# Men and the pain of labor

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [January 9, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569 "2009-01-09T19:28:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 9

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**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/161 "2009-01-14T20:46:50Z")

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While I like the admiration I get when people hear I had two unmedicated labors, honestly, the pain was not that bad for me. Labor was undoubtedly the most \*overwhelming \*experience of my life. My second labor was without question the most \*grueling \*thing I’ve ever done. And the hardest 60 seconds of my life was when Claire’s head was halfway out, and my contraction quit, so I had to wait, stretched to the ripping point, for a minute for the next one. If there is a hell for me, it will be that minute as an eternity.

But straight up pain? I’ve had worse from stomach viruses, burns on my hands, and ear pain when flying with a cold. Part of it, I think, is that labor is generally a normal, physiologic process, whereas other sources of pain are indications of illness or injury. That makes it harder to cope with, IMHO.

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**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/162 "2009-01-14T23:35:24Z")

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> [@chorpler](#):
>
> I’ve seen the term “back labor” a couple times now in this thread. From the context (like “No drugs unless I have back labor”) it sounds like something that’s even worse than regular labor. What does “back labor” mean? Wikipedia mentions that a “birthing ball” may help during back labor, but doesn’t have an article about back labor itself.

**Velma** ’s experience of back labor as excruciating and not controllable with drugs is typical of the accounts I have heard. There is one technique that is billed as possibly providing some temporary relief that involves injecting saline in the back to form a V shape of little mounds near the base of the spine. The injections themselves are said to be quite painful, and it isn’t guaranteed, but back labor is bad enough that some women go for it, because anything is worth a try for a bit or a relief from back labor.

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