Pain

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?

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?

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


--
Shannon

Please remove -NO SPAM from email address to email me personally.

"Shannon" wrote in message
news:2004051112485411272%shannonNOSPAM@sdf1net...
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?


I had one unmedicated birth and the pain was never even close to unbearable.
That's because the pain was incredibly intense at the peak of a contraction
towards the end of dilation, but peaks pass in a matter of seconds, and
between contractions, there's no pain. It's not pain just driving at you
the whole labor. It goes away in between ctx. If you have having ctx back
to back, it's probably almost over anyway. I never had those.

I think unbearable means you are not listening to your body and surrendering
to the process, or you have an extremely rough labor like back labor for
hours and hours, that you can't seem to remedy. This can happen even in
prepared people I would think if they have a precipitous labor or a baby
stubbornly stuck in a bad position. Most people don't have this.

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?

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


No.

If you have having ctx back
to back, it's probably almost over anyway. I never had those.

I was having contractions with no break inbetween and i was only at 5cm

"Leanne" wrote in message
...
If you have having ctx back
to back, it's probably almost over anyway. I never had those.

I was having contractions with no break inbetween and i was only at 5cm



How much longer did you have to go?

How much longer did you have to go?

I cant quite remember, it was around 5 to 6 hours

On Wed, 12 May 2004 10:35:38 +0930, "Leanne"
wrote:

If you have having ctx back
to back, it's probably almost over anyway. I never had those.

I was having contractions with no break inbetween and i was only at 5cm

Same here (I was at 4-5 cm). I had that for 9 hours. Actually,
sometimes I had a break of maybe one-two minutes and I fell asleep
during those periods (was so asleep I was snoring, according to DH!).

Katie

My advice is that you should go as long as you can without any medication
and then if you can not handle it anymore then go straight to an epidural.
I did not really find it all that painful more unnerving and it bothered me
that I could not pinpoint the discomfort. Also it bugged me to be moved
arround but the nurses kept wanting to reposition me and that is when I
finaly got an epidural I was fine when left alone in one spot. Also make
sure you have plenty of suport on hand. you may not want anyone in the room
with you but if you dont ask anyone to be there then if your husband does
not end up suporting you as much as you need then you will probably want an
epidural sooner. I wanted someone to hover over me and tell me it was ok
but I did not really get that and got an epidural instead... I was honnestly
planning my next child while I was in labor if that tells you anything It
did not feel like being stabbed or even like when I had what they thought
was a gall bladder attack. It was not even as bad as some twisted ankles I
have had... I guess the best way to describe it is that it is a "differant"
pain. It does not compair to any other pain I have had.

Tori

--
Bonnie 3/20/02
Anna or Xavier due 10/17/04
"Shannon" wrote in message
news:2004051112485411272%shannonNOSPAM@sdf1net...
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?

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?

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


--
Shannon

Please remove -NO SPAM from email address to email me personally.

Tori M. wrote:

My advice is that you should go as long as you can without any medication
and then if you can not handle it anymore then go straight to an epidural.
I did not really find it all that painful more unnerving and it bothered me
that I could not pinpoint the discomfort. Also it bugged me to be moved
arround but the nurses kept wanting to reposition me and that is when I
finaly got an epidural I was fine when left alone in one spot. Also make
sure you have plenty of suport on hand. you may not want anyone in the room
with you but if you dont ask anyone to be there then if your husband does
not end up suporting you as much as you need then you will probably want an
epidural sooner. I wanted someone to hover over me and tell me it was ok
but I did not really get that and got an epidural instead... I was honnestly
planning my next child while I was in labor if that tells you anything It
did not feel like being stabbed or even like when I had what they thought
was a gall bladder attack. It was not even as bad as some twisted ankles I
have had... I guess the best way to describe it is that it is a "differant"
pain. It does not compair to any other pain I have had.

You've identified two huge factors that affect
the experience of labor pain--interference with the
mother's choice of position and movement, and lack of
support. That's part of why it's uncommon to find
unmedicated hospital births and uncommon to find homebirthers
who wish they'd had drugs. They mess with you a lot
in the hospital, and at home you're the boss. (You can
limit the amount of messing they do in the hospital, but
even the least they'll do is almost always a lot more
than you'd have to deal with at home.)

Best wishes,
Ericka

Shannon wrote in message
news:2004051112485411272%shannonNOSPAM@sdf1net...
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?

It's not an exact point. It gradually becomes too much. (In my experience)
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?
Mother. #1 was so relaxed during labour-she slept through most of it.

What I found was for #1 I had contractions starting at 1am. Mild, like
period pain, lasting about 60seconds 5 minutes apart. Too strong to sleep
through-and I was excited so didn't really try to sleep. About 12 hours
later the contractions got more painful. I went into hospital. After about
15 hours they checked me and said "well done you're 6cm dialated". By 22
hours later I had contractions coming every 2 minutes and lasting about 60
seconds still. Bear in mind that I had not slept for 22hrs either. They
checked me again and said "you're doing really well-8cm" That was the point
I called for an epidural (got it 2hrs later! Why do they make you sign
consent forms in the middle of labour? I'd have signed ANYTHING that they'd
said would take away the pain!) If they'd said 9cm I think I'd have coped
but it had taken 7hrs for 2cm and the thought of another 7hrs for the last
2cm!!! I needed the rest, and couldn't relax at all. Labour was 30 hours in
total.
#2 I never got to the point of feeling overwelmed by the pain.
Debbie


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


--
Shannon

Please remove -NO SPAM from email address to email me personally.

Unbearable is a relative term, you know? If you don't die about it and you are
here to tell the tale, then I guess you were able to bear it!

For me, as long as I was able to be in control of my labors I did not find the
pain unbearable. The only time I had an epidural for *labor* was when I was
confined to bed on my left side hooked up to everything under the sun,
including pitocin, when I had preeclampsia.

Leslie