What part hurt the most

I'm sure you've received a large variety of answers but I'll add mine to the ring!

For me the most painful part was having back labour after 7cm, stagnating for 12 hours after that and transition. The pain was so unbearable I felt like I wasn't in my body. BUT....the silver lining was pushing him out, because my contractions were so painful that pushing and delivering him was a breeeeze! I remember the delivery doctor saying, "This is really going to burn" as the baby was crowning and thinking, "Nope! Not at all. This feels fine compared to contractions":haha: I would assume if your contractions were manageable from start to finish that the whole "ring of fire" and delivering the head would feel worse...I think!
 
In order I think contractions were the worst, very very intense (I also had back labour) And then the ring of fire, ouch. And then the pressure of the baby coming out (not painful but an uncomfortable horrible feeling because you can't control it when your body starts pushing)
 
well I would say it was between the 2 epidurals placed that both failed and the back labor....oh yes cant forget the ring of fire OMG! no more epidurals for me ever again!
 
For me it was 2 hours of not being "allowed" to push, no contest. I had had back labour and sterile water injections (which are no walk in the park either let me tell you. Ouch they sting!) as I wasn't coping well but after I got the urge to push the MW checked and I was only 6cm and she told me to hold off pushing. I was checked a couple more times and finally after two excruciating hours there was just a lip of cervix left she pushed out of the way. I then pushed for another 2 1/2 hours which was exhausting but sweet relief after two hours of fighting my body... Didnt notice the rjng of fire. Can't help but think if I hadn't listened to the midwife and just done what my body was telling me to do I wouldn't have pushed for nearly so long as I wouldn't have been so exhausted by then...

Second birth was a breeze - contractions only got painful in transition but didn't think I was even in real labour prior) and she was born 20 mins later. Felt the ring of fire but it wasn't bad. But the afterpains were awful. Way way worse than any part of the labour.
 
I can't imagine being told not to push, it's such a normal and natural urge almost involuntary, well tbh in my case I would say it was totally involuntary, there seems something so wrong having someone down there telling you what to do, I do wonder what would have happened if she hadn't of instructed you.
 
The reading I did after the fact would suggest nothing - other than pushing a baby out :haha: there's a long held belief though that if a cervix isn't fully dilated pushing can cause it to swell (brain fart there's another word I'm looking for but it's not coming to me) and cause damage. But I've yet to read any cases where that actually happened. And its quite common for a woman to "get pushy" at 6cm and have a baby a few minutes later. I wish I'd known better but at least it didn't result in a traumatic outcome or anything and now I know better and witrhmy second, as I will for future births, will absolutely not be letting anyone examine me when I get the urge to push and just go with it.

Incidentally with my second I was admitted at 4cm and an hour and 10 minutes later started feeling a bit of pressure which I soon realized was a bit pushy feeling and 15 minutes after that she was born (less than 10 minutes of actively pushing though as I was trying to hold off another hour and a half to shift change :rofl: as the consultant on didn't do breech births, but when the registrar came in and assured me he wasn't going to be in time to have a say anyway and she was very experienced that's when I let myself push)
 
But yeah I do feel like my first birth could have been a good 2-4 hours shorter than it was (and it was only 6 1/2 hours anyway :haha: if she hasn't told me not to push.
 
Yeah I think hands off unless obvious issues are occurring is best, with my second I had to do all by myself and just went with my body he was born swiftly, safely and no tears, I think birth is too heavily managed for the majority due to the rare risks in a minority which is in itself causing more problems.
 
I'd punch someone who told me not to push, lol. I did not push through a couple of contractions after LO's head was born because she had the cord round her neck and the MW was trying to sort it. That was okay but would not have kept it up for 2 hrs.
 
I had a home water birth, and by far the most painful part was when my midwife compressed and palpated my uterus after birth. I hemorrhaged, so it was helpful in stopping the bleeding, but it was soooo painful. The contractions and pushing I managed just fine.
 
The contractions, definitely! But I had an epidural after that, so I don't know how painful the rest would have been.
 
I had epidural after 10 hours, so didn't actually feel pain when pushing him out but I had 10 hours of contractions starting at 4 mins apart 30 secs duration and going to 3 mins apart 1 min duration! That were painful but it was the fact that there was no let up or break really for such a long time that was the hardest thing! Thinking back though I got out of the pool during transition (7cm) and remember begging for pain relief as the contractions were sooo bad!

Lo was in an awkward position and I ended up having a ventouse so I am glad I got the epidural!!
 
Transition contractions! I was flat on my back with a posterior baby and a failed epidural. I had my epidural re done for pushing so I just felt pressure and a stinging when I tore.
 
Transition contractions for me too, although MW didn't believe I was in transition already as it had only been an hour since they had broken my waters and labour hadn't even started. Thankfully my yelling and saying I can't do this and demanding an epidural repeatedly made her rethink and 10 mins later I was fully dilated and pushing! But they were definately intense and awful, they didn't seem to have any slow build up so I didn't cope well with them!! The pushing felt like a relief for me if not exhausting. The ring of fire got overtaken by the pain of the episiotomy and forceps for me so the stinging didn't seem as bad in comparison.
The stitches did hurt a hell of a lot afterwards too but definately the transition contractions without a doubt. I was that annoying woman who scares the life out of others in early labour by screaming so loud lol! It was back to back labour too.
 
Def contractions. Ring of fire does super suck, and I have to admit I never got the "relief" some women have from pushing, but the ring of fire was so fast and then over with. Plus two out of three of my births were waterbirths, so that could have added relief to the ring of fire...actually i know it did bc it def hurt more with my "land" birth. The contractions were def the worst for me just bc they are so frequent.
 
DD was back to back but came out facing the right way. She was turned in the birth canal as I was pushing. The most painful bit was getting her shoulders past my coccyx, where she was side on at that point, it felt like my coccyx was shattering into a million pieces over and over again. Once we got past that it was a breeze. No pain relief here either.

I had the exact same thing happen to me, it was utterly terrifying and traumatic, and nobody was able to tell me until afterwards why it hurt so much. I remember thinking " i thought pushing was supposed to be the easy bit" I pushed for three hours before episiotomy and ventouse delivery, and she came out the 'wrong' way up. I really hope this one isn' back to back, when the time comes!
 
1st contractions - epidural
2nd contractions - gas and air
3rd pushing she got stuck - gas and air
4th only 1hour labor not 2 bad - nothing
5th back to back her head turning at 10 cm and then retained placenta - gas and air
6th contractions - gas and air
currently ttc number 7 ;)
 
I had an epidural at 6-7 cm but then I was 10cm around an hour later so maybe I was transitioning faster than expected which is why it was suddenly more than I could handle.

although I had epidural the pushing was very painful and I felt so much relief when my baby's head was out.

as for the pushing, yes the body does it by itself but I for some reason didn't want to push. at first I realized that this was pushing but then I dunno what happened and I didn't understand anymore. I think I was afraid of pooping lol.

edit: am I the only one who got emotional revisiting the labor? I loved it regardless of everything and hope my next labor is just as straightforward.
 

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