Women who have had natural birth?

Question

How did you deal with the pain? Both my mom and sister had epidurals with their first birth only to find out that the baby was coming out before it even had time to take effect! This makes me think that I could go natural, but I am so afraid of the pain!

What was your experience with natural birth?

Answer 1

it is the most agonizing pain i have or will ever feel.the only thing that really got me threw it is that i did not have a choice!i wanted nothing more than for the pain to go away..but for some reason squeezing my husbands hand helped i don't know if it was the comfort or what but i felt like i could not get through a contraction with out his hand..you can try humming..i can not remember what it does but it does help a little the same reason it helps when you have a headache..but don't worry you will get threw it either way and on the end it is so rewarding!i personally do not know if it was the fact that i was concentrating or what but the contractions seemed to hurt more that pushing her out.

good luck and whatever you chose i am sure you will be fine

Answer 2

I had my son totally natural. no painkiller, normal vaginal birth.  I only had labour about 3 hours, but I never thought the pain was that bad.  At first it was more of a discomfort and when it got worse I laid down, kept up conversation, or at least listened as much as I could and let my husband rub my back.  Just don't concentrate too much on the pain and think more about what will happen when the pain is all gone. You will have your new baby.

Answer 3

I had an epidural both times.  The first time I felt absolutely nothing, even before I had the epidural.  The second time the epidural didn't take effect in time.  That was the most painful experience I have had.  You do forget the actual pain after you have the baby but it's not really worth trying to see if you can do it.  You make the choice not to have the epidural and half way through you can't change your mind.  It's too late.  Think about it really hard before you decide one way or the other.

Answer 4

With my first, I was in full-on labour for about 7 hours.  An hour before I had my son, the midwives told me I was still only 6cm dilated and I'd probably be a few more hours, and I just rolled my eyes and asked for drugs, so I had a shot of pethidine (I didn't want an epidural).  I wish I hadn't, because it turns out I dilate those last 4cm very quickly, and I was pushing before I knew it.

Backrubs and tummy rubs with oil helped me that time.

With the second one, my labour was all over the place, but I didn't take anything.  I just focused very hard on my breathing and trying to relax my muscles.  However, I couldn't stand the back rubs because it was a back labour, so I just stuck it out.  I sat in a warm shower for most of my labour, the warm water is awesome!

In the end, they gave me a small dose of pethidine, but that was because my daughter was still facing the wrong way and peth relaxes the muscles enough for the baby to turn.  Within 10 minutes I had her.  But again, with this one, I dilated very quickly.

Talk to your mum and sister.  Usually, a woman's labour is like her mum's.  It is possible, if they were allowed to have an epidural so close to having the baby, they may also both have dilated very quickly at the end.  If this is the case, your labour may be very similar.  You will have a tendency, when they tell you that you are only 6cm dilated, to think OH NO, I CAN"T TAKE THIS ANY MORE, but it may not be as far away as you, and the medical staff, think.

Good luck!

Answer 5

I had an epidural with my first and it was so easy. I didn't have time for an epidural with my second and was totally unprepared for how much it would hurt. The pain is indescribable, there is nothing on earth it can be compared to. The third time I was definitely going for the epidural but again I didn't have time. Although it hurt I was more prepared for it so it wasn't as bad as the time before.

I'm now expecting #4 which obviously makes you think that no matter how much it hurts, it's worth it in the end.

Answer 6

My wife had our 1st child with no painkiller.  Our 2nd child with a little pain killer.  And our 3rd with full painkiller.

Take that for what it's worth.

Answer 7

Im pregnant too im due Jan 6, I had an epidural with my first but scared I might not make it with mine. I do know what pains I had did not feel good at all it hurt really bad, but we layed down done what we did and no matter how bad it hurts we got to take the pain.

Answer 8

I had an epidural and it was fantastic.  I did have a 16 hour labour so there was plenty of time to get the epidural in.  It did wear off a couple of times and the doctor had to up the dose but by the time my baby's head was coming out the epidural was in full effect again and I felt nothing at all.....only slight pressure.

Answer 9

With my son, I had 2 or 3 low doses (can't remember exactly) of Stadol and that was it. It definately wasn't as bad as I had worked myself to thinking it would be. It was very very painful, though! My labor was 12 hours, but it didn't seem that long at all. The most awful part was that I was pushing for 2 hours and he just would not come out! I ended up having an episiotomy, and they gave me a local that numbed me and after that, he was born in a couple minutes. I am 28 weeks with #2 and I am planning a water birth, so no drugs at all for me. Let's see how far I can make it, lol.

Answer 10

I have 3 kids.   i had my first child vaginal and without the epidural and i will tell you it was bad and i just think god that i didnt have a very long hard labor.  i only hurt bad for about 2 hours then got to push and luckily he was just as ready to come out as i was for him to come out.  i didnt have to push but about 10 min.  but everyone is different and my son was almost 10 pounds and  my doc said it was probably a good thing i didnt get the epiderual bcuz that would have hindered my pushing and could have caused real problems due to his size.  my other 2 were csections.  just remember if you decide to go without that no matter how bad the pain, it aint gonna last forever, it will finally come to an end and be completely worth it.!!!  good  luck

Answer 11

I wanted an epidural soooo bad but my contractions were hitting 190 on the monitor and to me that was the painful part. By the time my daughter was ready to come on out they had cut the epi off so I pushed naturally.  It wasnt that bad really. But you have to keep in mind everyone is different.  It was a burning feeling. To me not having the epidural work gave me the drive to push harder to get her out.  I was in labor for 28 hours total and the epi worked for 3 hours then i was back to natrual.  

Answer 12

I had no pain relief at all and had a natural birth with my daughter and I'll be doing it again with this baby.

I don't like the idea of not being able to feel my lower half with the epidural.

There's just as many people I've spoken to that say they'll never have an epidural again as there is people who say it was the best thing ever.

I'd say just see what happens and see how you go. That's what I did and realised I was strong enough to have a natural birth.

The other thing is, you can never tell what's going to happen when labour starts because everyone's is different. I mean obviously the basics are the same.

I just kept my breathing as normal as I could, stayed as calm as possible and dealt with the contractions as they came.

I vomited after every contraction too lol which wasn't real nice.

I also think, no wonder women are so tired in the end because they (not everyone) puts all their energy into screaming and yelling and punching their partner and carrying on like an idiot to prove how much it hurts (coz it does, believe me) but I think you use so much energy on doing that that by the time you have to push, you're exhausted, so I used my energy to stay calm.