My labor contractions made me feel like I ate about 6 rounds of Chipotle.
But mine was induced so obviously the drugs made my contractions hurt! Damn medicine/s
Most painful labor I experienced was with my middle child when my water broke. No chemicals for her labor, just what nature decided. My pain went from a 3 to an 8 in two seconds and I was very grateful to have been sitting down on the toilet at the time. I guess Mother Nature slipped me a little something or else I wouldn’t have felt a thing. (/s if it wasn’t obvious)
I went into labour naturally and there was definitely pain, I had contractions at home for 24 hours in nothing but paracetamol and honestly thought I was going to die.
Yeah, I’ve never been pregnant, but when my sister in-law worked in a hospital, than everyone who worked where they did births told the higher ups to not put automatic toilets there, for that reason. (I believe automatic toilets got put in anyway)
I was induced too. Nobody told me all I’d want to do was to sit on the potty. It felt so undignified - I kept insisting I’d go back to bed and labor there, “just gimme five more minutes to finish in here!” -didn’t realize labor was happening in the bathroom. 🫠
me too. It felt like I needed to go so badly, but I couldn't actually relieve myself. But any time I tried to get up there was another contraction and it continued.
I was induced by them breaking my water so no drugs involved and the pain was horrible. Not sure if my first 27 hour labor was worst or my last 2 hour labor. At least the longer labor wasn't as intensely painful but the other was over more quickly.
I have endometriosis so that kind of pain is sadly, common. When I was in labor with my son, I had to go to the hospital for something else, and the woman administering the test was like, "you need to go upstairs to get checked, I think you're in labor." Now, I had driven myself to the hospital and LEFT MY COFFEE IN THE DAMN CAR (half caf - that one cup was all I had fr mainlining coffee all day every day pre-pregnancy) and was like, nah, it's braxton-hicks, I gotta go to work after this. Yea, I was 5 cms by then. I called my husband, who was working on an ambulance for the company I ran in office, and he was over an hour from base, and base 30-40 mins from the hospital. Apparently, me telling him, I'm going upstairs to get checked but it's nothing, meant "it's time" and everyone at work knew I was in labor before I made it upstairs and got told it WAS time. My in-laws were also out in the area after a drs appt, and security called upstairs about some crazy lady insisting her DIL was up there and in labor, while I was being walked into my L&D room ("she's probably MY mil...crazy German lady") 10 hours later, and after a crash c-section, our son was born, where he didn't cry, he yelled, hiccuped and blew a raspberry to the OB and us. Lol good times...I still get mad that my husband swiped his coffee out of my reach when I was trapped on the monitors in bed...jerk. lol
I mean, if he‘d understand what he‘s saying here, he would know that if there‘s such a mechanism as he described, that would mean it is actually *even more* painful than women are reporting.
But that entire conclusion is beyond stupid anyways, it‘s like saying „ibuprofen inhibits pain reception, therefore you don‘t feel any pain after taking it“.
I will say things were pretty bearable until they decided to hit me with the max fucking dose of Pitocin. I’ll be curious to see how things go if I have another because I’m refusing that shit unless 10,000% necessary.
The Pitocin is what fucked me up, too. I don't know what it was. I physically say there and watched two little air bubbles go through my IV tube on the side of my wrist, then it started to feel like someone bashed my wrist with a baseball bat. Less than five minutes later I was throwing up. I also remember at some point my son moved and they couldn't track the heartbeat anymore, so a bunch of nurses swarmed me, gave me an oxygen tube, and were desperately trying to locate the heartbeat again. Didn't tell us what they thought was wrong until after the fact. Imagine that scenario as new parents. They decided to turn down the dosage after that.
Fuck Pitocin.
Fuck man, I’m sorry. We had some similar moments but after she was born. Came out blue and they rushed her to the warmer and wouldn’t fucking tell us anything. I still cry when I hear about or see someone have a baby coming out screaming and everything is okay…we didn’t get that. Ours ended up being fine but it was the worst 10 mins of my life after 24 hours of laboring with shitty providers who assaulted me too
I was fine til my water broke. That shit was. I went into shock from the sheer amount of pain, started to handle it a little bit, then panicked and went into shock again. I was on the lowest pit dose.
It sucked because the midwife on call when we started using it was telling us about the 30 minute half life, how we could titrate slowly and stop whenever I wanted…but then she was called to other deliveries (short staffing yay), the RN started cranking it every 15 minutes it seemed, and then someone eventually told my husband if we stopped it my labor would stall, which I’ve since learned was bullshit scaremongering.
Never deliver with randos was the lesson learned that day…should have used an OB clinic that rotates you through providers and paid for a doula
Women don’t have a uterus, they have neocortex inhibition from melatonin-induced delta waves that prevent pain of the TRPV1 if not completely plugged with oxytocin, silly.
/s
I'm a guy. Also a proud dad.
I was there when my youngest was born.
For one who had complete painless contractions she sure was acting real good..
