# Is Childbirth as painful as riding in the Tour de France? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 25, 2013, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136 "2013-12-25T07:24:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/21 "2013-12-25T19:46:49Z")
What about the oft-quoted ‘maternal amnesia’? If you ask a woman either during or immediately after labour and delivery\* (sans analgesia), she will almost\*\* certainly tell you that it is an experience she will NEVER repeat. Within days or weeks, for most\*\* women the memory of the extremes of pain dissipates remarkably…perhaps due to the floodwaters of hormones coursing through her body and brain. And it’s only when labour begins for the second and subsequent children that the memory is revived of the full horror for what is ahead. In these modern times where women have more rights to control conception and birth, if they were able to **objectively** remember the true pain of childbirth they would only ever have one child. Therefore, to get any \*\* accurate\*\* contrast of the pain levels, you’d need to grab a whole lot of women who are immediate post-partum, stick 'em on a hard-arse saddle and push them off for the Tour. Good luck with that! 😛 \*Talking normal vaginal delivery, no complications. \*\* Again, _most_ women. A generalisation with accommodation for exceptions. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/22 "2013-12-25T22:26:55Z")
About comparing childbirth with passing kidney stones, the way I remember it, I asked this question a few years ago here, and of the posted replies, 17 were from people who said they had had both experiences. Of those 17, all 17 said the stones were worse. I say “the way I remember it” because there’s some doubt. I tried doing a search for the thread I expected to find, and the search result was zero threads, and I don’t know what went wrong, or whether the search or the memory was more at fault. I’ve had more than 40 stones, and the experience is somewhat variable. If you want to know what a stone feels like for sure, you need to ask somebody who’s only had one. Occasionally a stone that looks like it should have hurt passes without a great deal of fanfare. And, some stones that look kind of piddly can really make a person regret piddling. So, I would think a few percent of people who had only passed one stone would tell you it’s not that bad. Stones are way easier to take care of after they come out, though. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/23 "2013-12-25T22:36:19Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > If you want to know what a stone feels like for sure, you need to ask somebody who’s only had one. I rushed to the hospital, figuring the pain was my body’s way of saying _one of your organs just exploded and you’re probably about to die._ ---
**Author:** ![SerafinaPekala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@SerafinaPekala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SerafinaPekala)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/24 "2013-12-25T22:39:03Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I rushed to the hospital, figuring the pain was my body’s way of saying _one of your organs just exploded and you’re probably about to die._ Surely you didnt drive yourself! :eek: Renal colic is a writhing type pain in which the person cant get into a comfortable position trying to pass the stone. Id hate to see anyone trying to drive in that condition! Plus the nausea and vomiting associated with it. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/25 "2013-12-25T22:56:29Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > About comparing childbirth with passing kidney stones, the way I remember it, I asked this question a few years ago here, and of the posted replies, 17 were from people who said they had had both experiences. Of those 17, all 17 said the stones were worse. My stepmom has two kids and has passed kidney stones. She says stones are much worse. > [@](#): > > If you want to know what a stone feels like for sure, you need to ask somebody who’s only had one. Occasionally a stone that looks like it should have hurt passes without a great deal of fanfare. And, some stones that look kind of piddly can really make a person regret piddling. So, I would think a few percent of people who had only passed one stone would tell you it’s not that bad. I’ve passed one and it was excruciating, and I think I have a fairly high tolerance for pain–I’ve broken bones without realizing it (and not just something like a hairline crack). > [@](#): > > Stones are way easier to take care of after they come out, though. True. I did take a picture of mine through a stereo microscope to share with friends and family though. Rounded nodules on one side and jagged crystals on the other. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/26 "2013-12-25T23:12:12Z")
> [@SerafinaPekala](#): > > Surely you didnt drive yourself! No, my wife drove me. Same hospital where I drove her to have the baby, as it happens. That’s where the similarity ends, since she passed on _“painkillers”_ and I _“would have unhesitatingly swallowed my half-digested pills back down after repeatedly vomiting them up from the still-unabated nausea.”_ > [@](#): > > Renal colic is a writhing type pain in which the person cant get into a comfortable position trying to pass the stone. Id hate to see anyone trying to drive in that condition! Plus the nausea and vomiting associated with it. Didn’t know that was the name. But, yes, those were the symptoms. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/27 "2013-12-25T23:14:27Z")
