What does a contraction feel like?

[CrazyCatLady]

I was just wondering if any of you who have been through a birth already could explain what a contraction feels like.

I know it's a pretty silly question and it's not like I'll miss them when they come :laughing:.

In my head I always imagined the pain to be a very strong muscular pain similar to period pain but on a much much stronger level. This afternoon all of a sudden a got a band of excrusiating pins and needles like pain accross my belly which was like no pain I've ever felt before. I couldn't move but even worse is that I couldn't breath as when I breathed air in the pain got worse. I know from now on it's completely normal to feel braxton hicks but it didn't even occurr to me that that's what it could be until DH pointed it out.

So what did your contractions feel like? I'm really hoping whatever this was it wasn't a preview as the can't breath aspect throws my hypnobirthing breathing techniques straight out the window:eek:

[susmamma]

starts a bit like low level period pain.
dull ache across the bottom of your tummy.
then it picks up intensity and becomes more painful.

it has a most painful bit "the peak" and then it tapers off getting less and less painful until the contraction is over.

then you have a period of rest.

then the contraction starts again and pretty quickly hits it's peak and then tapers off again until it dissapears and you have another period of rest.

you start of with big periods of rest between short contractions to having short periods of rest between longer contractions.

some women get backache during their contractions. some feel like vomiting. sometimes it feels like a really bad case of the flu cos your whole body hurts and at the time of transition (where you go to full dilation of ten centimetres) it's the most painful and some women think at that point that they're going to crack under the pain (well at least i did)... and then it's over (the worst of the pain) and then the next stage is the pushing contractions.
frankly i found these much easier to cope with but others will tell you they can be just as intense (which of course they are). but i found it a relief to have a different type of pain to focus on...

and then the baby gets born (and lordy that is a whole new level of experience... my friend explained it as pushing out a bowling ball covered in barbed wire... nice).

and then you have the birth of the placenta... which i didnt find nearly as bad but it does require some more contraction pain to get it out.

so yeah.. all in all it's a great day had by all :D

[shed]

If you have ever had the runs then the pain in your tummy before you go to the toilet feels like a contraction.

To me it felt nothing like period pain. It felt like really bad gas. It would build up and build up and then it would slowly recede. The pain makes you break out into a sweat but all you can do is wait for it to pass.

Awhile ago I had an upset tummy and I can confirm that it felt exactly the same.

In between contractions feels like there was never anything wrong. It feels lovely! :laughing: you will be cracking jokes and smiling and laughing and then <insert Jaws music> you feel another one looming.

[CaitlinRhiana]

starts a bit like low level period pain.
dull ache across the bottom of your tummy.
then it picks up intensity and becomes more painful.

it has a most painful bit "the peak" and then it tapers off getting less and less painful until the contraction is over.

then you have a period of rest.

then the contraction starts again and pretty quickly hits it's peak and then tapers off again until it dissapears and you have another period of rest.

you start of with big periods of rest between short contractions to having short periods of rest between longer contractions.

some women get backache during their contractions. some feel like vomiting. sometimes it feels like a really bad case of the flu cos your whole body hurts and at the time of transition (where you go to full dilation of ten centimetres) it's the most painful and some women think at that point that they're going to crack under the pain (well at least i did)... and then it's over (the worst of the pain) and then the next stage is the pushing contractions.
frankly i found these much easier to cope with but others will tell you they can be just as intense (which of course they are). but i found it a relief to have a different type of pain to focus on...

and then the baby gets born (and lordy that is a whole new level of experience... my friend explained it as pushing out a bowling ball covered in barbed wire... nice).

and then you have the birth of the placenta... which i didnt find nearly as bad but it does require some more contraction pain to get it out.

so yeah.. all in all it's a great day had by all :D



I think that describes to a TEE!!!! I totaly agree... i wish i had someone describe it like that to me when i went into labour with my first... hahahaha Just think it can't be that bad as we keep going back for more!! i also think it's one day out of your life you need to breath and get through the pain... and at the end of it all...... when you see your baby looking up at you... all that pain you went through goes away......

[Scout]

I think susmumma has it right there. I can't believe you can remember it in that much detail.

It's like a pain that you can bear and then it becomes a pain that you can't bear.

[Lissa7]

Best advice my mum ever gave me before the birth of my 1st was concentrate on your breathing and you will be fine!!!!! I thought "yeah right mum" but after the experience she was 100% right. If you can breath through the contractions it will be much easier to cope with the pain!!!!

Susmamma summed it all up beautifully!!!

[susmamma]

I think susmumma has it right there. I can't believe you can remember it in that much detail.



Well at risk of sounding a bit morbid I just had a miscarriage last week and my god it was EXACTLY like going through labour (hence the ability to recall the contraction pain). I was stunned at the familiarity of it all. Am pleased to say though that it was about 23 hours shorter than the original version :D... still you'd be looking for a bright side to the whole affair.;)

[lukaelmo]

I am the biggest wimp in the world and remember contractions as the most painful feeling I have ever ever come across.

I remember the tightening, and the building up of the pain, I guess similar to a period pain, but building up into something so so much stronger and more painful. Painful to the point where you go a bit delirious and don't act like a rational human being :D.

I also had contractions with both boys that were called "coupling" I think the midwife called them. As in another starts before the first one is over, so a neverending wave of pain.

Lol, I am so not the person to talk about this. With Felix, (so second time round) I DEMANDED an epidural as soon as I got to the hospital, kept complaining about it and yelling at everyone, telling them they were being mean to me and crying that it HURT until I got one.

Hee hee, as soon as it took effect, I was as sweet as pie :D.

So I choose to believe that mine hurt more than other women's :laughing:!

[Jbelle]

Honestly? They felt like a chainsaw cutting through my abdomen- no exaggeration either.

I didnt get the build upthough, as soon as they started they were full on, one after the other. I was only in labour for an hour and 25 minutes.

I found sucking the gas very helpful, it didnt take the pain away, just helped manage it IYKWIM.

The pushing stage was such a relief, no more pain just very very intense involunatry pushing!!

[shed]

So I choose to believe that mine hurt more than other women's :laughing:!

I honestly do think that childbirth hurts for some people more than others.

I am a wimp but there was never any stage where I felt like I couldn't breathe through them.

I still whinged the whole time of course :laughing:, but I never felt like it was that bad.

I'm not tuff, I think I just have a very kind uterus :cool:.

[ellie13]

Mine - at the beginning- were just like I have the runs,really badly, but every 10 mins- I didn't catch on that they were contractions for about 6 hours- lol- I thought I had a tummy bug-lol. After that I was put on the drip, cause my waters broke and they wanted faster labour, so they changed a bit, and it is hard to describe, but it hurt mainly between my legs, where the cervix is, not all over my stomach like I thought it would.