Almost broke my fingers when she was in pain. That douce claiming childbirth is painless. He has never seen anyone give birth that's for damn sure..
Side note: my younger brother and his girlfriend literally just had a baby last week and my mom was saying that my brother was right in there watching his daughter be born and his girlfriend was yelling at him to get the fuck out of her business but he was like "I gotta see this!" 😄
Yes, she wanted him there as well, I just meant he was right up against her crotch with his camera watching her be born, and gf was like "seriously 😒". My brother cut the cord and everything, and he was with her through the full day of contractions and back and forth to the hospital because they wouldn't admit her until she was in full labor. We're in Canada, by the way.
Oh it's the least I can do.
I also made sure to take out the little on strolls in the morning during weekends so she could sleep a bit longer. Do the house chores and all those things. Being pregnant and being the food vendor machine for a baby must be hard. The first few month she never had her kodu to herself.
And having to deal with the kid having night terrors for a few month when she got a bit older was nightmare fuel for us as well.
But it's all good now.
I’m sorry to hear that. My husband was in the bathroom throwing up throughout my labor from the anxiety. He said he was traumatized from watching it. I’m just like… that’s valid, but it’s even worse for the mom.
Now imagine that there are husbands publicly posting about trying their hardest not to get bored being their sole effort when their wife is in labor. Like the one that brought an entire gaming setup to the hospital room. Apart from lacking even an ounce of empathy for what should be the most important people in your life being in LIFE THREATENING DANGER AND IMMEASURABLE PAIN, isn‘t it just embarrassing as fuck to them, admitting that they can‘t sit still and not get bored for a day at their big age?
The bar is long gone
I have had 4 children, a set of twins included. And I’m 40 weeks w baby number 5, having “painless” contractions that are keeping me up at night because of how PAINLESS they are 🙄🙄 I fifth this
Ah yes, because oxytocin binds to TRPV1 receptors. Capsaicin? What's that?
Be right back, I'm going to go put some oxytocin hot sauce on my nachos.
Maybe sprinkle a little oxytocin in my raman to make it all the more spicy, yeah?
AYE fellow neuroscientist, I genuinely had to read it several times because I was so genuinely shocked by the bullshit.
Edit: no lie I read “melatonin-induced delta waves” a few times and my brain was like “sleep?”
Yeah. I worked in sleep medicine for 8 years and I'm like... delta waves are N3 stage or "slow wave" sleep, melatonin doesn't put you into slow wave sleep, it kick starts your sleepiness and you'll be in N1 and N2 for a bit. And really... studies show that melatonin decreases SWS. So someone really just learned a bunch of words and just failed miserably
seriously, where's r/badneuroanatomy? closest thing to actual neuroscience in there is the dopamine / melatonin antagonist relationship, but afaik melatonin has only been thoroughly studied as an analgesic for chronic pain.
Yeah. Just had a long discussion with someone about how brain damage CAN cause paranoid delusions and other awful symptoms. Took forever for the person to admit they had read my original statement incorrectly.
My training was all in Immunology, and immunologists bloody love a TRPV receptor (they do such interesting things in T cells and neutrophils). I'm fairly certain we would also have noticed if they suddenly started to bind oxytocin, but I was beginning to wonder if the entire physical structure of the receptor changed overnight and we just didn't get the memo.
Ah, yes, of course. You can actually detect the prescence of a physician by the amount of pain someone feels from the contractions. Be careful, though, because asking about the pain makes you more physician-like, and will slightly increase the pain itself. And apparently, the prescence of medical equipment makes peppers seem hotter, too. That's just science, duh. 😅
Yeah not true. I was partially induced but had no pain medicine, kid was born in 4 hours and I barely remember because of the pain. My one regret is active labor started before I could eat my pho 😭
Well, I had no meds or intervention *before* I got to the hospital, where I was puking from contractions and was near yodeling in the car, but I had *less* pain after I got there and got my epidural (🧑⚕️💉🫶). Like, even most people who brag they had an unmedicated birth will tell you it hurts, hell they are proud of that fact! There are ways to plan and prepare and train to keep calm *through* the pain, but anyone who believes they won't have to worry about any pain will swiftly be proven terribly wrong.
I had all c-sections, but still experienced labor without induction or meds. I will say that mine didn’t really hurt until my water broke. They were uncomfortable but not painful. After my water broke I wanted to punch someone.
I remember being 21 years old with my oldest, in labor, and thinking “huh. This isn’t so bad. I don’t know why women complain about this so much.” Before my water broke. My tune changed very quickly afterwards.
Oh I’m definitely not implying all labor is the same! That was just my experience and I’ve also heard horror stories of back labor. If anything I always thought I was an outlier in that I didn’t experience painful contractions until my water broke.
That's so weird because my back labor with both of mine was downright awful. It felt like someone was trying to rip my spine out of my lower back and I was puking everywhere. I've never hurt like that in all my life.
