anyone else being positive about the pain of natural birth?

[Chezzz]

Im really really excited.. im planning a water birth with gas and air (if you still class that as natural?)

im thinking really positively about how painful labour will be.. my mums a hypnotherapist.. and weve been speaking about positive thinking.

im not actually having hypnobirthing, but weve spoke about it, shes told me that alot of women find the pain unbearable etc because they've always been told how painful it is. obviously this is not the case for everyone though and i feel genuinely excited about not having drugs, just the gas and air - my mum said its brilliant!

anyone else think positivly and have a good outcome?
i know labour will hurt. but im thinking of it as a good pain.. getting me my baby.
i'd love peoples experiences with g&a only, and those who had it for a back to back labour.. as i know it could happen

 

[NaturalMomma]

I always think of labor as intense, not painful. I had a homebirth with ds2, no gas and air as it's not available where I live, so completely unmedicated, and it didn't hurt like that. It was intense but I wouldn't call it painful. The charly horse I had the other day was more painful then birth I'm thinking the same way with this baby.

 

[lovemyDD]

I had home-birth and it was great,. the pain was bearable except for the part that the extraction is really intense( for a few hours) that maybe the baby wanted to be out already and I won't let her because I didn't know it was the TIME.
But when the midwife came, and I let the baby out the pain was bearable and believe me.., I almost die not with labor but with hunger...why didn't anyone told me that labor makes a woman supppper hungry!! grrrr and the midwife didn't let me have a bite,. they just damp my lips with water,.. grrr..

 

[Chezzz]

I'd of loved a home birth but being my first I thought I may want to be on hospital just incase. I've gone for the midwife led unit which is amazing where I live. So ill be home ASAP after birth.

Next time I will for sure be giving birth at home!

 

[Lois22]

I had a home birth with my first 4 months ago. I didn't have any pain relief or a pool. The pain was bearable . If you concentrate on breathing through contractions. You don't realise the pain.

Xx

 

[amjon]

I used a sort of hypnobreathing technique. I had no idea I was in active labor. The pain really wasn't all that bad. It was more uncomfortable than anything (and I had to stand, but I really wanted to lay as I was tired). I think I completely surprised the nurse when we pulled the emergency cord because she was in the birth canal.

 

[Feronia]

I haven't given birth yet, but I have a home water birth planned and I'm not dreading it in the least! I'm really looking forward to it! I mean, I'm not expecting it to be a fun time, but the whole "pain with a purpose" concept really has me prepared for it -- I think! I've done a bit of hypnobirthing (unfortunately my midwives don't carry gas and air) and hopefully that helps some as well.

 

[aliss]

I only had G&A with my 1st hospital birth (with epi) and so I didn't bother the 2nd time as I hated it.

I had 12 hour back to back labour and while I didn't enjoy the pain (lol) it was the overall goal (no hospital birth) which helped get through it. My back to back labour was greatly helped by the use of hot water. I did find it agonizing towards the end but I would say it was still less painful than a Pitocin induction!

I won't be doing it again (I'm done having kids) but if I had to, I would not have done it any other way!!

Yes, I would still say G&A is natural lol! I've had a 100% unmedicated and I would not consider G&A to rule you out!!!

 

[jamhs]

I'm looking forward to giving birth again!! I know it's painful and intense, but the high immediately after is just so amazing. I will be focusing on breathing and relaxing through the pain as much as possible, and will look at each contraction as being one step closer to meeting my baby!! At least with labour there is an end in sight unlike other pain we may experience. I'm having a home water birth and will only have gas and air available to me, but will hopefully not need to use it, or only need it for transitioning. With my first it messed up my breathing and i hated it, but my second I dialated so quickly and the pain was so intense that I was in love with it- lol!!
Good luck with your birth, I'm sure with your positive attitude and trusting your body will make for a great birth experience for you!!

 

[Ivywal]

I am looking forward to my 2nd home birth in 2 weeks. The pain is really manageable if you can get into any position you want and close your eyes and breathe. Remember that there is usually no pain between contractions so you are not in constant pain. depending on how long and how far apart contractions are you may only be in pain for a fraction of any hour. I was surprised how well i could rest and even sleep between them.

 

[Sam Pearson]

The things I have learned about labour pain are:

Not everybody experiences labour pain as unmanageably painful but Western society seems to believe it is unmanageable for everybody...hence the way we portray birthing women in movies. We need to be careful not to anticipate pain we might not even experience.

Adrenaline and oxytocin work in opposing balance, if one goes up the other goes down, so if you are fearful then Adrenaline will go up and pain will increase without the help of the Oxytocin...hence why so many women can manage their pain better without drugs at home because they are in a familiar environment and why women manage their pain better with confident support people not support people who bring fear into the birthing space. This why part of my work preparing for birth is addressing my fears head so I am free of them when my birthing time comes.

The body produces natural pain relief as needed - not before...meaning there is sometimes a slight delay where the body is catching up...this is time to allow that rather than reach for the pain medication so fast you miss out on getting that hit of natural hormones.

