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Yes. It was so painful. But for some reason it's a forgettable pain.

Wisdom teeth were a close second.

Gallbladder attack hurt more!

Yes, but I haven't been through anything else painful. I never felt that horrible "OMG I'm going to die" kind of pain in birth, though.

Ruptured ovarian cyst was comparable, but I had an epidural after 12 hours of contractions so that's probably why!

Yes, and it was worse than I expected, despite the epi.

I delivered with an epi but yeah the back labor before it was probably the worst! Thankful though, that it's the worst pain I've been in.

Miscarrying naturally was worse. I was sure my contractions would be just like that experience, but even the pitocin contractions couldn't compare. I'm sure the emotional component didn't help.

It wasn't the most pain I've ever experienced. It's probably 3rd on the list. I didn't get to experience making it to 10 centimeters and pushing her out of the cooch, so I'm not sure how I would have rated it had I experienced that.

I don't think childbirth was painful. I didn't even realize I was having contractions. But I also gave birth at 34 weeks.

Without a doubt, yes. I did not use pain meds and had an extremely quick birth--my water broke and contractions began at 9 am and baby was born at 12 pm. The pain was unreal, as was the claustrophobic feeling I had when I realized I could not escape the pain. Despite all that I'm very excited to do it all again someday! (Though I'm very nervous about how fast it will likely happen considering I was only in labor for 3 hours the first time.)

No. My teenaged, endometriosis-inspired cramps were *much* worse than my 45-hour, med-free, pitocin-augmented labor.

Yes, so prolonged (15 hours + 5 hours pushing) and intense from the pitocin + sunny side up back labor. The pain was draining and exhausting.

I broke my cheekbone which cut into a facial nerve several years ago. That had been the most pain up until labor. I was pretty out of it during that injury due to the head trauma so I actually don't remember too much of the hurting thank goodness.

Labor was definitely most painful for me, and post C-section was a close second.

@Sophs Mama: I haven't ever experienced it, but my brother has had a gall stone attack and my SIL has had a kidney stone (while pregnant no less), and she said that the stones were far more painful than birth!

It's kind of a toss up for me. I get bad migraines and have had appendicitis, and I think the height of both of those were worse for longer than most of labour, and scarier because you know something's wrong. But the few minutes of the most extreme pain of childbirth were probably the most intense acute pain I've had.

Yes, but was induced with no pain meds and had back labor. The actual birth part was the easiest part of the whole experience for me but the 8 hours before that were the worst.

Yes! But it wasn't as bad as I was building it up to be in my mind.

@Sophs Mama: I've heard that is terrible!

no. Recovery from ruptured appendix + collapsed lung (after the surgery) was worse than giving birth.

Side question: has anyone on this thread had a herniated disc? That's the worst pain I've ever been in, and I'm trying to gauge how comparable childbirth is to that.

No, I had a toothache once that was way, way worse and I thought I'd go nuts if the pain didn't stop. At least when you're giving birth you can move around and breathe to make yourself feel a bit better... that doesn't help with teeth!