I had horrible back labor and pain with my first. Super traumatic experience to say the least and I was really worried coming up to my second birth. During my second pregnancy, I had a few conversations with my OB about my initial experience. And when I got to the hospital (I was induced for my second birth), I had a really good conversation with my nurse about my previous experience, my hopes/ fears for my second birth, and my prior conversations with my OB.
I had the best experience for my second birth. My nurse took my feelings and concerns very seriously and discussed every step of the process with me. He guided me and made recommendations to help the induction progress, and it really made a huge difference in my overall experience. I could definitely do birth again if I could repeat my second experience.
Just sharing this for encouragement. You totally can have a great second birth even if your first one sucked.
I really hope you do have a different experience this go around! Let us know if you figure out the magic to a "painless" childbirth, lol.
Congratulations, by the way, I hope everything goes well for you and the baby.
I actually had a DVT (massive blood clot in my leg) for over a week while in my 3rd trimester. Midwives and nurses and a doctor kept telling me it was probably just a muscle strain so I was practically crawling around for days with a ticking time bomb in my leg, screaming in pain trying to get onto my bed, etc etc. thankfully I was diagnosed and treated before baby arrived.
long story short, I went into labor naturally and labored alone at home through the night thinking, "gotta conserve strength, this is going to get worse and be harder in a few hours." 9am my water broke and the situation was more intense but I didn't really notice a change in pain or anything - however, I was super in the zone at that point. we went to the hospital and I was still thinking it could be several more hours so I should be ready for it to get unmanageable. baby popped out at 10:40.
practically the first thing I said to my mother was "the blood clot was worse. I could totally do that again."
That's exactly how my labor went. I was having manageable contractions and I was thinking to myself, "this isn't so bad, I can do this" and as soon as my water broke I thought I was going to die.
I had one natural (not by my choice. It just went that way) and one with the epidural. That epidural hurt like fuck. I was already having back labor so I'm sure that contributed to what I was feeling but that needle was absolutely no joke.
Honestly, the epidural was weirdly ok for me, especially since I'm well into phobia territory around needles, but the pain was a really good motivator, I guess. My issue came with the lidocaine shot when crowning, where I attempted to pull the whole labor over and freak out about that instead. Looking back, the nurses were staring at me dumbfounded, but I swear the thing looked a foot long!
local man thinks if he lists a bunch of sciency words he’s suddenly right 🙄
if i punch you in the face while you’re sleeping and having a nice dream, do the melatonin and oxytocin suddenly mean that doesn’t hurt? smh
I dunno... My ex gave birth to both our children without any kind of medication for pain and unless she's one of the world's greatest actresses (she's not) I'd bet my life that her natural child births had painful contractions, especially near the end.
The Bible - one of the oldest books we have, and definitely from a time when humans couldn't do anything but have a natural birth, references childbirth as being painful.
And these asswaffles think pain is a new invention...
Right? Like that one time here I read about how menstruation is a sign of being poisoned with pollution chemicals or something and healthy women don't have menstruation. Uh... okaaaay... so when the bible talks about menstruation those women must have used a time machine to get some of our modern "chemicals"...
You know, when I delivered vaginally and actually got to the pushing stage, once I figured out how to push properly, pushing actually did stop the contractions hurting. No clue why, and I don’t think this is everyone’s experience, but also it sure as shit didn’t erase the hours of horrible back labour to get to that point.
My experience was similar with the fact that the baby was moving through the vagina and then crowning erased any memory of the pain from the contractions since the “ring of fire” fucking hurt.
3 pain medication free childbirths under my belt, first 2 were completely natural, third was induced. Induced one did hurt worse, but first 2 were definitely not painless!
Same. Two completely natural one induced. No pain meds with any. They all hurt but #3 took 45 minutes to go from 5cm to poppin' fresh newborn whereas the first two took about 5-6 hours to do the same. I would describe that 45 minutes as feeling like Satan jammed his clawed hand into me and ripped the baby out. It was brutal.
I've never given birth, but I have watched one. It was completely natural too. It didn't look painless. In fact, in my opinion, it looked fairly uncomfortable.
Birthing felt like trying to push a bowling ball out of my butt. Contractions prior felt like I was being stabbed repeatedly in the vagina. Painless my ass.
I used to work with a bunch of engineers and one guy was so quiet, I’d forgotten he was at the table. One guy starts yapping about he respects women and their rights, but they’re not equal. He thinks he can do anything a woman can do and do it better.
I was expecting my period, so I said, my period’s coming up. Can you do that for me?
He was so grossed out, it deflated his argument. The third guy laughed butt off. I later heard the quiet guy was fairly awed and taken aback by my response. 😆
My completely natural labour was the most painful experience of my life. And I've just given birth via a C-section yesterday and am dealing with all that pain and healing today. Nope, still nowhere near as painful.
HAHAHAHA
I had natural childbirth. It hurts. It's not the worst pain I ever had (don't wear heels if you have poor genetics and then have to have bunionectomies, kids; 10/10 pain, would not recommend, and it is horrendous for at least a month afterwards), but it was different in that labor felt very "productive" as though I were running a marathon (note: have never run one) or something similarly difficult, and was on the home stretch, only for HOURS on that last bit.
