what do real contractions feel like?

[krissyy]

hi girls,  i am 35 weeks and starting to think about labor...i'm not freaking out too much which kind of freaks me out.  it is very unlike me not to freak out about the unknown...  but anyway, i am trying to prepare myself for the pain i'm going to feel.  i have the braxton hicks quite often and only wish that is what real laboring contractions felt like!!  what do the real ones feel like and why do they hurt so bad?  is it the tightening that hurts or is it a sharp pain or is it the lower back that really hurts or does it feel menstrual crampish??  please enlighten me.  i am quite the planner and it drives me bonkers that i am clueless to what i am in for!

[mami1323]

You see, I didn't even feel pain during crowning.  I had my eyes closed and just heard the doctors yelling "Jezika open your eyes, here's your son."  Then he was out and they put him on my belly and it was amazing.  You will forget all about the pain when you see your baby.  I would do it all again.  Yes it was fast, I did get very lucky.  I wish you the best in your experience as well.

[krissyy]

jesselee-hehehe, don't freak out, but the ring of fire is the name given to the burning you feel during crowning...ouch!!  this is my first baby also, but i can't help but think that the name "ring of fire" is probably a perfect description.  

mami-thanks for your inspirational words-i haven't had a miserable pregnancy, but i am so excited to meet my little girl that i think that will help get me thru it all.  and i believe you when you say that during labor you are the strongest you have ever been.  7 hours is great!!  i will be thrilled with anything below 10 hours.  my teacher told us that on average, most first time moms are in labor for about 12 hours.  

heatherlynn-whew, how freaky!  i'm sure it is weird for your doctors to do internals and feel that head bobbing around!!  

thanks everyone for your advice and comments.  although everyone's experiences are different, it's still good to know some of the different sensations that i may experience.  

[jesslee83]

wait wait wait---i aint heard NOTHIN about that! what is it! lol, now im freakin out and i have *12* weeks to go, more than enough time!

never been in labor before, but with the way i am, i think i'll know lol....plus, i found out 2 days ago that even though df tells me he's only taking off the days i'm in the hosptial...it appears he's already put in his papers to take off 4 days before i'm due, till a week later so he can get "paternity leave" which is 10 days....our friend (the one whose fiance is 11 w behind me), told me df wanted it to be a surprise.....so, he's been through this a few times lol, with cousins, friends, etc.....so i think he might know better than me, cos ill keep saying "5 more minutes" lol....our hosp it about 15 minutes away....given there's not traffic, then more like an hour!!!

[mami1323]

I was able to breathe because I didn't know how else to manage the pain.  I didn't have any lamaze or birthing classes.  It was just a natural reaction.  Some people felt it was easier to sit upright, I liked laying on my right side.  It felt like less pressure.  Once you get an epidural you can't get up so I didn't have much choice.  You are going to get different opinions here so you can't really use anyone's one labor experience, they are all unique.  My labor was short, 7 hours, so I didn't have a tough one at all.  My friend was in labor for 52 hours and did a home birth but had she been in a hospital, she would've had a c-section.  I think that you become the strongest you have ever been in your life during child birth.  You will make it through.  Funny thing, I was so big and annoyed at that point, I wasn't nervous for labor at all.  I was more anxious and excited to see my lil boy.  You will do fine.  

[heatherlynn22]

both boys are head down. brett's actually in my cervix (he freaks my doctors out when they do my internal exams because they can feel his head and him movin around whenever they check my cervix). so my doc said as long as he doesn't do a nice little flip it'll be a vaginal delivery. he's not to keen on c sections unless they're absolutely necessary which is fine by me. i don't want a c section anyways.

[pinkbelle]

krissyy--.. no he didnt numb me on anything he just cut me... they had to get Aubree out  but i honestly didnt feel it and yea I did find it har d to breathe but then again I didnt really prepare thoughly before birth.. i lost my focus during birth and honestly forgot my breathing techniques...

[krissyy]

sarah and other girls-is there anything you did to help ease the pain or did you just breathe thru it?  i know one of the girls mentioned that it felt better to sit up and i definitely plan to use my birthing ball...

heatherlynn-are your twins in the right place to be born vaginally or are they going to do a csection?  i'm guessing they aren't doing a planned csection because they probably would have set a date for that by now...

[heatherlynn22]

oh i know it's a hike but it's the only hospital in the area that has the expertise to handle multiple births plus that's where all of my doctors deliver out of.

for anyone who's had the back pains....how sharp were they? i do have back pains and occasionally they're really really sharp but i always think it's because of how i sit or lay. i have been having the menstrual like cramps (sometimes so bad if i wasn't pregnant i'd be running to the bathroom to see if af arrived) i'm so nervous and worried that i'm just not gonna know!! and right now it feels like i'm going to be pregnant forever!!!

[SarahB79]

my personal experience felt likely insanely intense menstrual cramps.  

[krissyy]

heather-yikes, that is a hike when you are in labor!  

pinkbelle-did you find that it was hard to breathe?  i am going to use a birthing ball...hopefully it will help with the pressure and keep me upright.  that is really comforting to know that pushing is a relief...i'm a little worried about it, specifically the ring of fire.  did they do local numbing on you when they cut you?

