I started with spaced out, irregular contractions in my lower abdomen. They got progressively closer together and more painful. I didn’t lose my mucus plug or have bloody show until I was in active labor and my water never broke. I went to the hospital when my contractions were less than 5 minutes apart and they were too painful to talk through or walk through. I should have gone sooner though! I didn’t have any cramping that I noticed before hand just that first slightly painful contraction that was very obviously different than a braxton hicks because it was very low down and felt different in general.
I had 2 c-sections, then a VBAC at home (natural birth, no pain meds) 2 years ago. I was in labor for 12 hours, pushed for an hour. Contractions started midday, finally got regular around midnight, she was born at 1 PM. My water didn’t break until about 8 cm though.
I spent most of my labor on a yoga ball, grasping at the back of my couch and making a lot of noise… Lol… Between contractions, I would rest my head on the back of the couch. I started wanting to push way too early (like 7 cm). I tried getting in the water and it only made me want to push more. Had to spend 2 hours breathing through the pain and fighting the urge to push with every contraction until I was finally fully dilated and able to push.
I vowed to never have another baby and put myself through that again–the fighting the urge to push, not the pain… We’re due again in December and we’re planning another home birth, so you see how long that lasted…lol…
Our little girl was 9lbs, 3 oz and I had no tearing, just “road rash” as they call it thanks to the perineum stretches my midwife and her assistant did throughout the pushing phase.
The pain is so quickly forgotten. Just stay ahead of the contractions - meaning be ready with your breathing or moaning or whatever you’re going to do BEFORE the next one hits. It hurts so much worse if you’re not.
The less interventions you have (pain meds, being induced), the less complications you and baby are likely to encounter. Good luck to you!
Mine was back labor. Had no idea why my back would be hurting. Mom was there and said don’t wait until you can’t walk. Left at 6:30 PM delivered at 7:10 PM. I was lucky as I hadn’t any idea what to expect.
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With my first child I was induced, I was scared I had no idea what was gonna happen… With me second child my whole pregnancy was terrible, I had the flu twice, stayed sick. I went to my appointment one day they told me I would probably go into labor by the end of the week, well 3 days later I’m laying in bed it’s midnight, I thought i was having gas pains, after about 10 minutes of the pains getting worse I thought Oh Shit I’m going into labor… I woke my husband up he was freaking out, he drove us to the hospital I was already at a 7, the doctor came in and gave me my epidural but it didn’t take on my left side and they couldn’t do anything about it. They pain was OMG BAD!!! I was cussing, screaming and the nurse kept trying to calm me down… Lol I was grabbing the rails of the bed and shaking them so hard I broke one side of the rail. The doctor told me to do a " practice" push and on the second one my son just popped right out!!
I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like someone swaddled my torso extra tight, as time moved on the tightening got tighter and tighter and my lower back and hips got cramps, then I started feeling the actual contractions and could time them. It basically started as feeling like period cramps and then continued on to feel like I was being steamrolled. I got really hot and sweaty, it felt like I had to pee but every time I sat down nothing ever came out, but boy was there some times when I thought the baby would just pop right out. My water didn’t break naturally, with my oldest his blood pressure was dropping so they broke my water to put a monitor on the top of his head. (funny story, in my spaced out meditative state it didn’t occur to me that them putting the monitor on him would break my water, so the doctor did all that and started walking away and I felt my water leak and was like ‘oh hey doc, my water just broke, is that a good thing?’ and he looked at me and suuuper slowly said ‘how else did you think I was going to put the monitor on his head?’ and I realized what a silly question I just asked and laughed so hard)
Every baby is different. I had my babies in the 80’s. They didn’t offer much. My first baby, I was scared. The unknown can be. First baby, natural, water broke, 16 hours. I remember alot of pressure pushing. They always said, dont push with your face. I broke every blood vessel in my face. Second baby, 2 hours and maybe 3 pushes. 3rd baby was stubborn, 27 hours induced. All three natural. You will be ok, just listen to nurses, do your breathing and before you know it, the magic starts.