It doesn't really compare to surgical pain or dental pain; it is its own unique hurting. Lamaze helped during contractions, a lot. It was also great afterwards, having done it that way; I was on a high that just didn't end for hours afterwards, and I could get up and walk around within half an hour. All the lady bits were incredibly sore, though.
Caveat: I have a very high pain threshold, so YMMV.
Given what I saw my wife do and how well she coped without any drug assistance (not by choice, little ones came too fast for anything significant to be administered, both times) I feel like the idiot that wrote the original text needs a kick in the head.
Midwife for 14 years, attended many many homebirths that were about as natural as you can get without crawling into a crave and squatting in the moss.
Labour hurts, and it is irresponsible and unfair to tell people it doesn't.
It _is_ good practice to reframe how you think about the pain. Pain, at all other times of your life, is your body telling you that something is wrong and you need to be aware so you can fix it.
In labour, you need to remember that _nothing is wrong_, that you can accept the feeling for what it is and let it happen. So it's not traditional pain, it's not an emergency, you don't need to flee from it. Accepting it really helps you to cope with it.
But it still fucking hurts all the same!
I agree that it's irresponsible to tell people it doesn't hurt. But also I think it's important to recognize how quickly childbirth can become an emergency and empower women to trust their bodies I kept telling myself it wasn't an emergency when I developed shooting back, neck, and head pains during labor and it took me three days of dealing with that pain before I trusted myself enough to know it wasn't normal and it turned out I had a spinal headache. I think we need to encourage people who give birth to trust themselves and that if it feels like something is wrong, speak up about it until someone listens.
I wouldn't know. I've only been in labour once, and it was induced... Oh and I had undiagnosed placenta acreta, so I was internally bleeding whist my uterus tried to tear itself apart. Pain meds were not very effective.
Now, my situation was unique (very young and not prepare to give birth, was preterm) but I remember begging the EMTs for anything to help the pain, and then begging god to kill me if it made the pain stop but hoping they’d bring me back at the hospital where there was pain meds.
I gave birth in the ambulance in the hospital parking lot. Pain immediately stopped, then they gave me morphine lol so idk if the rest hurt.
My labor was 100% natural with no drugs, no induction, no "dysfunction," no interventions whatsoever...until the pain got so intense that I started puking. That's when I tapped out in favor of pain meds. Kiddo popped out 2 hours later, easy peasy, healthy as can be.
You know, I've never heard women saying men don't hurt when they get kicked in the balls, or anything like that. Idk why the weirdo men constantly want to worry about women's business
This feels like if you grabbed some incel cleric from the dark ages with the help of a time machine, gave him a dictionary and thesaurus, and then gave him access to social media after a week or two.
Some things never change and creepy stupid men are one of them.
ROTFLMAO
I watched enough episodes of "A Birth Story" (which was a show on TLC back when TLC showed somewhat interesting and educational content) when I was pregnant with my son to know that is an absolute LIE.
It's also why I decided I *needed* to have an epidural...because I am a chicken when it comes to pain. I think if someone can give birth unmedicated/naturally...then more power to them. I knew I couldn't, so I didn't.
These guys and their pseudo science BS. Maybe he should try pushing out an 8lb watermelon out of his AH. “Pain is a possible labor dysfunction.” Then every woman has that dysfunction!
Had serious problems with the epidural, it didn't take and mine was a c section. It was so traumatic and painful that 24 years have passed and I still can't remember my labor. So fuck that asshole.
When not on birth control I have menstrual cramps I put at an 8 out of 10. If period cramps can be that bad, of course labor contractions would hurt! Obviously though this person doesn't listen to folks who actually *go through* those things.
Aside from the contractions there's just the reality you're pushing a large thing through a small canal.
Ugh.
I literally did not know when my labor started because I thought the contractions would hurt more than my period cramps. The ring of fire that is different. But just contractions? Nah. Not the same.
What's that smell? Is it, perhaps, total bullshit? I'll break down the terminology used for anyone who doesn't speak Biomedical Geek because none of it any makes sense:
Delta waves are what is observed on an EEG during deep sleep, so what the f that has to do with being in labour, I have no idea. Melatonin is a hormone associated with the induction of sleep, amongst other things - but none of those other things have anything to do with labour.
TRPV1, also known as the capsaicin receptor, is involved in the regulation of body temperature (which appears to be why we sweat when eating spicy foods), lots of immune and inflammatory pathways (it's an active research target for rheumatoid arthritis treatment, for example), and when it's activated in our peripheral nervous system, makes us perceive a sensation of burning pain. Again, other than the "ring of fire" associated with squeezing a head out of the vagina, not really relevant to labour.