I think it really depends on whether the mother has an epidural. I had one and it wasn’t too bad but I’m sure I wouldn’t say that if I’d gone natural. I’d rather give birth again than repeat a few other illnesses I’ve had. Hell, I’d rather give birth 5 times (as long as I didn’t actually end up with 5 kids from it) than go through the painful, gross recovery of giving birth once. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/28 "2013-12-25T23:15:36Z")
> [@SerafinaPekala](#): > > Surely you didnt drive yourself! :eek: Renal colic is a writhing type pain in which the person cant get into a comfortable position trying to pass the stone. Id hate to see anyone trying to drive in that condition! Plus the nausea and vomiting associated with it. Yep. I’d describe it as being so bad I wanted to crawl out of my own skin. When the emergency response team turned up I clung to one guy’s legs and wouldn’t let go and cried like a baby. They pumped me so full of morphine both my hands were black with bruises the next day from the injections, and apparently I sucked down a whole tank of gas and air on the way to the hospital. My girlfriend who was with me in the ambulance reckons I was virtually unconscious… and still screaming. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/29 "2013-12-25T23:24:44Z")
Love this description of [Renal colic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renal_colic) from Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > It may come in two varieties: dull and acute; the acute variation is particularly unpleasant and is often described as one of the strongest pain sensations felt by humans (being worse than childbirth, broken bones, gunshot wounds, burns, or surgery).[1] Not sure about the Tour de France, though. ---
**Author:** ![2sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e47774/32.png) [@2sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2sense)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/30 "2013-12-26T02:14:23Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > The TdF is a 21 day event. 23 days actually. There are typically 2 rest days. (I seem to recall there is to be an extra rest day this year for travelling.) Sadly for the cyclists they actually have to get in the saddle for a significant training ride on these days or their bodies will tighten up and they risk being eliminated the next day for not being able to keep up. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/31 "2013-12-26T02:36:52Z")
My mother has had kidney stones and gave birth twice. She says the stones are MUCH worse. She would rather give birth to three more babies than pass another stone. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/32 "2013-12-26T04:08:16Z")
> [@SerafinaPekala](#): > > Surely you didnt drive yourself! :eek: Renal colic is a writhing type pain in which the person cant get into a comfortable position trying to pass the stone. Id hate to see anyone trying to drive in that condition! Plus the nausea and vomiting associated with it. I actually did pass one stone while driving. It was small, 3 mm if I remember right. I have learned enough to recognize two main different phases of the stone’s passage through the ureter, the earlier being the renal colic (spasms of the ureter with the stone somewhere midway or high in the ureter), and the later being a stinging urgent pain while trying to squeeze the stone through the UBJ or ureteral-bladder junction. It was the UBJ passage I was feeling while driving, not the renal colic. And, since I happened to be aimed right towards an emergency room and thought I was managing tolerably well, and since this was small town traffic at no more than 25 mph, it seemed right to keep going. Then there was the _POIT_ popping sensation as the stone moved into my bladder, and the strong pain stopped immediately. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/33 "2013-12-26T04:35:33Z")
This is silly. All pain is pain and it hurts. I’ve never passed a kidney stone but I’m sure it hurts. Even if you’ve never given birth, you know it obviously hurts. My first labor (starting about eleven years today actually :D) was relatively easy. About six hours and no epi but it still hurt. My second was harder. Twelve hours and an epi and again it still really, really, really hurt. The thing about labor is that you know there’s going to be an end to it. That’s what made it bearable to me. But it still hurts. I have a relatively high tolerance for pain. I’ve been through unmedicated childbirth. I thought it no worse than really bad menstrual cramps. But then again I usually have menstrual cramps so bad that I am often left running for ibuprofen around the clock. The whole pregnancy and first year of childbearing are simply very hard. Early pregnancy is noted for morning sickness and unreal tiredness. As the pregnancy progresses, it often stays just as hard. I literally found it difficult to sleep and even breath during the last weeks of both of my pregnancies. I was so sick at one point during the first that I could not keep food down for over three weeks and had to be on an IV. Human gestation is not an easy task. The months after a successful delivery are often just as hard. Many women are still recovering from the aftermath of the birth and having to deal with a cranky baby who does not sleep through the night. Having a baby and guiding them through infancy are just some of the hardest tasks we humans do. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/34 "2013-12-26T04:50:36Z")
