Did anyone have back labor? What did it feel like at the beginning? I've had two episodes of constant menstrual like cramping tonight but it's mistly in my back. Nothing timetable, more just a continuous pain, but also having normal BH which are also uncomfortable. It also kinda feels like I have to use the bathroom but nothing happens.
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My back labor started out dull and intensified drastically within hoirs. I had tegular contractions that were time-able but I didn't time them. The back labor for me felt like a knife going into my lower back. It was the kind of pain you are afraid to move with.
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The first few nights I had contractions they were in my tummy. Eventually they all moved into my back. Bone crushing, paralyzing pain is really the only way I could describe it. When a contraction hit I was pretty much immobilized in whatever position I was in (especially laying down - standing leaning over the counter was the best).
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@BeachMama: I agree it's the kind of pain that you are afraid that if you move it will hurt more. I remember writhing in pain afraid to move til I got the epidural.
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Yes it felt like menstrual cramps at first then just got worse and more intense. It helped to have the shower water on my lower back then to have counter pressure on my lower back and hips during contractions, then being in water birthing tub was a god send. In the end it was also immobilizing, i couldnt move either! I never ever felt contractions on my belly, so I don't know which is worse but I suppose both hurt like hell! Turned out my baby was not gonna come out the normal way so that was probably the reason for the back labor.
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Sharp, excruciating, intense, concentrated pain. I couldn't move during the back labor contractions, even breathing was difficult.
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My labor was all back labor- unbearable electric seizure-esque pain. Good luck!
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My labour was all in my back. It started off with timeable menstrual like cramps that peaked and got more intense as time went on.
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@Greentea: I had a similar experience.
I never had contractions in front.
My water broke while I was in the hospital waiting for an induction. I rolled over in bed and felt a 'pop'. When I stood up I felt DS drop down. Within 20 minutes I started having the most intense back/spine spasms, like being electrocuted. At first I thought I was having a stroke/seizure because I was there for pre-e. But nope, just back labor.
There was never a gradual build up at all. I also couldn't see/speak/hear when it would happen. I would see stars and taste metal. So weird. Nothing like what the pregnancy books had explained labor as. -
Both my labors were back labor. They started off as thus dull pain in my lower back that would come and go. It started off timeable. The contractions just got more and more intense and painful as labor continued. Before I started feeling contractions though, I felt a pressure that made me feel like I had to go #2 but nothing would happen when I tried. Maybe that's what you're experiencing now? For baby #1, that pressure lasted a week before I started feeling contractions.
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Well I got induced. I'd had a few contractions in the weeks before but they were not at all painful, just tightening in the belly. When my labor started with the induction it was normal, stomach wrapping around the back. It wasn't until my water broke that it immediately all moved to my lower back. It felt like a tightening/crushing blow to my lower spine. I tried to stay loose and breath through it but every time it hit I basically tensed up and held my breath
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I had back labor (baby was sunny side up). I had what felt like menstrual cramps starting on a Thursday night. They were happening every 20 minutes or so. They kept going Friday and I felt in the back of my mind that it was time (I was also 4 days overdue so...). I went to work Friday, saw some of my mucus plug late in the afternoon. By 6pm they were coming every 10 minutes. They got painful that evening (and holding on to a counter or being on hands and knees was how I had to get through them). I had to have my husband pushing on my back for the whole contraction. It was rough, but what got me was the duration--baby wasn't pressing on my cervix so I wasn't dilating. Got an epidural early Sunday morning and im so glad I did! My LO was born that afternoon.
ETA I also never felt a contraction in front, which was strange. But the pain never got excruciating for me (I wished that it would because I knew that would mean I was getting close to delivery!). I was just exhausted after 2 nights of not sleeping/having to stand or get up on my hands and knees every 5-10 minutes.
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My labor started with contractions in the front. Then as the front contraction would subside I would start to feel the back labor. The contractions alternated front and back for a while so I had back- to-back contractions. Both front and back were timeable and consistent. Eventually the front contractions stopped which gave me some relief. As pp mentioned the back labor hurt intensely from the start. I think my first hour of labor felt just as painful as transition (although I had lots of time to adjust to the pain by transition). It was very painful but I managed a long unmedicated labor.
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Mine was all back labor. It felt like a fist was gripping my lower back the entire day, and towards the end, waves of intense pressure in my lower back where I would have to stop and breathe. Luckily it wasn't painful but exhausting.
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Yes, and it was not fun. I felt like I was getting slammed in the back with a sledgehammer. But I think it started out as really intense period-like cramps.
Hopeful for you!
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All your stories sound way more intense than what I was experiencing. Everything kind of fizzled out after starting this thread. My last appointment baby was sunny side up so I'm not looking forward to it if I do have back labor. Sounds scary!
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@MrsHansen82: There's a website - spinning babies, I think? - that has some position you can try (before labor and during) to get baby to turn.
I wish I knew about it BEFORE I had J! He slid into a very crooked posterior position after my water broke. They tried to manually turn him after giving me an epidural to relax the muscles but he wouldn't budge, bugger. -
I had back labor the entire time. Never once felt a contraction in my stomach. It started with feeling like really bad menstrual cramps, then a stomach bug (for just the lower half of me) and once I cleared out a bit, my contractions started. All in my back. Honestly, I got to 7cm without taking someone's head off and I have a pretty good temper. The epidural is like magic (if that is what you are going to do). I can't talk past 7cm, though.
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@rachiecakes: I'm planning on doing a lot of all fours when I do go into labor. Our childbirth teacher said that's the best way to spin her but only once you're having contractions. Did you end up needing a c section?
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@mediagirl: that's pretty much what I felt like last night, but everything subsided once I got up and walked around.
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Back labor is intense, and painful. You'll feel it, and know that something is going on - there won't be a lot of question in your mind as to what's happening.
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@MrsHansen82: I had no control over my body to get into hand and knee position once I was in labor. Honestly my legs would stiffen up and I couldn't see/hear at all.
I didn't have a c-section by I probably should have! I had a pretty major episiotomy (w/permanent nerve damage) and vacuum to get him out. And he was born with a collapsed lung.
He was really stuck in there!
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ugh back labor, I kept trying to "adjust" thinking it was how I was resting on my back that it would relieve the excruciating pain in my lower back, it didn't obviously. My wrench of a nurse didn't believe me, and I was bawling/puking in between each push. Finally my doctor arrived and was like "well yes you have back labor, you have a sunnyside up baby" the stupid nurse couldn't' even tell...ugh. I went in for a C-section soon after (due to fever/baby stuck and stressed)
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@rachiecakes:
@LuLu Mom:Omg you poor things! That sounds awful and scary!
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I had back labor and baby was sunnyside up. It started out as a dull ache in my back that radiated around to my front, and kept getting worse as the hours went on. The pain came and went every 5-10 minutes and was getting pretty intense - nothing I was doing would make it better (walking, bath tub, etc). I spent until 7 cm slowly pacing back and forth beside the bed because lying down was agony, but after I got the epidural I no longer could feel the back pain, but I could feel my contractions continue in the front. I was not even going to go to the hospital because I thought it was just pregnancy back ache, but as it got worse throughout the night I realized it was back labor and we better get going!
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