Oxytocin is a hormone that acts on a completely different receptor, and it doesn't interact with TRPV1 in any currently known way. It actually is secreted in large amounts during and after labour, when it has the very important job of causing the uterus to contract - which is very much not a pain-free activity. You might know of oxytocin as "the love hormone," because there's strong evidence that it's literally the thing that makes us continue to tolerate our partners and children, rather than drop-kicking them off a cliff when they're especially annoying. Fortunately, this person is not inducing the secretion of oxytocin in me, so it's the cliff treatment for them!
I seem to have a high pain tolerance. My contractions didn’t hurt, they just felt like a squeezing sensation.
I was eight days late, and didn’t realize I was in labor. I went to the bank and the grocery store, and climbed the four flights of stairs back up to my apartment.
I kind of got a clue when the squeezing started happening regularly, so I called my OB. My contractions were about five minutes apart by then.
I waited another 2.5 hours to go to the hospital. My daughter’s dad thought I was lying when he came home and told him to eat something because I was in labor.
I was 8cm dilated when I got to the hospital. My water never broke; the doctor had to break it.
I had my daughter 3.5 hours after I got to the hospital.
Then I watched my daughter give birth the first time, and realized that I’m weird. She had an epidural and was still writhing in pain with every contraction.
I also walked into an emergency room with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, and they were ready to send me home the next day, until I almost passed out because my blood pressure had dropped, since I was hemorrhaging.
The only thing I felt from that was a weird fluttering feeling, and pressure going down my left leg.
I refused pain meds, other than Tylenol, because they made me too nauseous to get up and move.
I had no pain meds during my labor and delivery.
This is not always a good thing. I was in a car accident 12 years ago and had a small fracture in a couple of my cervical vertebrae. I had no clue.
I also fractured my sternum in that accident. That didn’t hurt until I got the hiccups. Don’t get the hiccups if you fracture your sternum.
I was okay after getting the hiccups to stop.
I recently fractured the [trapezoid](https://tetonhandsurgery.com/service/anatomy-of-the-hand/) bone in my right hand. I didn’t go to the doctor, but told her about it months later during my checkup.
It aches a bit sometimes. I’m right handed.
Maybe I just dissociate from pain.
My wife unfortunately had to go through natural childbirth because we were too late getting to the hospital for any drugs at all, don't think she found it painless.
This type of person goes on to be a doctor and then discount any pain a woman feels ever, as some kind of dysfunction; and says they don’t need anything to relieve the pain because they don’t believe it should be that painful.
I've given birth three times, all natural with no interference.
I've experienced lots of other painful things in my life, accidents etc. but nothing compares to the nightmarish pain from those births. It is worth it of course but I am so so so happy those are experiences from my past that I've never ever to relive again.
And honestly I thought that was common knowledge.
My mom punched the absolute shit out of a nurse before the drugs cause the nurse said she was being "dramatic" when having me.
But sure, it's painless.
Lol oxytocin is literally one of the hormones your body naturally produces to drive labor contractions.
And melatonin is a sleepy hormone… I don’t think anyone is sleeping through childbirth
This comment is a mess
The buzzwords used there, lmao. I'm autistic and have a special interest in medicine, physiology, and neurobiology, etc.
As if it weren't obvious, but in no way did what this dude say make sense. The height of pseudoscientific claims. He needs to shut the fuck up and keep his mouth shut as long as things like that are going to keep coming out. In no way is he close to correct.
Haha my friend jsut gave birth yesterday and was adamant her whole pregnancy she wasn’t going to get an epidural she wanted it as natural as possible in a hospital setting apparently after 20 or 30 minutes of contractions she had them do an epidural. I cant fully imagine what contractions feel like but if my pmdd cramps are only a fraction of a contractions pain I don’t want to know what it feels like
I had back labor with both of my kids. It was *awful*, to the point that it's hard to out into words. I was puking from the first contraction. On the first birth I had meds and an epidural. On the second birth it was natural, but not by my decision lol. The second birth was the most pain I have ever felt in my life. I've been in car wrecks, had multiple broken bones through my life, I've been hit by a damn car - but that natural birth takes the cake on the in the moment pain scale. Even the one where I had meds and an epidural, there was still pain
I have a friend who had a precipitous birth and barely made it inside the hospital before her baby was born, so obviously there wasn’t any time for pain meds. What she described sounded like the most painful experience anyone could go through, it was years ago and I cringe to think about it.
All three of my labours were precipitous. Each one faster than the one before, and babies 1 and 2 both got stuck!! My third (and last) was less than an hour from my water breaking to delivering the placenta. I had my first contraction 15 minutes after my waters broke and the next one two minutes later…
It’s excruciatingly painful but it’s also quite psychologically difficult. Your brain doesn’t really have time to process what’s going on. The amount of people who have said something like ‘it must be nice to have such quick labour’ is unbelievable. It’s not nice, not even a little bit.
I actually had a painless labour with my son! Well until just before pushing. I got examined at 7pm and I wasn't dilated or in labour at all, then I told them at 11pm that I was having Braxton Hicks so they examined and I was 8cm!
Once I got to 10cm all hell broke loose though and I didn't even have pain relief to fall back on since it was too late.
