Rate your labour pains by stage

[Perplexed]

In my case "early labor" was before they broke my waters at 3cm.

So, early labor: 4 (no pain relief, contractions woke me up but managable)
Active labor (3cm+): 8 (gas and air, then later pethidine)
Transitioning: 10 (I begged for an epidural, that I actually got an hour later)
Pushing: 6 (WITH epidural!)

Bad leg cramp: 5

 

[luz]

Baby #1
'Early' labor: 5 - lasted about 12 hours
'Active' labor: 7 - lasted 3 hours, only felt for 1 hour because i got an epidural
'Transition: 0 - had an epidural
Pushing - 0

I received my Epidural at 5 cm so i didn't have to feel the worst part.

Baby #2 - Total time in labor 9 hours. I have no idea how long each stage lasted because I didn't get to the hospital until 10 cm dilated.
Early labor - 3
Active labor - 5
Transition - 10
Pushing - 0. Honestly i don't remember feeling any pain while pushing, only the urge to push.
No drugs or epidural

Rate your pain 1-10 for a bad leg cramp: 6

 

[Missyann]

For each stage, rate your pain 1-10, and how long the stage lasted
'Early' labour (1-4? cm):
'Active' labour (4?-8 cm):
'Transition (8-10cm):
(Optional extra: Drugs - yes/no/when?)

Rate your pain 1-10 for a bad leg cramp:

Thank you!

Leg cramp - 3 (3 and below is anything I could sleep through)
Early labor - 2 progressing to 4
Active labor - 7 to 8
Transition - 10 because there was no time between contractions
Pushing - started at 8 or 9 but progressed to 10 because baby was back to back and it took 3 hours.

No pain relief used.

 

[Feronia]

No drugs at any stage!
Early stage: 1 (lasted 3 weeks -- stupid irritable uterus and malpositioned baby!)
Active labour: 3-4 (lasted 56 hours. I got so used to contractions that they didn't phase me after a while. It felt like I was on the edge of pain but that I wasn't quite experiencing it as long as I concentrated during contractions.)
Transition: 0 (I didn't experience transition. It all felt the same and I just started feeling like pushing after a while. It wasn't even an instinct to push, but more like "this is lame, I'm bored of this. Let's try pushing!")
Pushing: 1 -maybe? (20 minutes. It didn't hurt, no ring of fire, it was just exhausting -- like running a marathon. I also didn't think she could fit so I kept trying to argue with my midwives that she wouldn't fit, lol.)
Afterpains - 4-5 (These sucked. Afterpains are no fun -- they felt like strong period cramps, except without as much as an awesome purpose as "bringing you a baby / babies." Uterine massage is like a 6 or a 7. I was quiet during my entire birth but I started swearing at my midwife during the uterine massage!)

Bad leg cramp - 4ish? The biggest thing I learned is that state of mind is POWERFUL when it comes to pain!

 

[mara16jade]

On a scale of 0-10.

'Early' labour (1-4? cm): 6
'Active' labour (4?-8 cm):4
'Transition (8-10cm): 0

I got my epidural at 6-7cm, and after that I was fine. Before that....as I approached 6cm I was a fair amount of pain. I'm not going to wait next time to get the epidural. I wasted time with a different drug that made me loopy and lasted all of 15 minutes. Now that I know...I'm not wasting time contemplating. lol

 

[mysweetangel]

early:1
active:7
transition:10++ (would've swore I was dying lol)
I got my epidural before pushing so I can't rate that one (definitely recommend those!)

leg cramp is probably a 2 in comparison

 

[nikkchikk]

My situation is a bit different

Eary-0
Active- 2 until 6cm. Then it was a 6 and I got an epidural
Transition-I fell alseep after the epi and the nurse had let it run out for a few hours. I woke up because of the massive pressure from transition and when checked I was at 10cm! Didn't get more epi because well, it was time to push and it was hectic and no one thought about it.

 

[kksy9b]

Early-0...I was dilated to a 4 five days before going into full labor and got to hospital at a 5 after laboring at home for 8 hours.

Active- 6-7... I labored naturally for 4 hours and was able to walk through it all (used a birthing ball for about 45 min but otherwise just walked). Note: my waters were still in tact at this point

Transition- 10...I was lightheaded, nauseous the works and there was no break at all. Requested epi at 8, kicked in at 9. Then my waters were broken (still took 5 min for nurse to manually do it...he was sealed in there tight)

Pushing 1-2- I could still feel all the pressure which was uncomfortable. I had a very low dose with the epi and lead all of my pushes. Still got that "I HAVE to push! Can I push? I can't stop it!" Which I said and there was no one at my feet....they all quickly sprang into action and he came out on that one (40 min pushing)

The "massaging" of your uterus for 24 hours after...5...that was terrible

Also, I tore up instead of down so peeing before they got me motrin many hours later was an 8 (way worse than any of my contractions up to transition).

Having my sweet sweet baby boy in my arms finally- worth every ounce of pain to get him there

 

[emyandpotato]

For each stage, rate your pain 1-10, and how long the stage lasted
'Early' labour (1-4? cm): 1. Don't know how long, didn't get examined til 9cm.
'Active' labour (4?-8 cm): 3. Ditto above.
'Transition (8-10cm): 7.
(Optional extra: Drugs - yes/no/when?) No.


