melbgal1 wrote: I wish I passed out !

Mary comments:
It is weird isn't it - quite honestly, the pain of childbirth was the
most intense pain I've ever been in in my life (and I had my last baby
at 41, so I've had lots of opportunities to get sick and hurt myself
in creative ways). Its the standard by which all pain is rated by me,
and nothing I've ever experienced has even come close - and I did just
fine 2 out of 3 times with no pain drugs and would do it again that
way if I were young enough to have more kids - not because I'm a
martyr, but because it was quite managable, and my experience with the
side effects of the pain meds first time was less than pleasant
(killed the pain, but caused me to have a section due to sewering
blood pressure).

Having said that the pain was pretty intense, it WAS different than
regular old garden variety pain, since the pain of childbirth didn't
mean I was hurt, sick, or in any kind of trouble. It was like a fire
that doesn't burn you. Any OTHER time you have pain like that, you'd
be in serious doo-doo, and you'd be terrified you were going to die,
that it would never end. It would also have no real purpose other than
tell you that you were in serious trouble (okay, okay, I KNOW my leg
is broken, pain receptors you can SHUT up now!!). You'd have no idea
when it would end, you'd be scared about the cause. Childbirth is
intense, but you know what it is, you know it doesn't mean anything
bad, its time limited, it ends the minute baby is out, and you get a
prize at the end, so it has purpose (i.e. not just random suffering to
be endured for no particular benefit or reason).

It actually would be pretty wierd if women DID pass out from
childbirth pain. Sheesh that would be interesting - everyone would be
endlessly conking out. The minute you went into labour, you'd have to
lie down to make sure you didn't fall down in a faint!