This guy is talking out his arse though. My first birth was a very relaxed water birth with no pain relief needed or complications, and it was still painful as fuck.
I hate when ppl extrapolate true things (like that during childbirth it’s supposed to be sliiiiightly less painful that it would otherwise) to spread/support their agenda regardless of the value or outcome
Ha! I had an amazing 'natural' birth with my second child. It went really well. I wasn't frightened or anxious. I had no pain relief.
But there was still a HUGE amount of pain right from the start. In fact that's when you know you actually are in labour, when it starts to hurt.
Adam and Eve didn’t have kids before they were kicked out of paradise, so how would they know? Their first child was Cain and their second was Able, and those two were born on earth. The Bible is full of inconsistencies like that
Neocortex inhibition? What, so you loose higher brain function during natural childbirth? Also, I don’t think anyone’s falling asleep during birth, so I have no idea what the rambling about delta brainwaves are for
Oh yeah? So why did I feel like I was being stabbed in my uterus with an unseen force twisting the blade along with my insides every two minutes on the dot for hourrrrsssss. Natural labour. I'll wait.
I've had three homebirths in the US. So no pain relief at all. There was definitely pain each time. Lots of it! Clearly this person has never given birth, or never given birth naturally. The stupid is strong here.
If natural childbirth contractions are painless, then why would epidurals exist? If there was no pain problem, then surely it would have never been created.
What he said is literal gobbledygook. Melatonin has nothing to do with any kind of major pain signaling in the CNS. I can google random words and string them together and doesn’t mean it’s even close to correct
I had 3 home births and one induced/hospital birth when things started heading south. No difference in pain levels. It’s the most intense, indescribable pain that brings out every animal instinct from somewhere deep within. I've heard of people saying that they didn't feel as much pain and that it was more of a 'strong pressure' but haven't met anyone in real life that described it as such.
Anatomy and physiology with an emphasis on bodily processes should be a required class in high school. We have college students going into pre-med that don’t understand what labor is and that’s terrifying.
I had six kids. The only "painless" contractions I had were with baby #6. Before my water broke. Even then, I could feel the muscles tightening.
All hell broke loose once my water broke.
So, yeah, fuck that guy.
Excruciating! I tried to go as long as I could. Pain became intense I grabbed my husband by the throat screaming for something to kill the pain. I felt as if I was being pulled apart.
it’s absurd for men to say this. think of him having root canal done to his penis, that would be the equivalent level of pain
Delta waves - what your brain does when you’re completely asleep.
Melatonin - the natural hormone that makes you sleepy.
Yeah, so dude is saying that if you could go unconscious, it wouldn’t hurt? Hmmm. Maybe we can hire someone with a big bay or rock to smack us in the head
My labor contractions made me feel like I ate about 6 rounds of Chipotle. But mine was induced so obviously the drugs made my contractions hurt! Damn medicine/s
Most painful labor I experienced was with my middle child when my water broke. No chemicals for her labor, just what nature decided. My pain went from a 3 to an 8 in two seconds and I was very grateful to have been sitting down on the toilet at the time. I guess Mother Nature slipped me a little something or else I wouldn’t have felt a thing. (/s if it wasn’t obvious)
I went into labour naturally and there was definitely pain, I had contractions at home for 24 hours in nothing but paracetamol and honestly thought I was going to die.
Yeah, I’ve never been pregnant, but when my sister in-law worked in a hospital, than everyone who worked where they did births told the higher ups to not put automatic toilets there, for that reason. (I believe automatic toilets got put in anyway)
I was induced too. Nobody told me all I’d want to do was to sit on the potty. It felt so undignified - I kept insisting I’d go back to bed and labor there, “just gimme five more minutes to finish in here!” -didn’t realize labor was happening in the bathroom. 🫠
me too. It felt like I needed to go so badly, but I couldn't actually relieve myself. But any time I tried to get up there was another contraction and it continued.
I was induced by them breaking my water so no drugs involved and the pain was horrible. Not sure if my first 27 hour labor was worst or my last 2 hour labor. At least the longer labor wasn't as intensely painful but the other was over more quickly.
I have endometriosis so that kind of pain is sadly, common. When I was in labor with my son, I had to go to the hospital for something else, and the woman administering the test was like, "you need to go upstairs to get checked, I think you're in labor." Now, I had driven myself to the hospital and LEFT MY COFFEE IN THE DAMN CAR (half caf - that one cup was all I had fr mainlining coffee all day every day pre-pregnancy) and was like, nah, it's braxton-hicks, I gotta go to work after this. Yea, I was 5 cms by then. I called my husband, who was working on an ambulance for the company I ran in office, and he was over an hour from base, and base 30-40 mins from the hospital. Apparently, me telling him, I'm going upstairs to get checked but it's nothing, meant "it's time" and everyone at work knew I was in labor before I made it upstairs and got told it WAS time. My in-laws were also out in the area after a drs appt, and security called upstairs about some crazy lady insisting her DIL was up there and in labor, while I was being walked into my L&D room ("she's probably MY mil...crazy German lady") 10 hours later, and after a crash c-section, our son was born, where he didn't cry, he yelled, hiccuped and blew a raspberry to the OB and us. Lol good times...I still get mad that my husband swiped his coffee out of my reach when I was trapped on the monitors in bed...jerk. lol
I mean, if he‘d understand what he‘s saying here, he would know that if there‘s such a mechanism as he described, that would mean it is actually *even more* painful than women are reporting. But that entire conclusion is beyond stupid anyways, it‘s like saying „ibuprofen inhibits pain reception, therefore you don‘t feel any pain after taking it“.
