What will giving birth feel like

Visualizing actual waves and then breathing through them helped me. Now, I had one induced with max doses of Pitocin and one totally [unmedicated]. No pain meds for either. It felt like my body was literally being torn in two directions. Blinding pain. I felt nothing for seven hours. Not a thing. Then for two hours after that, I felt noticeable tightening, but that was it. Broke water next, and things picked up, but it was never bad enough that I wanted an epidural.

My recovery, even with a second-degree tear , wasn't awful. I have never [had] such intense paralyzing pain in my life. With my second, I had a precipitous delivery, so there was no time for one. I was a volcano, a child, a rigid blank in the centre of a moving world. I felt a pop in my vulva. I felt with grim acceptance that I had torn my vagina into a doily; I had been too eager and ripped it apart.

I pushed. I felt a head and then it slipped away. I asked my partner if the baby was out. He managed, somehow, to keep a straight face. It was not. Then, finally, out it came, in two enormous heaves that turned my face puce: a Francis Bacon painting of hot purple contortion so furious I had to dip it in the water around my body for relief.

Childbirth feels like everything to everyone. Wolves gnawing at your entrails, blue medical hairnets, a thundering ocean, white noise, sandwiches in plastic packets, teeth-chattering nerves, the ripping apart of your pelvis like tectonic plates, the click and drip of machinery, lightning down your spine, the pale blank hum of a hospital light, the onion sweat of animals, panic, darkness, exhaustion, a mist that becomes hail, leaving your body, believing in your body, a beleaguered body, a body pulled from your body.

There is no good labour and no bad labour. Anyone who births a child, by whatever means, deserves our admiration and our support. This article is more than 3 years old. Nell Frizzell. The blood, the courage, the self-sacrifice, the stamina, the body-shuddering pressure, the fear, the gore.

Some hospitals even have TENS devices that you can borrow during labor! Intravenous IV narcotics offer some of the pain relief of an epidural for a more limited time. As in the case of an epidural, nausea, headaches, drowsiness, and the transmission of medication to the baby are potential risks. For a woman seeking a brief reprieve from the intensity of birth, an IV narcotic can be a very appealing pain relief option. While you may have seen it during dental visits, in the United States nitrous oxide is less commonly used as a pain relief option during childbirth.

Nitrous oxide has been used for over a century and is generally considered safe for the mother and baby. The most common pain medication for birthing mothers in the United States, an epidural can relieve the pain a mother is feeling within 10 to 20 minutes. Most hospitals provide epidural analgesia, and if your pain is beyond a manageble level, you can request one.

The vast majority of women who receive an epidural feel pressure and not pain from that point on in their labor. Many women can even sleep while laboring once the epidural has been placed. Still, many women find that the pain relief an epidural offers outweighs these risks.

Even if you have given birth before, each experience is different. Taking steps to prepare beforehand and using comfort measures during labor can reduce the pain of childbirth. Your care provider can work with you to ensure that you have the medication and holistic pain reduction measures you need to handle your contractions.

Every delivery is as unique and individual as each mother and infant. Each woman may have a completely new experience with each labor and delivery.

You've been dying to know whether everything you've heard about childbirth is true. Moms spill the beans, once and for all. Labor and delivery tends to occupy the minds of expectant parents the most. Read on if you have questions about the signs and length of labor. Ready to deliver and welcome your little one?

As pregnant women get closer to the time of birth, their water doesn't always gush dramatically like you see in the movies or on TV. A new study finds that epidurals do not affect child development in their later years. What does pushing feel like? Feeling back pain during labor Feeling other pain during labor Feeling exhausted during labor Feeling connected and disconnected during labor What was the best part of labor? Then I just waited.

It saved my life! Sources BabyCenter's editorial team is committed to providing the most helpful and trustworthy pregnancy and parenting information in the world. Darienne Hosley Stewart. Featured video. Signs of labor. Membrane stripping: How it's done and what it's like. Water breaking: What it feels like. Cervical dilation and effacement. Losing your mucus plug. Natural ways to induce labor. When is my baby likely to drop? New to BabyCenter? Join now. Password Forgot your password?

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