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

[Julie Doula]

Toothache, dismenorrhoea, gastro, Dengue Fever, typhoid fever, biking up steep hills and running on the flat for more than 10 minutes all hurt more than childbirth for me. I'd rather give birth than run 5 miles. Like running, tramping and biking etc, birth was a 'good' pain, just exertion, not a traumatic pain like when you know something's really wrong, like with gastro or Dengue Fever. I've never broken a leg, but spraining my ankle badly (on several occasions) was pretty bad. Completely unlike labour pain, which usually isn't pathological.

I acknowledge that labour pain, for some women, really is intense and severe. It's a very personal thing. I've seen women with a posterior labour that goes on for 50 hours cope quite nicely with the pain as being quite manageable. With an 11 pound baby! For me, labour pain wasn't the worst thing that I'd been through. But for some women, it is the hardest thing they've done. Whatever our birth experience, it deserves acknowledgement and honour. It's always unique. It's been great lately talking to a couple of homebirth mothers who candidly said, "It hurt like hell!!! But - I did it."