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I had no pain meds but was augmented with Pitocin and it was not what I expected. Looking back 22 months (omg!) some of my strongest memories were the epically amazing feeling of her coming out on the last push, the super high feeling of transition and how exhausting it was

Frankly, my first birth was extremely empowering in the way that it blew my mind that I'd actually come through such intensity. I might have been a little traumatized even, lol. I was like, there is no way ANYONE can do that in a hospital with pain meds right down the hall! Baha, and then I did do it in a hospital with my second birth. But yeah, so intense and indescribable. Even now, 5 weeks out from my last birth and I can't even remember how contractions felt. Until I attend my next birth as a doula and then I'll have a pretty good recollection.

BTW, how was your experience with a doula?

First labor with DS was easier than I expected.

S hurt. So much. Way more than I expected. I don't ever want to comeclose to feeling like that again.

The pain was the most excruciating I've ever been in, but everyone complimented me on how quickly it seemed like i recovered. I'm trying to go med free again with this one, but I know it will be hard. I was begging for an epidural with my first but couldn't one.

@Greentea: Lol, Bradley is a lying liar that lies! We didn't take the classes, I only read that books and I did learn some really useful techniques, but I was under the impression that if just relaxed enough that it wouldn't really hurt. HA!

I should add to both of my comments that even though the intensity of labor really took me by surprise with my first labor and did with second labor as well (although, I went from 6 cm. to having a baby in my arms in 20 minutes, so it's possible it was even more intense than my first labor there at the end), there's nothing other than some medical necessity that would convince me to get drugs. The relief upon pushing the baby out and the empowerment that I just did that all by myself is unmatched to me.

@FarmWifeGina: EXACTLY! OMG! I feel so ripped off! We watched this lady on a video that was like "my labor felt like orgasms! " NOT MINE! They made it seem that you could make your labor not hurt... um.no.no.no.no. I am really hardcore and have almost died (a lot) from painful things happening to me in the country and no.just.no! I am hardcore but my labor was not something I could control the pain of.

I did and still do feel completely in awe of what my body did. I'm ridiculously proud of myself too. Now that I've done it once, I plan to go med-free next time too.

I wasn't prepared to feel like I had to poo the entire time though. After every contraction I was on the toilet, which sucked if I had a contraction while there (I couldn't stand being crunched up).

@FarmWifeGina: @Bao: yes, they turned my epi off but then pushing took so long because of R's position that I had none left for a while.

@swedishfish: I wonder if that's what they did with me but didn't tell me? I wouldn't think they would keep having me turn different ways and say they could try and redo it if that was the case though...but who knows, all I do know is it sucked lol bug the relief when she was out was like an out of body experience!

@mrsjyw: My first two babies were little 7 something pounders with average sized heads- my third baby was 9 lbs. with a 14 in. head and it took less than 5 minutes to push her out, but it was definitely a slightly different experience than pushing out my little babies that just slid on out after the head was birthed, lol.

I guess I had a somewhat different experience in that I didn't really feel that emotional high! I mean, I couldn't fall asleep afterwards like I did with my epi baby but I had these super high expectations that I would feel like She-ra after birthing naturally and I didn't. I mean, it was cool and all but like one of my other friends said, "I'm happy I did it cause I wanted to do it and I let my body do was it was made to do, but there are reasons people have epidurals and maybe I will have one next time!" For me there will probably be no next time but I don't know how I would choose to birth if there were.

Signed,
Still Waiting for My Medal

I felt really amazing afterwards and that high lasted awhile for me! I was so proud of myself that I set a goal to go med free and I did it. I wanted to tell everyone about (but no one really cared so I didn't get to really talk about it, no one really asked how the birth was).

Now that time has passed, I'm actually afraid to go med free again. I just now know how fing painful it was and transition sucked sooooo bad. I don't know if I want to go through with all that again.

My epi never took! After two hours of still feeling contractions, my anesthesiologist told me epidurals didn't work for back labor and wouldn't give me anymore medicine. It made me numb so I had trouble moving but I could still feel every.single.contraction and push.

I was surprised by the intensity. My contractions were just minutes apart as soon as they started. And with back labor there is no break between. It all felt very inescapable, which was distressing to me.

My midwife kept insisting my epidural was working. I was like, "I can feel your hands on my legs. I can feel the contractions. I can feel the baby coming out. I can feel the stitches."

@mamimami: agreed. I was expecting to feel this huge high and it just didn't happen. I was obviously so excited to meet DD, but I otherwise felt like crap. I tore and was just sore and really shaky. Like I said, I plan on going drug free with #2, but my expectations have definitely changed.

@mamimami: @Zbug: @Corduroy: I wouldn't say I necessarily felt a high right afterwards, more of an intense relief and disbelief that it was over and I had actually survived again, lol. My high didn't really come until the next day and I was like, OMG, yes, I did just do THAT! But my last birth suuuuucked directly afterwards. Thank you PP contractions that get worse with each birth, to the point where they're every bit as painful as labor contractions- this at a time when there's a baby in your arms and you just want to rest in the afterglow. That's when I take Motrin.

@Corduroy: the doc said it was a marathon for me and the baby... now I realize she meant motherhood!

I went in really hoping to go med free but not dead set on it since you never know how it will be. I will echo those who are just amazed at what the body can do. I knew it would hurt but at one point while laboring at home I just looked at Dh and said, "This is going to really fcking hurt." (Classy right?) It did hurt a lot (duh) but I never get to a point where I felt like I couldn't do it. At the end I was thinking I'm fine now but I can't do this for a few more hours, so I asked about pain meds, they checked me and I was in transition, which is what I needed to hear to power through.

I did have such a high when it was over (everyone said Dh looked so much more tired than me). And I kept reliving it and wantif to talk about it. It was intense! I'm super proud that I did it but I'm still open to drugs for the second, depending how things go.

@Dagny: I had a similar experience- I wouldn't say I lost consciousness but I relaxed so deeply in between contractions at the end. And during pushing it just felt so natural (but painful). Too bad I couldn't fall asleep after she was born- that's when I needed it.

Eta: I think it's worth adding that my baby was positioned well and my labor picked up really gradually which I think really helped me deal with the pain. Water didn't break until less than three hours before she was born and things got way more intense after that. I think if it started out that intense I'd have gotten the epi for sure and been fine with it.

I'm a doula. I had attended tons of unmedicated (and medicated) births. I thought I understood. Ha. I had no idea.

Afterwards I felt like wonder woman but now I am just terrified of doing it again and we are not even close to TTC.