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Hi Lucy, I am on the internet today out of pure boredem waiting for a baby to arrive!! I am now 2 days overdue with my second. My first little boy was a day early, caught us by surprise in the middle of the night. I woke with what felt like bad constipation pains so I went to the toilet. This did'nt releive the pain and I realised that the pains were coming at regular intervals... 5 minutes apart! We went to hospital and although painful the contractions were bearable. I was 4cm dilated when we got there at about 3:30am. I was very lucky to be dilating quickly (about 8 hours) as this can take up to 36 or more hours for some women. I used hot water on my back for a few hours in the shower and just breathed through each contraction, which is a gripping, stretching sensation. You can anticipate the contraction as it comes in waves, building up to a peak and fading away. In between each one just clear your mind and relax and then breath through the next one. The most painful ones are right before you need to push and these are quite close together and very intense. Once you are fully dilated then the pain seems to go away but is replaced by an overwhelming urge to push. It is truely an increadible expereince as your body does it all so automatically. Don't be frightened, listen to your body and obey what it does. I was VERY fortunate to have a 9 hour labour which needed no drugs or medical intervention, but had it gone for longer I would have used pain relief because I think you become physically tired and emotionally weary the longer it goes on. I did however have a posterior birth (baby was facing wrong way) which gave me a lower pack ache the whole labour!! I also needed st_tches as his little elbow cam out with his head!! But really I was so numb and happy to get the baby out that I did'nt really realise I'd torn. You seriously feel like a warrior woman after this amazing experience!!!! But here I am waiting for number two and despite my previous expereince I am open to any pain relief or anything to get me and baby safely through the labour this time. Good luck.

With my first two i had the pitocin which makes the contractions alot stronger than they would normally be for the stage that you're at. I took the demerol with both which made it tolerable for me. With my little one that was just born on Sept. 9th the doctor told me that i wasn't in labor and sent me home so i had to deal with the pain. When i finally decided to go back to the hospital my contractions were pretty strong but nothing that i couldn't handle. I was just hoping that when i got there that they would tell me that i was 5-6 cms and keep me in because i hadn't slept in two nights. When i got there i was 8 cms!! i had no idea that i was that far and from my previous experiences 8 cms was supposed to hurt alot more. ( probably due to the pitocin) its different for everyone i guess, but i was really surprised at myself for handling 8 cms that well. Even the nurses didnt think that i was in labor till they checked and then they said that i was really calm. By the end though, i did end up taking a needle....not too sure what was in it. I had three with no epidurals. I wanted to try an epidural the last time just to see what it was like but i didn't have the chance. The contractions with my third were different from my other two children though. They only felt like pressure in my hips and back. I didn't have one that gave me pain in my stomach which is how i remember it with my first two.

i just had my second son thursday, and labor is bad. very worth it though! ppl say,"you forget about the pain once it is over" um....bull! i knew i was in for a world of hurt, but i wanted my little guy so badly! the worst part of labor is when they are in the home stretch in the birth ca___l, and it feels like your hips are going to split wide open! just don't forget that it really only lasts a few minutes no matterhow long it seems! good luck!

I had my daughter completely drug free and I never knew there was such pain. I swear it was EXCRUATING!! completely unbearable but you have to keep in mind it will be over and you will get that precious baby and know that your body was made for this and that years and years ago it was the only way to have babies. The pain is undescribable I can try my best so here goes it feels like the bottom of your spin is being grinded off and that you have to poop a bowling ball and the the pain goes all the way around your stomach. I knew labor was bad but you cant relate to it til you experience it you know? It is as bad as they say it is especially if you were supposed to have an epidural and it did not work if you are planning a natural birth take cla__ses to learn how to breathe and concentrate bc that would help. I went into labor early and it all happened so fast and the anasteologist was late and so for me I was just out of luck. I am glad I got to experience a natural birth though bc my 1st I had an epidural and I would not take back having my 2nd naturally for anything. Its was painful but a great experience.Best of Luck!!

Hi Lucy, im 39wks on weds and this is my 3rd baby. With my first i was induced cause of high blood pressure and used pethadine and entinox (gas and air) plus an episiotomy, my son was 8lb 2oz. With my daughter i went in labour at 3am but managed to take my son nursery in the morning then got to the hospital at noon. I only used the gas this time and my daughter was born 9lb 1oz at 11pm. I had a 3rd degree tear and had to have surgery. Ive been offered a section this time but im having a natural one instead for the simple reason labour pains do end,yeah they hurt but you know its not for long every one that pa__ses is one less. For me they were like an intense dull pain round my back and lower stomach and the gas did take the edge off the pain but i didnt feel out of it like i did with the pethadine. Ive not had straight forward easy births but im here again waiting for my son to arrive. The best advice is to relax through the pain, not to tense up and if possible dont lie on your back as this makes the pushing longer. Take care. san x