> [@SerafinaPekala](#): > > Surely you didnt drive yourself! :eek: Renal colic is a writhing type pain in which the person cant get into a comfortable position trying to pass the stone. Id hate to see anyone trying to drive in that condition! Plus the nausea and vomiting associated with it. This sounds like the pain I had with pancreatitis in the middle of the attack I drove myself to urgent care After they finally diagnosed it (3hrs later) they gave me morphine pain gone. I got sent to the hospital via ambulance because of the drugs. Cracked me up I could drive in massive pain but they wouldn’t let me drive in no pain. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/35 "2013-12-26T07:41:38Z")
I’m starting to sense that the times I’ve broken or sprained my ankles and was briefly paralyzed with pain was some kinda cakewalk. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/36 "2013-12-26T08:35:59Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > This is silly. All pain is pain and it hurts. I’ve never passed a kidney stone but I’m sure it hurts. Even if you’ve never given birth, you know it obviously hurts. My first labor (starting about eleven years today actually :D) was relatively easy. About six hours and no epi but it still hurt. My second was harder. Twelve hours and an epi and again it still really, really, really hurt. > > The thing about labor is that you know there’s going to be an end to it. That’s what made it bearable to me. But it still hurts. I have a relatively high tolerance for pain. I’ve been through unmedicated childbirth. I thought it no worse than really bad menstrual cramps. But then again I usually have menstrual cramps so bad that I am often left running for ibuprofen around the clock. > > The whole pregnancy and first year of childbearing are simply very hard. Early pregnancy is noted for morning sickness and unreal tiredness. As the pregnancy progresses, it often stays just as hard. I literally found it difficult to sleep and even breath during the last weeks of both of my pregnancies. I was so sick at one point during the first that I could not keep food down for over three weeks and had to be on an IV. Human gestation is not an easy task. The months after a successful delivery are often just as hard. Many women are still recovering from the aftermath of the birth and having to deal with a cranky baby who does not sleep through the night. > > Having a baby and guiding them through infancy are just some of the hardest tasks we humans do. Yeah, but… a) I didn’t _choose_ to have a kidney stone b) Having a child brings mitigating rewards. I don’t recall any joy and delight from my kidney stone’s first steps, or my kidney stone’s graduation ceremony This is a bit tongue in cheek. I’m not really trying to belittle the trials and tribulations of child birth and nurturing (well OK, a teeeeeny bit). But perhaps on a more general level, that’s what differentiates the pain of the TdF and childbirth from pain due to illness; one is expected - even sought after - and brings rewards, the other not so much. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/37 "2013-12-26T11:42:27Z")
Guess I’ll never know the difference. Hava a great hybrid bike which I don’t use much after a horrid accident two years ago…and surely, I’ll never get pregnant. Not sure how kidney-stones got into this “debate”…as I still don’t think there any at all – debate that is. Silly is as silly does. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/38 "2013-12-26T12:01:28Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > I think it really depends on whether the mother has an epidural. Not even: the mother of a friend of mine took minutes for the first delivery (she’d gone to visit her just-delivered sister at the maternity, they rang the nurse, the nurse arrived there to a panicked 3-days-post-partum patient holding her niece and saying “what do I do with this?”), half an hour for the second, and an extremely painful whole day for the third - the only one for which she had an epidural, and epidural or not it still fucking hurt. Then again, I’m reasonably sure the TdF isn’t equally painful for the guys who eventually abandon after puking their guts out and for the ones fighting for the funny-colored shirts. Not only are we comparing apples and oranges, we haven’t established which varieties. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/39 "2013-12-26T12:34:15Z")
Showing off [**my awesome hybrid bike**](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/OwnRules/Allegro3X/DSCF0005-1.jpg) – as good as this thread gets. As for pain, I rode it right into a Police “golf-cart.” Result? 10 hour surgery divided by two and a huge titanium plate held in place by six screws. The bike was fine, just some adjusting the front rim. Me? Still freaked the fuck out But I have yet to get pregnant & the odds are certainly against me. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136/40 "2013-12-26T13:33:29Z")
Yeah well, when one reaches a certain age… _duck and run_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-childbirth-as-painful-as-riding-in-the-tour-de-france/677136.md?page=3)