# Do contractions hurt more/feel different after a c-section?



## Badswan

I planned to have a home birth but ended up with an emergency c-section with my son. I did hypnobirthing so my contractions were, for the most part, manageable. I reached fully dilated at home but baby hyper-extended his neck and couldn't come out (tried to come out face first!). I'm not pregnant again yet but I'm planning ahead and trying to decide whether to try for a HBAC (Home Birth After Ceasarean) next time and one thing I'm interested in knowing is whether the contractions will feel different and whether they will hurt more.


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## tristansmum

i'd love to know too please. by the way your pic is so cool!


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## Badswan

Thank you Tristansmum! I took that just a day or so after he was born - the little milk fiend!!!


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## x__amour

Also want to know as I am aiming for a VBAC! :D


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## Emma J

Me too! I was prepared (or unprepared) for an all natural birth, thought I would be able to use breathing techniques & Yoga positions to control the pain...I feel so silly to say that now! I ended up having lots of pain relief and then had to have an emergency C-section
I cant wait to get pregnant again but the thought of trying to do it naturally really scares me!
Would be great to hear from others!!

(Also loving the photo:thumbup:)


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## chuck

OOhhh another HBAC awesome...planning my HBAC was the most empower awesome thing I ever did - I transferred in the end for blood loss concerns but still got a VBAC on gas and air only...it was brill.

I cant say that the contractions were any different 2nd time after a CS and there is only a 17 month gap between the kiddos.

In fact I found them far easier to deal with as I was prepared and knew what to expect!


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## Lownthwaite

Also hoping for a VBAC once we have number 2. Interesting question! :flower:


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## marley2580

No they're not, at least I didn't think so. If you get any sharp pains in the scar area during a contraction then it could be an indication that something's wrong


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## Lownthwaite

I had all my contractions in my back - do following labours follow suit does anyone know?

Would my next labour have all contractions in my back? :shrug:


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## chuck

Lownthwaite said:


> I had all my contractions in my back - do following labours follow suit does anyone know?
> 
> Would my next labour have all contractions in my back? :shrug:

Every pregnancy labour and birth is different, was your first baby posterior (back to back)? That can give you a lot of contraction pain in your back...or it may have been how you were positioned - were you on your back a lot?


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## Lownthwaite

chuck said:


> Lownthwaite said:
> 
> 
> I had all my contractions in my back - do following labours follow suit does anyone know?
> 
> Would my next labour have all contractions in my back? :shrug:
> 
> Every pregnancy labour and birth is different, was your first baby posterior (back to back)? That can give you a lot of contraction pain in your back...or it may have been how you were positioned - were you on your back a lot?Click to expand...

If she was back to back nobody cared to tell me! :dohh: :nope:

I tried to keep moving around and walking so was only on my back when they were doing fetal blood sampling :cry:


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## chuck

Baby may have been posterior -were you making 'slow progress' too?

Often a posterior baby wont put enough pressure on the cervix for you to dilate fast enough for the NHS as well as giving you awful labour pains in your back.

You may just be one of these women who feel contractions there...do some research on ways t5o manage that pain...massage, counter pressure positioning etc.


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## Lownthwaite

chuck said:


> Baby may have been posterior -were you making 'slow progress' too?
> 
> Often a posterior baby wont put enough pressure on the cervix for you to dilate fast enough for the NHS as well as giving you awful labour pains in your back.
> 
> You may just be one of these women who feel contractions there...do some research on ways t5o manage that pain...massage, counter pressure positioning etc.

Certainly slow progress - took over 17 hours to go from 1cm to 1.5cm and then went from 1.5cm to 4cm in 2 hours. Then stayed at 4cm for a further 5 hours before having emergency section due to baby distress and the consultant thinking LO was "going to give up" :cry:

So you think LO's back was against my back? and this is why we were progressing so slowly?

After the 2 x fetal blood sampling we then had the EMCS which showed LO apparently presenting hand 1st (not supprised after the ordeal the little thing went through to get blood out of her head!!!!!) :growlmad::growlmad:

Thinking about it I was told very little about my labour :nope::growlmad: surely that's not right?!? :shrug:


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## chuck

It could have been posterior, but then if baby had hand by its head again its not ideal conditions so you progress slowly and that will take its toll on you and baby leading to distress.

Have you thought about requesting your notes and going through them? You can request a debriefing where a MW will go through the notes with you and decipher them and help you understand what happened and why.

If you wanted to contact the head of midwifery for your area and request a debrief - you wont usually be able to have a copy of your notes then but they can be requested but t will cost you from £10-£50 from what other women have said.


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## Lownthwaite

chuck said:


> It could have been posterior, but then if baby had hand by its head again its not ideal conditions so you progress slowly and that will take its toll on you and baby leading to distress.
> 
> Have you thought about requesting your notes and going through them? You can request a debriefing where a MW will go through the notes with you and decipher them and help you understand what happened and why.
> 
> If you wanted to contact the head of midwifery for your area and request a debrief - you wont usually be able to have a copy of your notes then but they can be requested but t will cost you from £10-£50 from what other women have said.

I have thought about it - is the debriefing itself free and just the notes that cost?


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## chuck

usually yes a debrief is nothing, they will have your notes there so you can write stuff down though.


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## dacosta

Lownthwaite said:


> chuck said:
> 
> 
> Baby may have been posterior -were you making 'slow progress' too?
> 
> Often a posterior baby wont put enough pressure on the cervix for you to dilate fast enough for the NHS as well as giving you awful labour pains in your back.
> 
> You may just be one of these women who feel contractions there...do some research on ways t5o manage that pain...massage, counter pressure positioning etc.
> 
> Certainly slow progress - took over 17 hours to go from 1cm to 1.5cm and then went from 1.5cm to 4cm in 2 hours. Then stayed at 4cm for a further 5 hours before having emergency section due to baby distress and the consultant thinking LO was "going to give up" :cry:
> 
> So you think LO's back was against my back? and this is why we were progressing so slowly?
> 
> After the 2 x fetal blood sampling we then had the EMCS which showed LO apparently presenting hand 1st (not supprised after the ordeal the little thing went through to get blood out of her head!!!!!) :growlmad::growlmad:
> 
> Thinking about it I was told very little about my labour :nope::growlmad: surely that's not right?!? :shrug:Click to expand...

this was very similar to my labour - they didnt tell me my lo was back to back either (they might not have known?) either way, i only found out because of baby number two being on the way and looking through my notes from the time of the delivery - they say it's OP or Direct OP. 

spinningbabies website can tell you more: https://spinningbabies.com/baby-positions/posterior

i spent most of my time on my back, stuck to monitors, and then had a epi, which in hindsight was all a terrible idea as moving around and staying upright is the best thing to do for back to back babies.


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