Which is more painful - the contractions, or the 'exiting' of the baby?!

[birth guru]

A few things can help with both. First, stand up, walk around, get on your hands and knees, slow dance with your partner, and get in the bath or shower but don't lie down in a bed during contractions-it hurts 20 times worse if you lie down.
For pushing the baby out, ask your doctor or midwife to use warm and cold compresses and use oil or KY jelly to help give you a perineal massage while pushing. Also squat, stand, or get on your hands and knees while pushing. It is more effective than on your back. Take a good childbirth class and possibly hire a doula.

 

[Eleanor ace]

For me pushing was definitely the worst part.

 

[goddess25]

I would say the contractions are worse because you don't really know when they are going to end. I found the ring of fire exciting because I knew it was almost done.

 

[summer rain]

For me it's the contractions up to the transition stage, pushing isn't bad for me and crowning doesn't hurt me at all xx

 

[aliss]

Ring of fire was awesome for me, suh relief! I pushed 1.5 hours (10.5 hours contractions) and had a 1st degree tear

 

[MrsAmk]

Ok what exactly is this "ring of fire"?? Sounds horrible

 

[aliss]

Ok what exactly is this "ring of fire"?? Sounds horrible

It's not horrible don't worry! It's when the baby crowns & the head is coming out. Some women say it is the most painful part, others say the most relieving. I find a lot of women who say it is the most painful are those who have had epidurals and then can feel it unlike the contractions previously. IMO it was a relief!

 

[shelx]

I would have said contractions because they are sooo sore and often and it is hell
but on the other hand the baby coming out i actually squelled and didnt with contractions

 

[Mummy2B21]

Contractions were 10x worse.

 

[Bats11]

Oh boy the contractions are a killer!!

Last baby was epidural, I was in heaven!

 

[Seity]

Contractions!

 

[Dahlia2007]

Wow i can finally answer this bc I had a drug free birth (I would look this thread while still pregnant).

For me, the contractions were definitely worse. Raw pain it was.

Pushing was still painful, but it had a different feel to it. When the baby was exiting, pushing her past the pubic bone was the most stretching feeling. Then the ring of fire, was like a stinging, where you just wanna keep pushing, but they have you wait and stretch your skin so you don't tear. That was almost torture, but quick.

Natural is the way to go though, I felt great after, compared to how I felt with my first when I had an epidural.

 

[Butterfly89]

It seems to be individual from reading this whole discussion!

I've also worried about that. Every doctor I've had for physicals (which is unfortunately a lot because of stupid endometroisis, too many people have seen my undercarriage grr ROFL) always seems to have to comment that I am small. It got to the point where I just say "Thank you". xD But it makes me self conscious. I had a bad time of it the first 10 times I DTD too... you're so not alone. TMI but the first few times were like a CSI crime scene. So not sexy. =( I still want a redo where there are nice gauzy curtains and candles and red rose petals and lingerie and no crazy pain.

Anyway. Because of that, I've been worried like wth will happen during birth if THAT was bad. But I finally opened up that worry to my mom (so awkward but worth it) and she said DON'T WORRY. She was the same way and said its not even comparable to birth. And she said having her first baby (which was me) didn't change anything down there in terms of tightness or bladder control so she was kind of glad to be small after, lol. Though she said pregnancy itself did change the "positioning" of things in a good way, she said sex was actually more enjoyable and more comfortable after having babies, less things being jostled around in there and more sensation, lol. (I would guess she means cervix gets higher?? Not sure lol.. didn't ask details...)

I used to worry that too small = more stretching and more... ruination of the pelvic floor. But apparently its the opposite! Not to say that regular sized ladies are doomed to looseness either but I think its more it doesn't matter than one way is better than the other. As long as you do your kegels and have strong muscles (not rigid, because that can be bad too), then your body can stretch more than you know. It's a better exit than entrance, I guess. Heehee.

... I always type more than I mean too.

 

[AimeeM]

For me contractions until I had my third, wow did he hurt on the way out. I thought something was wrong. He was born face and body up. Ouch.

The shoulders can get stuck, my second did. This is more position of baby and the size of the pelvis. If your concerned about this then your midwife would be good to discuss it with.

 

[span]

For me it was the contractions as they were very intense and it's not a pain you can avoid (unles you have an epidural I guess). The ring of fire was very unomfortable and I think the worry affected how good my pushing was as I do think I held back a bit. At least you know the ring of fire is very short lived whereas, at the time, I thought my contractions would go on for hours (but the mega painful ones, that had me considering an epidural, only lasted about half an hour).

 

[Xlaura_BellaX]

100% contractions, i wouldn't even call the baby exiting painful......just really powerful experience if that makes sense

 

[Vanillabean01]

I would definitely say pushing baby out!!! I had three days of contractions and other than my water having to be broken (I arrived at the hospital 9cm and waters still intact) I had no other interventions. The 'ring of fire' certainly was the worst and the best part... It hurt badly but at the same time, it was relief!!!

Either way, for me, it was all manageable!! Even having labored for 3 days.

 

[Karkey]

I found the contractions worse, altough wen the babys head is being delivered u get the "Ring of Fire", only advice i can give u there though is to push through it, the longer u hold off the longer it lasts.

 

[sequeena]

Mmm.... to me it was the crowning of his head. I spent several days in labour and 57 minutes pushing and those 57 minutes were awful. The contractions were terrible too (back to back) but that part went by quite quickly.

 

[MummyToAmberx]

Contractions no competition!

When they get to point is no gaps and go on for hour (or more)

Baby coming out is very much seconds compared to all that pain.