Do not read if pregnant: mums describing what labour is like is CRAZY
Warning: do not read ahead if you're expecting in the near future.
Mumsnet user Mamabear1475, recently asked the forum to describe the pain of labour.
"[I] think it's impossible to explain how painful labour is?" she wrote. "[Sister-in-law] is trying for a baby. She asked how painful it is. I told her there is no way to describe it. She said it must feel like something. I can't think of anything that explains the feeling."
We don't even know where to begin!
Luckily, mums of the Internet are to the rescue. Some began by likening the pain of labour to periods, gall stones, or even trapped gas.
"Tell her it feels like a really bad period but with a baby coming out instead of a clot lol"
"It's like really, really bad trapped wind. I suffer with trapped wind and I have had five children. I think the pain is very similar. I have been on my knees with trapped wind. So times that pain a few times and I think you get close. That only helps explain it if you get horrendous trapped wind pain though."
"A mixture of horrendously bad period pain, backache and trapped wind all at once."
Some were sightly more dramatic, making it sound like a horror film.
"Apparently doctors say it’s equivalent to the pain of an amputation (without an anaesthetic of course). So best not tell her that. If anyone ask me I just say 'take the drugs'."
"When I was asked what it felt like the only thing close enough was being cut in half with an axe that was on fire…. or simply that my body was going to rip in half. but that still doesn't do justice to the pain. Also I mooed like a cow."
Other mums found the funny side of it all.
"I went a bit mad during my labour (12 hours, got stuck, emergency section so ended up with worst of both worlds) and locked myself in the ensuite type loo. I was so angry with DH and midwife who were both pissing me off. Them conversing and trying to persuade me to unlock the door was quite funny."
"Like someone sticking an industrial powered hoover up your arse, and switching it on and off at increasingly close intervals."
But as several mums point out, labour is a different experience for each woman- and even for each child. They even remind the original poster that her sister-in-law is looking for reassurance, not to be scared out of it.
"It might also be worth reminding her that contractions come and go. And build up in strength and length and frequency. And that if it becomes too much there are some pretty decent methods of pain relief. I’ve seen hundreds of women in labour and they all had a different experience so whilst almost all would say, yes, contractions are painful, they would give many descriptions of that pain. She's asking you in good faith but she’s looking for reassurance."
"I think it varies so much that all anyone can do is talk about their own experience. I've had period pains worse than my labour with child 1. With child 2, it was very painful, but my body made some sort of fabulous hormonal thing that put me in a state of total bliss – it was what I imagine heroin feels like. I was desperate to get pregnant again for a year after the birth, not to have another baby, but just to experience that high again."
The medicine and the medical staff are always there to help any pain.
"No one would’ve invented the epidural if it was like being licked by kittens."
"My first was induced. Hurt like, well, a bad childbirth, but the endorphins get you through it. #2 came by himself, nowhere near as painful as the waves of pain build up rhythmically. And more endorphins.
I tried to take the drugs, but could only get gas and air, I love the stuff. The main thing is, it isn't a marathon. You absolutely cannot quit (although if you struggle they will 'assist')."
What do you think mums? Pretty accurate?