Well, Tom Cruise has issued a denial that he’s bought Katie an adult sized pacifier for her to use during delivery.
Pain is subjective. It has nothing to do with whether or not their muscles are better developed, it has to do with their pain threshold and their body structure. Women with wider hips are much more likely to have an easy time deliver than women with slender hips. As for the pain: My first labor was 27 hours. My second was 6. I can tell you that the pain during my second labor was far more intense than the pain of my first, even though my daughter delivered more quickly. Probably because labor progressed more rapidly and I didn’t have the chance to “get used to” the pain the way I did during the delivery of my son. He took forever to drop, even with pitosin.
I’ve seen tons of deliveries and it’s different for eveyone. Some scream from beginning to end and some seem to have it pretty easy. I have not noticed any common denominators that would allow one to predict who will have more pain and who will have less.
My geology professor’s wife used that, and we had the dubious pleasure of listen to him describe it in great glowing detail. He compared it to having constipation–how would you like passing a BM while lying on your back? But, he did have a point, it seems quite obvious that giving birth standing up is a superiorly dominant choice.
Well, thanks for helping answer my question. I couldn’t imagine even Hollywood faking the whole screaming bit, so I assumed it hurt like being tortured, and always wondered how women could possibly have mre than one child. That’ll tell me to believe the slightest thing in movies.
The other Biblical thing about childbirth, which vaguely echoes the OP, is the part in Exodus about Pharaoh issuing an edict that the overly-numerous Israelites should have their children killed at birth - and the midwives reporting back that the Israelite women were so much fitter and tougher than the pampered Egyptian mothers that they were dropping their babes and hiding them away before the dreadful deed could be done.
I’ve had one child. I was 19 years old, and in good physical condition. I gained only 11 pounds during my pregnancy ( from the back you couldn’t tell I was “with child” in my last week)
I was in active labor from Wednesday around 2 PM until Monday at 6:04 PM. I went to the hospital at 10:30 Sunday night. (yes, in retrospect, the doctor said I should have had a C-section.)
Because this happened in the dark ages, no one was allowed in the labor room with me, and there were no other mothers laboring. I was so bored, I wrote letters, I read magazines and I pestered the nurses to come talk to me.
An hour before I started transition, my doctor came by and asked if I was really pregnant, since, although, He could lay a hand on my tummy and feel the contractions, I showed no sign that I even noticed them ( I did, but no pain) They felt like someone was hugging me fro the back.
I slept through transition, except during each contraction. I’d wake up and the doc would say, “One more big push, and we’ll go.” (to the labor room) I have no idea how many times that happend.
When we finally did go to the labor room, I whispered ( or thought I was whispering) to the nurse that I needed to pee. She told me it was just the baby pushing on my bladder. The doc put in a catheter, and sure 'nuff I needed to pee (over a liter) Then my son was on the outside of my tummy.
I have no recollection of pain of any kind.
Of course, we humans are unable to recall pain. We can remember having it and remember if it was severe, but we can’t recall the pain itself. We can recall smells, we can recall sounds, but not pain. I’d say that’s probably a good thing, otherwise, few women would have more than one child.
Well … I hate to burst the bubbles of those who believe labour doesn’t or shouldn’t hurt … remember, pain is subjective!
I had back labour with my baby, plus I was induced. It hurt like HELL - not so much the contractions, those were bearable, but the pain in my back (baby was face up rather than the standard face-down position) was torture. It honestly felt like I was being stabbed. I had high blood pressure so wasn’t allowed to move around to try to get more comfortable and get the pressure off my back … it was brutal.
Being induced meant that the whole process was sped up, which was a blessing in some ways, and a curse in others. I didn’t have much chance to recover between the contractions - I believe resting would’ve helped me deal with the back pain. But I have to admit, once it was all over, it was nice to have begun labour and delivered the baby within 4 1/2 hours!
Same here. In fact the nurses told me he was face up but I did not realize what I was experiencing was ‘back labor’ until afterward. At the time I thought back pain was part of labor and I wondered why I hadn’t heard more about it in class, because dear god it was by far the worst part. It was so, so painful and I think it really made the pushing harder later because I was so worn out from that back pain. The only thing that makes me dare to try to go through that again is the hope that baby will be facing the right way next time.
picunurse what do you mean by “unable to recall pain?” I have very vivid memories of that labor pain and can describe it in much more detail than I could a smell. Exactly where it was and how it hurt. In fact I would say I have a better recall for pain than smell. Is that a documented fact, if so, how would one prove that someone cannot recall pain if they think they do?
I can answer this from personal experience. Well, sort of… I was there when it happened, and was in fact one of the principle players, but I don’t actually remember much of it.
