Did you feel like you were prepared for the pain, or were you shocked by the amount of pain you were in? I shouldn't even ask this question with 2 weeks to go, but I'm too curious!
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It hurt way more! I had an induction.
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I would say it hurt more. I mean I knew it would hurt a lot and I had no illusions of even trying to go med free but I was begging for the epidural much sooner than I expected. But.. I also had an unusual situation where my labor came in hard and fast. My first two contractions were four minutes apart, lasting a full minute each, and they never slowed down.
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It was about what I expected. It is crazy though--I barely even remember the pain at all!!!
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For me they hurt less than I expected. I think I just worried about it too much so I hyped it up in my head that I would be crying out in pain. They were just bad period cramps. I did get an Epi at 8 cm. I only got it out of fear of the actual birth, next time I want to do natural.
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I may be in the minority, but my contractions were a breeze compared to what I thought they would be. I was induced, and labored for hours before I got an epidural and I only got the epidural because of those horrendous cervical checks.
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way more. i thought i was going to die from 8 cm contractions with charlie.
i got my epidural at 3 cm with olive, but even then it was so painful. i don't know how people do it med-free!
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Way more. I knew it was going to hurt but damn did it hurt. I felt like I was going to pass out when I got to the hospital and I was only 3cm! Fwiw I have a low pain tolerance
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More. I thought I was going to die and I didn't even dilate yet.
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They hurt more than I thought, but I had back labor and it was a much different pain than I was expecting, and like @matador84: I barely remember the pain now. I remember being in a lot of pain, I remember thinking it was the worst pain I'd ever felt, and I can even try to describe it but I don't remember the pain itself.
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I imagined the worse pain ever and it was at least 10x worse. Mine happened very fast and ended up getting the epi around 7-8 cm.
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I voted they hurt more, but the pain was much different than what I was expecting. I was expecting sharp, shooting pains - maybe like crazy intense Charlie Horses? But my contractions brought so much pressure and then awful back labor so the pain was dull and never-ending for me.
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About what I expected, and actually alot easier than expected up until I started getting discouraged.. then they got worse (which is what I expected to happen knowing the fear meant more pain)! As long as I stayed confident in my body they were pretty manageable, even the transition contractions. Literally as soon as I felt like my body wasn't doing what it should be (I thought I should be atleast 8 & I was 7) they got *painful*. As soon as I delivered all the pain was gone & I even said I was ready to do it again! lol
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Oh lord, I shouldn't have opened this thread....
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It hurt.. different than I expected. I've never felt so completely out of control, and I've had a few serious injuries before.
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Way less than I expected. I thought it would be akin to sawing my body in half with a butter knife type of pain. I never felt like I was going to die. My labor started hard and fast. 5 hours after my first contraction I was at the hospital dilated 8, almost 9 cm. I figured I would be at 3 maybe 4 based on my pain.
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Hurt more than expected! Back labor is not fun!
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@Bookworm: I agree....step away from this thread. I just got home from my prenatal class. Tonight was "Labour and Pain Management." The videos we watched were awful!
At least some of you ladies are saying it wasn't as bad as you imagined!
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@pinkb: I feel the same. I hyped it up so much that it was more a fear of the unknown.
Don't get me wrong, they hurt, but I felt that I was tolerating them well and didn't want to get the epi too soon. I got it 2 hours into my hospital stay and unbeknownst to me, I was almost 10cm! I had gone from 3 to 10 in no time. -
It was just such a different feeling than I could have ever imagined
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About the level I expected but it was back labor so in a way much worse. I expected "regular" ones.
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I guess I was expecting more of a "my vagina is being torn apart" feeling and not so much a crampy abdominal feeling. Its amazing how our bodies work.
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@scg00387: yes! I felt completely out of control. When my water broke I went straight into back labor (no contractions or anything before water broke - went zero to sixty in like 10 minutes). I felt like I was being electrocuted through my spine while having a seizure, going cross eyed with ringing in my ears. Not what I expected at all. I expected intense rhythmic abdominal pain and had none of that at all, just the back.
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Crazy more
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@rachiecakes: eek! I didn't have back labor, thankfully... that sounds awful. I had the rhythmic stomach labor but it literally brought me to my knees, and kept me there.
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@Bookworm: Haha, I know. I shouldn't have started it.
@rachiecakes: Omg, that sounds.... awful. I'm going to be hoping for no back labor!!
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@Bookworm: Ditto. I am dreading labor even more now... Can we just skip that part and just right to the moment they put her on my chest?
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MORE. Thanks to lots and lots of Pitocin, my contractions were double and triple stacked with very little time in between.
ETA: I also had back labor, soooo, yeah. : /
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@rachiecakes: I felt like I was going to break in half. Back labor is no joke!
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The beginning stages of labor didn't feel so bad, and it made me believe that I could easily go without an epidural. Once my contractions started coming closer together, I was in a lot of pain but it was what I originally expected. Of course I needed an epidural at 7 cm, and it was a great sense of relief.
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Hurt way more! I was still able to have a natural childbirth (labored 12 hours) but I was definitely surprised by the pain. If you have access to a tub at all use it! Soaking in the warm water for a bit was where I felt the best.
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Way more than anything I could have possibly fathomed in my entire life. I have already been through it and I still can't even describe the pain.
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It hurt more than I expected but I forgot about the pain faster than I expected. I really can't remember much about how it actually felt now and I had a long unmedicated labor.
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Way more... And different. They didn't feel like menstrual cramps to me at all. It was just different and horrible. The epi was the best thing ever.
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Induction. Hurt WAYYYY more than I anticipated. And I had watched births in preparation!
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I had back labor, so take that into account (baby was op).
Still, I had envisioned something so horrific that I was pleasantly surprised by the horrible pain
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Way more. I read and heard all these zen mommy stories, my mom had 4 kids without pain meds and all she says 'it's not that bad, people just like to tell stories and exaggerate' (this is from a woman who will describe in detail the pain she has after stubbing her toe and then repeat the story several times). So I felt a bit unprepared. It was crazy amounts of pain that I'd never imagined. It does make you feel strong to overcome and learn to cope with each new level of pain but wowza. I got the epi at about 8-1/2 cm because my labor instead of going through transition fast decided to slow down. I'm glad I waited for the epi but it was also really nice to have it at the end and relax a little more.
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Induction... There are no words. Thank goodness for the epidural and big props to all that can go med free. Not this girl!
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I voted other because I honestly had no idea what to expect. I hoped to do it naturally just to avoid other interventions but I have a low pain tolerance and allowed myself to be open when the time came. My labor was quick and intense and it really hurt, but in the end I got through it med free. So I guess I voted other because I had the expectation of pain but with the prompts I used from hypnobirthing and my doula I felt like the pain was for a reason so I would hesitate to say less than I expected. Maybe different is what I would tell you!
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I voted "as expected" despite having an induction. I battled through pitocin contractions for nearly 10 hours before getting the epidural. I elected for the epidural before the OB broke my water, because I could tell that although they were bad and required all of my coping skills to get through, they could have still been a heckuva lot worse. I didn't trust myself to be able to sit still through contractions after having my water broken, so I elected for the epidural before. (Right on time, because as I was shifting in bed after the anesthesiologist was done, my water broke on its own!)
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63 comments