain, why would you not find out how? I've never understood that!).
HTH

[~breeze~]

I also had excructiating SPD pain through pregnancy, and that was painful.

Oh, I had SPD this time round aswell... MUCH more painful than giving birth!!! The SPD is what may stop me having any more children... definately not the labour & birth!

I can honestly say that "feeling" my babies being born (the last moments as they enter the world IYKWIM) was AMAZING. The best feeling knowing that your child has just been born from your body, feeling your child that has been growing inside you for 9 months leave to now come into your arms... its hard to explain & I may sound strange but it was one of "those" moments of my life.

Hmmmm, I dont think that came across as I wanted.....

[Freya]

I dont think childbirth is painful. Sure it hurt but not to the extent that it affects my life or recollection of the birth experience. But I credit my mental preparation to it I guess, I knew technically it was going to hurt etc but I just reminded myself that it was normal, it is a beautiful process and that I would forget the 'pain' within seconds of his delivery!
I was induced, no pain relief for both births and in my second I was chatting away having a joke with my midwife til it was time to push him out! I had moments of panic because I guess we are programmed to feel like we SHOULD find it excruciating but in the end it wasnt. I find it more annoying than painful lol

But different people have different pain threshholds. I thought for sure I would find it excruciating but I guess I didnt really know what my threshhold was until I gave birth.

ETA - doesnt help when film and tv make all their birthing scenes like something out of a horror movie - screaming, blood everywhere, people speaking in harsh tones, the mother looking like she wants to crawl in a hole and die. So totally didnt happen that way for me, it was quite peaceful. I had a friend (not had children yet) watch my second birth and she was so amazed that it didnt happen the way she thought it does - similar to what I described above. She said I looked like I was hurting but that I smiled in between contractions, "it was a beautiful thing to see a woman doing what we're made to do". She still tells me how happy she was to see that it doesnt have to be scary even if its 'painful'! Im glad I could show her that if it helps her birthing experiences be a nice memory too!

[Mother Goose]

My gall stone/bladder attacks were worse. I had to have my gall bladder removed due to it being FULL of stones.... after 3 years of agony with Dr's trying to convince me it was heartburn before having an ultrasound done & finding out the truth!

I have also been suffering similar attacks recently... almost exactly the same actually but not sure what it is due to my gall bladder already having been removed LOL

Danielle, I had this after mine was removed - I needed a stent put into my bile duct to keep it open so the stones my body continues to produce don't rub on the walls causing pain. It is a relatively non-invasive procedure and can be done as a day case. Your GP can refer you to a gastroenterologist who can fix this for you.

[~breeze~]

Danielle, I had this after mine was removed - I needed a stent put into my bile duct to keep it open so the stones my body continues to produce don't rub on the walls causing pain. It is a relatively non-invasive procedure and can be done as a day case. Your GP can refer you to a gastroenterologist who can fix this for you.

THANK YOU!!!! Hopefully I won't have to worry about getting another attack soon!

[AnyDream]

Fantastically interesting question, I'm enjoying reading people's frank description of the relativity of their pain/sensation in childbirth.

I'm loving ppl saying "gallstones is worse than childbirth". I'm currently having gallstone attacks (yes I need morphine to cope with them) and I'm aware that I'm at the very extreme end of the spectrum BUT childbirth was worse for me than my gallstones. I'd rate the severe pain from gallstones as an 8-9 but childbirth took me into the 10 zone.

However from all my reading and listening to women's experiences, I'm aware that this is not normal at all and probably a poor reflection on the hospital I was in at the time. Or maybe I'm just wired differently to other women.

ETA: In defence of whatever it was that HP's mum wrote, pain that is 10/10 is probably just about as extreme as it gets. It was painful enough to cause me to leave my body and go to the jumping off place, to look my death in the eye. I had to fight to stay here, to stay alive. I'm sorry if that is scary to whoever reads it but both HP's Mum and myself are still here so and in the end that's what matters. In contrast, my neighbour across the road was the one-in-a-million woman who felt exactly ZERO pain during any of her 3 births, only went to the hospital with her first because she was feeling a 'heavy' sensation. It was the baby descending through the birth canal, it crowned just after she waddled through the door. I'm sure that's not normal either. But I'd like to think that BB is a place where every woman's experience is honoured and validated, no matter how extreme or strange it might seem to everyone else.