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!
Last edited by Freya; January 18th, 2009 at 07:06 PM.
Bookmarks