Rate your pain 1-10 for a bad leg cramp: 6

 

[Kirsty3051]

Early labour: 1.
Active labour: 3. Strong enough that I noticed them, but not that bad.
Transition: Stayed a 3 until I got to around 7cm, then it went up to an 8.
Pushing: 5. Took a lot of the pain away but didn't exactly tickle.

Drugs: Nope.

 

[mummytobe_93]

'Early' labour (1-4? cm): 5
'Active' labour (4?-8 cm): 8-9
'Transition (8-10cm): 9-10
Pushing: 8

Little shot of diamorphine at 8cms literally didn't do anything other than make me drowsy would rather have done with out! X

 

[MrsVenn]

For each stage, rate your pain 1-10, and how long the stage lasted
'Early' labour (1-4? cm): 1 - 2 weeks
'Active' labour (4?-8 cm): 6 - 5 hours
'Transition (8-10cm): 9 - 1 hour
(Optional extra: Drugs - yes/no/when?) Gas and air - 8cm-9cm

Then, because I know everyone's pain thresholds are different, here's a calibrating question (for science!)

Rate your pain 1-10 for a bad leg cramp: 5ish

 

[Eline]

This puts a whole new perspective on leg cramps! Thanks for your info ladies!

 

[MellyH]

I can answer this myself now!

Early: 1-2 (25 hours)
Active: 5-6 (7 hours)
Transition: 7 (1 hour)
Pushing: 5-6 (1 hour)
Post-birth uterine manipulation to dislodge retained placenta: 8! (30 minutes)

Leg cramp: 7

 

[k4th]

'Early' labour (1-4? cm): 3 - went back to bed & slept through some of it. Lasted about 8 hours
'Active' labour (4?-8 cm): 6 - got to hospital at 6cm. Started gas & air as soon as I arrived. Lasted about 8 hours again.
'Transition (8-10cm): 10 - asked for pethadine or epidural but was told it was too late & I was ready to push. Lasted around two hours, including 20 mins of pushing and then she arrived


Rate your pain 1-10 for a bad leg cramp: 2 or 3

This was over four years ago so my timing might be a little off, but I'm pretty sure I remember the pain fairly clearly. The really strange bit for me was going from a 10 at transition/pushing, to zero literally after she was born.

Eta - & congratulations on having your babies!!

 

[SmartieMeUp]

DD1
Early - 7
Active - 8
Transition - 0 had caesarean.
Leg cramp - 5

I managed 18 hours pain relief free.
Had diamorphine at 2cm as I wasn't progressing.
Gas & Air from 6cm and epidural at 8cm.

 

[Spudtastic]

Ooh good question......
I'm also going to change some of the centimetres.

Early labour after stretch and sweep to 2cm: 2 to3 (Stretch and sweep was on Thursday morning and 2cm was measured at 3pm on Friday)
2- 2.5 centimetres: 6 lasted 4 hours
2.5 cm to 4 cms: 10+++++++++ this stage went on for over 6 hours with no break between contractions as baby was facing the wrong way so I had an epidural.
4.5 to 10 cms: 0 (and a snooze ahhhh lovely and took 7 hours
Pushing: 8 (even with an epidural) and took two hours.

Midwife said after than with no pain relief it would have been a 3 day active labour. ugggh. Thank goodness for epidurals.

Rate your pain 1-10 for a bad leg cramp: 2

 

[Rhio92]

DS (1st labour) -
Early labour - 3
Active - 6
Transition - 9
Pushing - 8

DD (second labour)
Early - 7
Active - 9 (until I had diamorphine, then it was 5)
Transition - 9
Pushing - 5 (pushing was the best bit of that labour, I loved it)


Leg cramp - 5

 

[Kittique]

For each stage, rate your pain 1-10, and how long the stage lasted
'Early' labour (1-4? cm): 1-2 cm =2 2-4cm =3 - 44 hours
'Active' labour (4?-8 cm): 1 hour - 6
'Transition (8-10cm): 10 - 30 minutes
Pushing - 7 minutes = 5 (found this far less painful)
(Optional extra: Drugs - yes/no/when?) Gas and air - 4-10cm

Then, because I know everyone's pain thresholds are different, here's a calibrating question (for science!)

Rate your pain 1-10 for a bad leg cramp: 2

 

[Lauraxamy]

1st Labour (induction)
'Early' labour (1-4? cm): Literally just like bad period cramps - 2/3
'Active' labour (4?-8 cm): Manageable - 4/5
'Transition (8-10cm): I had gas and air by this point - before gas and air they were very sharp but the worst part for me was the sudden urge to push so 8ish, with gas and air it was fine so back down to a 4/5

Second labour
'Early' labour (1-4? cm): Laboured at home at this point, didn't even know it was labour, again just like bad period cramps so 2/3
'Active' labour (4?-8 cm): Still at home (got to hospital at 6cm) so probably a 3/4
'Transition (8-10cm): Had gas and air again by the point, with gas and air it was a 5 again, she took it off me when it was time to push but pushing wasn't as bad this time around either.