Where is the majority of the pain during natural childbirth?
ByI am 4 months pregnant and just curious about where the pain is exactly. I always assumed that the pain of labor was at the vaginal opening since that is the area that is stretching to gigantic proportions. But now that I am watching something on tv, it seems that a lot of the pain is within the abdomen (like contractions). Where is the most and worst pain located?
And does an epidural actually help in relieving both types of pain? Or does it help one type more than the other? I heard the epidural is only from the waist down, so does that mean you can still feel the abdominal pain?
Does epidural completely eliminate the pain or just lessen it?
Thanks!!
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9 Comments
March 4th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
From your shoulders to your tippy toes really, mostly centered in your torso and acute vaginally during the ring of fire (crowning).
March 4th, 2010 at 10:28 pm
the epidural completely eliminates the pain. you dont feel ANYTHING if the epidural is done right and works. my mother had me naturally and said the actual birth hurt more than the contractions.
EDIT: my epidural numbed me from right under my breasts down. and you feel pressure when the baby is crowning and being born, but it doesnt hurt, its just pressure.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:06 pm
The pain during natural childbirth is in the abdomen, where your uterus is. The contractions are quite painful. But it is also in your back, butt, and vagina as all the stuff is being stretched and having pressure put on it by the decent of the baby. Epidurals numb you from the breasts down (at least it did for me) and I didn’t feel anything. I did feel pressure from pushing and the release of pressure when the baby came out, but not pain.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
I just had my son a month ago so hopefully i can help
The majority of my pain was in my abdomen and by where the baby was coming out, just above the vaginal opening.
Epidurals just lessen the pain, at least thats what my mom said, i didn’t have one
March 4th, 2010 at 11:55 pm
epidurals completely eliminate the pain…numbs it
I slept through my whole labor! They woke me up to start pushing…it was great..lol
I had it both ways…natural and epidural. I will have the epidural again
March 5th, 2010 at 12:05 am
i had my son without any medication, so i don’t know about the epidural, but the contractions are typically in your abdomen and they can be in your lower back too. then when its time to push the baby out its your abdomen and your vagina. i never had that burning that i hear is so normal, but he did get his shoulder stuck under my pelvic bone, that didn’t really hurt though. however, as soon as the baby comes out you feel better instantly. maybe a few more small contractions to get the placenta out, but nothing compared to what you will have just gone through.
March 5th, 2010 at 12:25 am
Actually the majority of the pain is in the abdomen/back during hard contractions. And depending on the position of the baby you may have pain in other places.
As far as the epidural goes. Sometimes they numb you completely so you don’t feel any pain and other times they numb you to take the edge off. Basically with the last type you can tell when you are having a contraction but it doesn’t hurt. Plus you have a button that you can press if you need more medication to help the pain. They put the epidural in your back so actually it works from about mid back down. So it does deaden the abdominal pain as well.
I’ve had one completely natural birth with no meds. and I have had one with an epidural. The epidural was SO much nicer. I was able to enjoy the birth because I was not in a ton of pain.
March 5th, 2010 at 1:21 am
abdomen and down there and back
March 5th, 2010 at 2:10 am
Mine was over my entire abdomen (including my lower abdomen, just above my pubic bone). It felt like someone had a giant vice grip on me.
My epidural numbed me about 95% of the way. I had a “hot spot” (where it doesn’t take 100%) on my lower left side, but it was still MUCH better than before I got the epidural.