[pinkbelle]

to me contractions felt like someone was sitting on my belly.. kind of like a tightening and alot of pressure. I had a lot of back labor so to me the pain was almost unbearable... I found that sitting upright helped alot. or on my left side.. I gave in and got the epidural but it only lasted for 2 hrs and I had an allergic reaction it and my face swelled up and got itchy but at that point in labor I as to tired to keep going natural.. When it came time to push it was a relief because then I knew the harder I pushed the more relief I would get plus the sooner she would be here.. I had to get cut and I honestly didn't feel it.. I was to focused on making sure I was pushing to get her out. the worst part for me was contractions before you are aloud to push.. and mine were less than a minute apart so I didn't get a break in between.

[heatherlynn22]

the hospital i have to deliver at is 45 minutes away sooooo there won't be any home laboring for me. lol. that's one reason i'm so worried about knowing the earliest possible signs of labor so i can get a head start to the hospital. i don't want to be half way there and end up having one or both of the boys. lol

[krissyy]

bts-oh no!!!!  the ring of fire is my worst fear!!!  i posted questions about that about a month ago!  how long did your burning last?  was it quick or lingering?  do they apply any sort of local numbing?

mami-thank you.  i'm glad to know that you didn't scream and yell because sometimes "a baby story" scares the poo out of me!  those women yell like their legs are being cut off!!!  i am going to do my hardest to keep relaxed and breathe thru it all.  hopefully my labor will move along and won't be too long!!  i was worried that those minute breaks would go fast!  and i am sure that the minute/minute and a half contractions go nice and slow!!!

heatherlynn-wow, 3cm dialated and 90% effaced?  that is a great start!!!  everyone i talked to says that "you will know" just like you have heard.  i think i have decided to labor a bit at home before i go in...but the hospital is only about 10 minutes away from my house.  is the hospital far from you?  i am hoping to get the warning sides before labor like the mucous plug loss, water breaking, etc. so i have a heads up!

[heatherlynn22]

i'm starting to get really nervous about all of this. i only had one or two days where i had the braxton hicks contractions and i'm going into week 33 with my twins and as my docs have been saying for the past 3-4 weeks i could " go any day now" and i have NO CLUE what it's going to feel  like or how i know i'm really in labor. everyone says ohhhh you'll just know...but what if i don't? i'm so used to the tremendously horrible pains of pelvic pressure already and belly is about as hard as it can get....i don't know if i'll recognize real labor! i did find out today i'm up to 3 cm dialated but still 90% effaced. so i'm hoping it's soon.

[mami1323]

To be honest that 1 minute break in the middle was barely a break.  Just as you are about to catch your breath you are hit with another one so you really don't have that break.  It is intense but I didn't scream or yell, I breathed right through them.  You just have to focus and breathe and you can do it.  I gave in and had the epidural but it didn't work.  It numbed me only on one side so basically I felt everything anyway.  I could've done without it.  Do your best and don't be afraid to get help if you need it.  Pushing didn't hurt me, it was actually a relief when you get that urge you want to push.  I didn't even feel it when they cut me and I didn't even feel much pain when his head crowned or when his head was out.  I was really focused on pushing him out so I didn't feel much.  Everyone has a different labor and everyone has a different threshold for pain.  You have to just go by how you feel.  Everyone will have different stories for you.  Good luck.

[BTS1022]

A real contraction varies from woman to woman, BUT imagine having a Braxton hicks contraction where your belly is really rock solid, and add on some intense pain. The pain will vary from person to person because some women have more pressure in the pelvic area, and or pain in the abdomen or back. If your contractions start feeling very intense and painful with the rock solid tightening then more than likely it is real labor.

My worst part in all honesty was the ring of fire lol

[krissyy]

thank you so much for the stories.  it does sound like everyone has different pains.  i'm glad to know that it's not unbearable.  i hope to go all natural and have been working so hard with my breathing.  do you really feel the minute or two break in the middle to gather yourself?  i am a pretty focused person so i think i should be okay...i'm just hoping that labor won't be too long because that is when i am going to give in...however, i am afraid of the epidural because i think it would freak me out to not have control of my body.  

so back to the pain...the hardest/most uncomfortable part is the weird tightening in your uterus and the awful pressure in your tooshie...like you have to pooh but are forced to hold it in??

[mami1323]

I didn't think it felt like menstraul cramps at all.  To me it was a tightening around the belly and uterus.  I didn't have it in my back, although, some women do.  It is a strange feeling, one that is very hard to describe.  Believe me, when you have them you will know what they are.  Mine was painful but not unbearable.  By the end when you are almost fully dilated it becomes a different pain.  How I describe it, and it may be tmi, but to me it feels like you have to go #2.  Like you have bad diarrhea and you have to hold it in because you aren't near a toilet.  That was the worst of it for me.  It's nothing like Braxton Hicks though.

[chantal21]

I remember freaking out because I had no clue what contractions were gonna feel like. I think everyone is different when it comes to them. Mine weren't very painful at first and they just felt like a tightening in my stomach and then extreme pressure in my bottom and down there. They took my breath away, and everytime I got one (even though they didn't hurt in the beginning) I had to stop, breathe and catch my breath. Some women experience a lot of back pain...I didn't really experience too much. It was mostly the middle to lower part of my belly that hurt the most. And it did feel like really bad menstural cramps as well.
I just can't believe you are so close!! Once your 37 weeks you could go at anytime!! =)

[neasyc]

with my first baughter all the pain was in my back so i was not sure they were even contractions but that how they were for me till she arrived and by second the pain were all around but mostly in my tummy