Re: BTDT Moms: Your experience with contractions. Easy, tolerable or unberable?

Started out easy & then went to tolerable both times.

I make the analogy that contractions are like waves...starting easy, headed toward almost unbearable and then back down again. If your DH watches the monitor, he can tell you that your going to start coming down. All I needed to do is breath out during the peak time. It's much easier to do if you know you're coming down.

As you get closer to labor, they come faster & faster & again, but again, your only job during labor is to try to relax as much as possible during those peaks.

Re: BTDT Moms: Your experience with contractions. Easy, tolerable or unberable?

unbearable. I never had anything mild that could've been mistaken for period cramps

Re: BTDT Moms: Your experience with contractions. Easy, tolerable or unberable?

I was induced, and they started out mildish, stronger than period cramps, but bearable. If I had a short labor, I probably could have dealt with it without medication, but since it ran 22 hours, I did wind up getting an epidural. I figured I needed to rest a little or I would never be able to push.

Re: BTDT Moms: Your experience with contractions. Easy, tolerable or unberable?

With DS #1 I did not even know I was in labor. I also had just mild pms type cramping. With DS #2 I felt them. On a scale of 1 - 10 they began at about a 4, and got as bad as about a 6 or 7. I also had back labor with #2.

Re: BTDT Moms: Your experience with contractions. Easy, tolerable or unberable?

Message edited 4/24/2009 5:11:23 PM.

Re: BTDT Moms: Your experience with contractions. Easy, tolerable or unberable?

I had an incredible labor and delivery...I progressed relatively quickly and was able to deliver sans epidural/drugs (which was what I had hoped). Once I hit 7cm (which is considered hard labor) I was only comfortable sitting on the toilet (mostly b/c the pressure made me feel like I "had to go" the entire time). Prior to that, I was able to "rock out" (stand and sway side to side) the contractions and when asked, I gave them a "3" on a scale of 1-10 for pain. Going from 7-10cm, there was no noticeable difference in level of pain...and once I was able to push, the pain was not really noticeable.

The thing is, the level of pain is the same for everyone...it's the individual reaction to pain that's different. I've always had a high tolerance for pain (especially as a migraine sufferer) so my experience in l&d was on par with that.

Re: BTDT Moms: Your experience with contractions. Easy, tolerable or unberable?

Um, I have to say, they put me on Pitocin so the contractions were non stop and at only 1 cm dilated it was REALLY PAINFUL. Like - I would never consider not getting an epidural. Maybe it was the pitocin that made it more painful, but HOLY HELL they hurt.

Luckily the nurses helped me breathe through them and that did help

Re: BTDT Moms: Your experience with contractions. Easy, tolerable or unberable?

unbearable. absolutely unbearable.

Re: BTDT Moms: Your experience with contractions. Easy, tolerable or unberable?

Early stages- totally bearable
Worst ones- induced by pictocin

Re: BTDT Moms: Your experience with contractions. Easy, tolerable or unberable?

My water broke at 4:30am and within 2 hours my contractions were out of control painful!! It was period cramps times a million!!

Re: BTDT Moms: Your experience with contractions. Easy, tolerable or unberable?

I was contracting all day and didn't know it until later that night when I went to the hospital with contractions that were painful but I was in full on active labor at that point and had her two hours later