When I was born, my mother insisted to the doctor that she be allowed to “pull her carrots”. That being the way my mom, an avid gardener, described the posture with which she was most comfortable giving birth.
My first labour was induced with pitocin and the doctor broke my water. The second had me on pitocin after a natural break with no progression. I guess I’m just mega-woman or something.
Also, I forgot to mention (and can’t edit), I had back labour with both as well. I enjoy being a girl. NO REALLY.
My sister, on the other hand, had an induced birth with back pain for my niece. She nearly died from the pain, so she says.
I was wondering how long before this turned into a bragging thread …
Why is it bragging when GingerOfTheNorth shares her experience, but not when you share yours?
As a happy atheist, I’m thrilled I didn’t live up to that Genesis quote.
Nyah, Nyah! Epidurals Rock!
No, actually, the ripping did not hurt all that much. In a normal presentation (not back labor), the unavoidable pain is from uterine contractions. These did hurt, but nothing unbearable. Relaxing as much as possible everything else prevents a lot of the pain in any muscle that would get exercise while farming. The pushing did not hurt. The final stretching of the cervix and the feeling of the baby going into my vagina was odd.
What hurt like hell was the sewing up after. The doctor told me to push as hard as I could after my second pushing contraction and so I did (as I feard something was wrong why else would he give me fool advise like that) and my daughter shot out with the third contraction; I saw her fly from me. I had a third degree midline tear. I imagine fourth degree tears hurt more.
Most of my muscles are in fair to poor shape, my uterus is probably better exercised that any other portion.
I had back labor with my first delivery. It was bad, and I had been “trained” to know that epidural was an option, so I took the option. It caused more problems than it solved, in that labor came to a stop and didn’t really start again until the epidural had nearly worn off. At that point, I was too tired to push very efficiently. The doctor had to pull the baby out with forceps.
The second time around, I made a point of being much better prepared. Mr. Kiminy and I learned the Bradley Method (MUCH better at dealing with pain than Lamaze!), and when the time came, I gave birth with no anesthesia of any kind. Yes, it hurt, but I was better prepared for the pain, and had already chosen NOT to have an epidural. We even sent the anesthesiologist away twice when she came around to ask if I needed anything.
In neither case did the hospital personnel strap me to a table. I was encouraged to move around until I couldn’t anymore. During delivery, I was in a position closer to sitting up than lying down, and was in more of a squatting position for the actual delivery than anything else.
The best part is that I am now much better prepared to deal with pain of any kind than I was before. Bradley gets rid of most of my headaches, and I can cope with muscle pain better.
In a third world society where analgesics are not readily available–much less anesthesia–I would not be surprised if women are simply better equipped mentally to deal with pain. In those cultures, they also get a lot of moral support from other mothers–their own mother, aunts, cousins, sisters, etc. Most American hospitals allow the same kind of support when the birthing mother wants it, but most mothers choose to have a limited number of people on hand to provide support.
Truth be told, I would rather give birth without anesthesia than have an ear infection or a broken bone. Since I’ve experienced all three, I think I’m qualified to make that statement. The thing it boils down to is that delivery is relatively short-lived–a few hours at max–unlike a ruptured ear drum or broken bone that can be painful for days if not weeks. If delivery lasts longer than 4-6 hours, there is something wrong that would require surgery or end in death for the mother, baby, or both, regardless of the culture you live in. (Note: I am talking specifically about delivery here, not labor. Labor can last for weeks, but even then, it comes in painful, short spurts that last only a few minutes at a time.)
I didn’t call myself “megawoman”.
That was meant as sarcasm.
Genetics appears to be a factor. Where the labor “pains” occur, and how strong the muscle spasms are vary by woman, and sometimes by pregnancy. Where the cord attached to the uterus, how big the baby is, and how it’s positioned when time for the birth comes also seem to be factors that affect how painful giving birth is.
My stepmother was in labor for 40 hours with her first, but mostly it wasn’t hard labor. The subsequent ones came far faster and easier - inside normal time periods.
I was in labor for 20 hours with my son, all hard, and mostly in my back. I dunno what I’d have done without the pain relief they gave me. My pelvis is narrow, and the doctor did an episiotomy (cut) to prevent tearing, but it was still painful and slow to heal.
I have a friend who had three kids, the first 28 years ago, the last 6. She delivered fast and easily (around 4 hours), with almost no pain, each time. All of her sisters had a dreadful time - long labors, and painful ones.
I’ve heard lots of stories about really hard and really easy labors, sometimes both hard and easy from the same woman.
I can readily believe that the upright position makes it easier, but it would also make tearing worse, if the woman wasn’t dilated enough, or had really hard spasms that forced the baby out too fast.