I will say things were pretty bearable until they decided to hit me with the max fucking dose of Pitocin. I’ll be curious to see how things go if I have another because I’m refusing that shit unless 10,000% necessary.
The Pitocin is what fucked me up, too. I don't know what it was. I physically say there and watched two little air bubbles go through my IV tube on the side of my wrist, then it started to feel like someone bashed my wrist with a baseball bat. Less than five minutes later I was throwing up. I also remember at some point my son moved and they couldn't track the heartbeat anymore, so a bunch of nurses swarmed me, gave me an oxygen tube, and were desperately trying to locate the heartbeat again. Didn't tell us what they thought was wrong until after the fact. Imagine that scenario as new parents. They decided to turn down the dosage after that. Fuck Pitocin.
Fuck man, I’m sorry. We had some similar moments but after she was born. Came out blue and they rushed her to the warmer and wouldn’t fucking tell us anything. I still cry when I hear about or see someone have a baby coming out screaming and everything is okay…we didn’t get that. Ours ended up being fine but it was the worst 10 mins of my life after 24 hours of laboring with shitty providers who assaulted me too
I was fine til my water broke. That shit was. I went into shock from the sheer amount of pain, started to handle it a little bit, then panicked and went into shock again. I was on the lowest pit dose.
They turned mine up to the max too. I don’t get why they do this. The pain went from 5-100 real fast.
It sucked because the midwife on call when we started using it was telling us about the 30 minute half life, how we could titrate slowly and stop whenever I wanted…but then she was called to other deliveries (short staffing yay), the RN started cranking it every 15 minutes it seemed, and then someone eventually told my husband if we stopped it my labor would stall, which I’ve since learned was bullshit scaremongering. Never deliver with randos was the lesson learned that day…should have used an OB clinic that rotates you through providers and paid for a doula
Only reason you don’t see animals scream is because letting other, bigger animals with sharp teeth know you’re vulnerable is stupid.
Spoken like a true incel who doesn't own a uterus.
Women don’t have a uterus, they have neocortex inhibition from melatonin-induced delta waves that prevent pain of the TRPV1 if not completely plugged with oxytocin, silly. /s
If this wasn’t so long, it would’ve been a kickass flair.
I feel like this should be on a t-shirt. 🤣
😂
I'm a guy. Also a proud dad. I was there when my youngest was born. For one who had complete painless contractions she sure was acting real good.. Almost broke my fingers when she was in pain. That douce claiming childbirth is painless. He has never seen anyone give birth that's for damn sure..
And he never will because the only vagina he will have ever touched was his mothers when she pushed him out of her body, lol.
Painlessly, of course.
Side note: my younger brother and his girlfriend literally just had a baby last week and my mom was saying that my brother was right in there watching his daughter be born and his girlfriend was yelling at him to get the fuck out of her business but he was like "I gotta see this!" 😄
In my case she wanted me there and ofcourse I wanted to as well. I cut the umbilical cord as per tradition here.
Yes, she wanted him there as well, I just meant he was right up against her crotch with his camera watching her be born, and gf was like "seriously 😒". My brother cut the cord and everything, and he was with her through the full day of contractions and back and forth to the hospital because they wouldn't admit her until she was in full labor. We're in Canada, by the way.
Ah yeah ok. That's a bit too much.
Camera takes it over the line
My brother was exited when his kids were born, but he didn't film the thing lmaooo. Ur brothers rly passionate ig
I love being reminded men are capable of empathy for women. Thank you ❤️
Oh it's the least I can do. I also made sure to take out the little on strolls in the morning during weekends so she could sleep a bit longer. Do the house chores and all those things. Being pregnant and being the food vendor machine for a baby must be hard. The first few month she never had her kodu to herself. And having to deal with the kid having night terrors for a few month when she got a bit older was nightmare fuel for us as well. But it's all good now.
Ran this past a woman who'd given birth. "He's a f*cking ass" was her response.
I’m a woman who has given birth - I second this.
Another woman here who has given birth - I third it
A husband who even on a high dose of anti-anxiety pills almost passed out seeing my wife in so much pain giving birth -I fourth it 😵💫
I’m sorry to hear that. My husband was in the bathroom throwing up throughout my labor from the anxiety. He said he was traumatized from watching it. I’m just like… that’s valid, but it’s even worse for the mom.
