"Shannon" wrote
I was reading the very long thread regarding unassisted childbirth and
pain and it got me thinking....

When people say that the pain becomes unbearable, what do they mean
exactly? At what point do you know the pain is unbearable?

For me - the unbearable pain was the back pain associated with back
labor/posterior babies. Not unbearable to the point of passing out, or
anything like that. It felt like someone was ripping my spine in two - I
remember in one of my birth stories saying that I was trying to escape from
it or something similar. It gets better after birth. I have back troubles
anyway, though, so my experience might be not the norm.


Does the pain become unbearable for the mother (ie. you pass out)?
Or does it become unbearable for the baby (ie. they become stressed)?
Or both?

You know, I've not really thought about labor being so painful for the baby
that they would get stressed. Is that part of the reasoning behind
c-sections for preemies, I wonder? I remember reading somthing about that a
year or so ago. I would guess that for a term healthy child, it wouldn't be
that bad.


Has anyone experienced a birth that was unmedicated and you went past
the point where you could have an epidural and it became unbearable?

I haven't - well, actually I might have.. My 2nd birth was extremely painful
because of the back and I did have a shot of something or other at the
hospital. If that hadn't worked, I might have gone to something stronger
(like a c-section.. she was in distress but no-one but dh and I knew until
she was born) With my #5 I thought very seriously about going to the
hospital for medication. Seriously enough that between contractions, dh was
getting the little people dressed and had the phone ready to call 911 if
need be. Both of those times - and with my other births as well - just after
the point where I couldn't take it anymore, I started pushing and had a baby
within minutes.

--
Shannon

Just my experience.. Personally I found dental surgery/recovery and
recurrent kidney infections to be much more painful overall than any of my
labors. The labor was done sooner and I got a great reward from dealing with
itg

Stephanie
mom to 7 - 4 hospital, 3 unassisted
17, 15, 12, 8, 6, 3, and 11 months (1 on Sunday)