Thanks everyone for all the replies i really appreciate the honesty aswell. If anyone else has any experiences of labour and the pain please share. Thankyou

hi, I found pushing didn't hurt it did a little near the end( it burns) but this only last a cou8pl min and it stops when u r not pushing. however the contractions before this were really bad. I was unpropared for it. I highly suches getting lots of sleep starting a couple weeks before u r due. I only had 2 hours when labor started and i hurt right from the beging so i couldn't sleep Like I was supposed 2. anyway good luck. o the first needle the offer u ( from what i found and a coule others said) makes u sleepy and may make it harder to deal with the pain. it didn't slow my labor down lke they said it might and it didn't help the pain it just made it so I slept between contractions. best of luck ( they really r worth it. of course we all know they will be) I love being a mom, i never thought i would but its great. I can't stop kissing him

Lucy, my beautiful son Xander is sitting here with me as we reply to you. I was willing to accept all forms of medication, and had a birth plan clearly stating that. Literature that the hospital had given me had indicated that cramping was a sign that labour was coming soon. I woke up at 2am on April 7, with cramping (it had been 9 months since I had cramps, so what the heck did i know?). Suffice to say, out came the hot water bottle. By 4am I was having the occasional hot bath to help ease the cramps (this has always been my manner of dealing with the pesky creatures). At 8am my mother-in-law called and I asked her to bring me a heating pad, to which she replied, "Is the baby on the way?". I explained to her that I was just having pre-labour cramps, and that the baby would probably be here in a few days. She arrived at noon to drop off the heating pad, and was surprised to see how much control these cramps were taking of my life. After mere minutes I realized that the heating pad was useless, and headed back to my warm bath (by this point, I stopped draining the tub because I was in and out of it so frequently). While in the bathtub, there was NO pain, it was wondrful. Before she left (at 1pm), my mother-in-law asked me if I would like to go to the hospital, and get checked out by a doctor. I thought that that was a strange question coming from a woman who had 3 children. Surely she should have known that I was not yet in labour. Seriously, I was just having freakin' cramps! By 2pm, I was bored of being in the tub so often, and called a close friend of mine. We frequently discussed our pregnancies (her second son was on the way). I told her about my evil cramps, and how annoying thery were, and then she started asking me questions. I understood that she was going, and promptly told her that I was surely not in labour. After helping me breathe through 2 "cramps", she insisted that I at least call the hospital. by 3:30pm, I realized that these cramps were horrible, and that if they got any worse, I would be unwilling to get out ot the tub long enough to make the 10 minute drive to the hospital (by this point, I was only pain free in the tub). I called my mother-in -law (bless her heart - the story gets stressful for her from here on out) and asked her to come and take me to the hospital to get checked out. She was at my place in minutes (she was a speed limit 25 minute drive away), and asked me if I wanted help taking my overnight bag out. By this point, I realized that this woman was insane. Why should I take my overnight bag with me for a check-up? I informed her that it was unnecessary, and off we went. So, on the drive to the hospital, "Ms.I-have-a-few-screws-loose" thought it useful to time my cramps, and give her a list of my famliys' phone numbers "just in case" . I remember being quite annoyed that everyone was b__wing this out of proportion. Didn't they realize that I was the mother-to-be? If I was in labour, I would have been screaming it on the mountaintops, I was surely the one most anticipating my baby's arrival. When I got to the hospital, the ladies at the reception desk skipped me to the front of the line (after offering me a seat, and hearing my explanition that standing was more comfortable - spoken between sharp intakes of breath), and registered me while riding the elevator to the labour a__sesment unit. At this point, I became very afraid for my baby's health. On the elevator ride, the nurses gently told me that this much cramping was not normal. By 4pm the nurse was checking me out, and (after parking) upon walking in to the room my mother-in-law (and I both) heard the nurse happily exclaim, "You're 4cm dilated, and your baby is definately on it's way!" WHAT? This was not labour, this was just cramps (or so i'd believed all day!). My body of course responded to these words with the worst contraction (not cramp!) that I had had yet. I asked the nurse to put me in a tub, and off my mother-in-law went to get her son for me. By 4:30 they returned (amazingly, no speeding tickets were acquired in the making of this story!), and the nurse had aleady started my iv (while I lounged in the tub), and she had me prepared for any drugs that I might wish to have. It was only at this point that the tub was no longer erasing my pain. In fact, it was making the contractions tolerable, but not painless. I had the demerol shot, and that eased (not erased) the pain, but made me very nauseated (which is the neat, tidy, and tame version of what really happened). I had no interest in sitting (painful), but enjoyed marching in place to help tolerate the pain. at 5pm the nurse asked me if I wanted further pain relief yet. I wasn't interested yet, I was still handling the pain ok. She warned me that 2 other women in labour had arrived, and if I said no to the epidural now, I would probably have to wait about an hour for the anastesiologist (sp) to become available again. I decided not to wait, and asked for the epidural. The worst pain that I had ever experienced in my life was holding still (more accurately being held still) in the "c" position to have the needle inserted. The needle was a joke, the pain was caused by 2 back to back contractions while being held still. It was seriously, god-awful painful. It also only lasted 4 minutes, and was followed by wonderful news. NO MORE PAIN, no more contractions, no more feeling from the waist down (oops, they had my dosage a little too high). I set my boyfriend free to go have supper, a stress smoke (or 5), and a break. My father came in to see me then, and was amazed that at 6cm dialated, I was FINE. I was better than fine, I was happy, and joking, and excited. He made a few jokes about how my mother should have had these drugs when I was born, because she was not so pleasant. At 6:30pm my boyfriend had returned (and my dad left), just in time to hear the doctors discussing that I was at 8cm, and decide to break my water. At 8pm the nurses and doctors asked me if I felt like pushing (nope), and suggested that I push whenever I flet the need to. At 8:15pm they started telling me when to push (the od of the epidural prevented me from feeling the sensation of needing to push). Eventually, I realized that I felt kind of like the stomach's reaction to hiccups (a little jiggle type of feeling) everytime they wanted me to push, and I started pushing on my own. I did 2 sets of 2 pushes, and 1 set of 3. That 3rd push was the last push I wanted to make, I was getting tired, and running out of energy. I gave it my all, and informed the nurses/doctors (through strained pushing) that this was it. I KNEW that it was. 8:48pm - They nodded, smiled and encouraged me. I will never forget the look of shock (and slight fear) on their faces when with that giant push, out fell (literally) my son. I was not stretched enough, so I tore (horribly), and he ploped onto the table long before they were expecting it. The tearing is the only thing that I really felt since I had the epidural, and I honestly FELT it. It is now what I think of as the worst pain ever in my life (worse than the epidural insertion pain from earlier). It also was quickly forgotton. The burning, tearing sensation caused me to scream, which was cut off by my son's first cry. The second he opened his mouth, I looked at him, smiled and fell back in a dopey, lovesick fog. Truthfully, the big shot of moprphing they gave me after the tear probably helped ease the pain, and I remember asking the nurse to keep her finger (gloved) on my private area, because it gave me something to focus on instead of the pain. while they gave me local anestetics. Once the anestetics hit the spot, I was back to feeling nothing again (until the next day, which is a story for some other person, some other time). That's my story. The short version is as follows: from 2am until 3:30pm, I thought that nothing was wrong, and there was no pain (with the help of the tub). I found out that I was in labour at 4pm, had increasing discomfort until 5:30pm with the arrival of the epidural. I felt no pain agan until my son's birth at 8:48pm which lasted mere seconds. It was quick, it was reasonably easy (compared to what I had heard), and it was well worth it. I wish that I could go back in time and not have wasted so much time in fear of giving birth. The epidural is the one thing that I reccomned to everyone. What's wrong with no (or very little for some women) pain? I think that If people hadn't told me such horror stories before it happened, I might have realized that I was in labour more than 4h 48min before my son arrived! =) Enjoy, don't be afraid, and know that your body was designed specifically to do this! Congrats on your soon to be new addition!