Everybody can learn the best methods for themselves to deal with pain, for me it was water, for some it's sound or focusing on a candle or using visualizations or hypnosis or a combination or whatever works for you.

For myself, understanding that I have x number of contractions to get my baby out helps me to welcome each contraction as productive despite any pain I am feeling as each contraction in one step further to meeting my baby. Active labour can bring contractions on...things like climbing stairs are great as is trying lots of different positions.

Waterbirth for me made a huge impact on how much I relaxed and helped with the pain - it helped me open up and made me feel I had privacy. Both these things helped me manage the pain.

I used Clary Sage essential oil to take the edge of contractions and they worked a treat.

 

[lynnikins]

my last birth i wouldnt say it was so painful more intense as natural momma said , i didnt even get gas and air because it was an unplanned UC but planned homebirth, i didnt get my waterbirth either due to running out of water too soon

 

[chattyB]

I agree with it being intense but not constant. One thing that really helped me was calculating the amount of time actually contracting.

Just as an example. Labour lasts 8hrs, you're contracting every 5 minutes and contraction lasts for 1 minute.

You'll have 12 contractions in an hour - each lasting a minute, so 12 minutes of "pain" over the hour with no pain in between.

12 (minutes of contractions) x 8 (hours of labour) = 96 minutes ... 1hr 36 minutes.

I've experienced pain lasting far longer than this when I hit my toe on the stairs!

 

[aliss]

What I found helpful was embracing and enjoying (resting) between contractions.

With my first, I spent that break in FEAR of the upcoming contraction and that made it so much worse. By relaxing in between (with my 2nd) it was much easier to bear (even in a back to back labour)

 

[fionar]

I had a home birth with no medication or pain relief beyond positioning/being in water and didn't experience labor as particularly painful. I'd spent a lot of time thinking about labor and birth trying to think about experiencing the sensation of contractions rather than fretting about them hurting.

We actually didn't call the midwife until it was almost too late because I kept waiting for labor to hurt more. I'd gotten it so in my head that it was going to HURT HURT HURT than when whatever techniques I used WORKED and it DIDN'T hurt like I was half-scared it would, I thought it wasn't real labor yet! Whoops.

 

[Jasiellover]

Love this post!

 

[Larkspur]

I had gas and air only as I wasn't allowed to use the birthing pool for long because of some bleeding.

It was tough, but I had great support and the high at the end (and the baby!) makes it totally worthwhile.

 

[Feronia]

We actually didn't call the midwife until it was almost too late because I kept waiting for labor to hurt more. I'd gotten it so in my head that it was going to HURT HURT HURT than when whatever techniques I used WORKED and it DIDN'T hurt like I was half-scared it would, I thought it wasn't real labor yet! Whoops.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you eventually know that you were in real labour? I've been having pre-labour for days and I'm worried about this happening!

 

[Chezzz]

thanks for all your responses!
its great hearing everyones experiences.
i think i might end up in denial in labour, i'll probably be thinking 'wow this hurts, but im sure labour hurts more than this' (no matter how much pain im in)

my mum told me theres so much hype to labour pain, that some women can deal with it better by positive thinking.

chatty - i'd have never thought of it like that! it doesnt seem half as bad lol!


im very much regretting not planning and thinking about a home birth sooner.
if everything is low risk next time (if i have another) then i will be determined for a home birth.. im going for a midwife led unit, and hoping for a water birth.. so i guess its a nice 'inbetween' for home/hopsital!

 

[fionar]

We actually didn't call the midwife until it was almost too late because I kept waiting for labor to hurt more. I'd gotten it so in my head that it was going to HURT HURT HURT than when whatever techniques I used WORKED and it DIDN'T hurt like I was half-scared it would, I thought it wasn't real labor yet! Whoops.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you eventually know that you were in real labour? I've been having pre-labour for days and I'm worried about this happening!

My mom got there (my husband got online and found my dad, and asked him if they wouldn't mind heading over - my mom's a doula) and she FLIPPED HER LID that we hadn't already called the midwife to come. She could hear that I was in transition before she even saw me or talked to me. As she helped me out of the tub, she shouted at my husband to page the midwife and then she made my lay flat on my back on our bed with my butt on a pillow so gravity would at least help a LITTLE bit. Our midwife walked in as my son was pretty much crowning already.

So, um, I'm terrible help. I guess if your partner thinks it's real labor, let him decide? With this baby, that's how it's going to go. When my husband wants the midwife there, we call her. Last time I insisted I didn't need/want her there even though my husband wanted to call her. Live and learn, I suppose.

Sorry I'm really no good to you...

(Edited to add: I had prodromal labor for a couple weeks, too... contractions every 10-15 minutes for about two weeks before one morning I woke up around 2:30am and thought "okay, now it's going to be today". The quality of the contractions had changed significantly, but they didn't hurt much more than they had before... it was just a different sort of sensation, I guess.)