well i just gave birth to a beautiful little girl on the 16th. my labor was tipical but i thought that i was able to tolerate pain until it came to that day. I had been getting contractions all day on the 15th but they were not painful. they would take my breath away and i would concentrate on my breathing as much as i could. I do recomend that you do try your breathing. As the day went on the contractions started getting stronger and closer. I started going into the shower with very warm water hitting my back. it also helped to squat a little during the contractions. In the afternoon around 3 i was trying my best not to make a big deal out of the pain. But by 5 the contractions were 5 minutes apart and very strong. Some contractions were making me cry, when we got to the hospital i was 4 cm and they started me on the IV and admitted me. I was there a couople hours and i was stuck at 4 they started me on the petocin and the contractions became unberable, that thing made me hurt so bad, and i dicided to ask for drugs in my IV. those drugs made me so sleepy but it didn't take the pain away. The midwife broke my water and everything picked up, when i woke up from my nap i was in real pain, i was demanding the epiderol. when i finally got it i was so happy, i was enjoying the whole experience up to the point where i had to push, i couldn't feel the bottom half of my body but i did feel the pressure . it feels like you have to poop. it took me a while to get the hang of how to push the baby out but at the end i got it and was able to push the baby out, it took me a little more than 2 hours, ( its not like they show it on TV) but when the baby is out it's the most enjoyable feeling ever. you forget the pain and the worries its all about the little person after that. good luck and dont worry this is what our bodies are made for.

hey lucy in all honesty i have nightmares about the pain of childbirth. I felt very traumitised after. The pain i would say is hard to describe i personally cant put it into words.