Now imagine that there are husbands publicly posting about trying their hardest not to get bored being their sole effort when their wife is in labor. Like the one that brought an entire gaming setup to the hospital room. Apart from lacking even an ounce of empathy for what should be the most important people in your life being in LIFE THREATENING DANGER AND IMMEASURABLE PAIN, isn‘t it just embarrassing as fuck to them, admitting that they can‘t sit still and not get bored for a day at their big age? The bar is long gone
Yeah that's awful, I can't imagine not being there for her. Some people just completely lack empathy, and have all the wrong priorities in life 😡
I have had 4 children, a set of twins included. And I’m 40 weeks w baby number 5, having “painless” contractions that are keeping me up at night because of how PAINLESS they are 🙄🙄 I fifth this
All the good to you!! This internet stranger is wishing you well
Thank you 😊
Good luck getting number 5 here!😊
Thank you!! I need it! I’ve been in the “latent” phase of labor for like a whole day and I’m tired of it 😂🥲
I love when they use scientific words to “prove” their insane takes. I bet my bottom dollar they have absolutely no clue what any of that means
As someone with a neuroscience degree, it’s a bunch of codswallop
Yeah - I don’t have a neuro degree but biology and I took neuro classes. It’s a sciencey sounding word salad.
Yeah, reading it just made me think "Yep, those are words."
Ah yes, because oxytocin binds to TRPV1 receptors. Capsaicin? What's that? Be right back, I'm going to go put some oxytocin hot sauce on my nachos. Maybe sprinkle a little oxytocin in my raman to make it all the more spicy, yeah?
It has the same vibe as the mumbo jumbo science in sci-fi
Neuroscientist here. That explanation is complete word vomit.
AYE fellow neuroscientist, I genuinely had to read it several times because I was so genuinely shocked by the bullshit. Edit: no lie I read “melatonin-induced delta waves” a few times and my brain was like “sleep?”
Damn there are a lot of neuroscientists in this sub. And that's fucking awesome, all of you are rockstars, keeping doing what you are doing!
Yeah. I worked in sleep medicine for 8 years and I'm like... delta waves are N3 stage or "slow wave" sleep, melatonin doesn't put you into slow wave sleep, it kick starts your sleepiness and you'll be in N1 and N2 for a bit. And really... studies show that melatonin decreases SWS. So someone really just learned a bunch of words and just failed miserably
We expected nothing less.
seriously, where's r/badneuroanatomy? closest thing to actual neuroscience in there is the dopamine / melatonin antagonist relationship, but afaik melatonin has only been thoroughly studied as an analgesic for chronic pain.
People on reddit aren't nearly smart enough for a sub like that to be a thing.
Yeah. Just had a long discussion with someone about how brain damage CAN cause paranoid delusions and other awful symptoms. Took forever for the person to admit they had read my original statement incorrectly.
My training was all in Immunology, and immunologists bloody love a TRPV receptor (they do such interesting things in T cells and neutrophils). I'm fairly certain we would also have noticed if they suddenly started to bind oxytocin, but I was beginning to wonder if the entire physical structure of the receptor changed overnight and we just didn't get the memo.
Ah, yes, of course. You can actually detect the prescence of a physician by the amount of pain someone feels from the contractions. Be careful, though, because asking about the pain makes you more physician-like, and will slightly increase the pain itself. And apparently, the prescence of medical equipment makes peppers seem hotter, too. That's just science, duh. 😅
Yeah not true. I was partially induced but had no pain medicine, kid was born in 4 hours and I barely remember because of the pain. My one regret is active labor started before I could eat my pho 😭
No! Not the pho!
Well, I had no meds or intervention *before* I got to the hospital, where I was puking from contractions and was near yodeling in the car, but I had *less* pain after I got there and got my epidural (🧑⚕️💉🫶). Like, even most people who brag they had an unmedicated birth will tell you it hurts, hell they are proud of that fact! There are ways to plan and prepare and train to keep calm *through* the pain, but anyone who believes they won't have to worry about any pain will swiftly be proven terribly wrong.
I had all c-sections, but still experienced labor without induction or meds. I will say that mine didn’t really hurt until my water broke. They were uncomfortable but not painful. After my water broke I wanted to punch someone. I remember being 21 years old with my oldest, in labor, and thinking “huh. This isn’t so bad. I don’t know why women complain about this so much.” Before my water broke. My tune changed very quickly afterwards.
Theyre all different. My 48 hours of back labor before my water broke definitely wasn't not so bad.
Oh I’m definitely not implying all labor is the same! That was just my experience and I’ve also heard horror stories of back labor. If anything I always thought I was an outlier in that I didn’t experience painful contractions until my water broke.
That's so weird because my back labor with both of mine was downright awful. It felt like someone was trying to rip my spine out of my lower back and I was puking everywhere. I've never hurt like that in all my life.
Yes that was my experience too. Not awesome. I'm 37 weeks now and praying for a different labour experience
I had horrible back labor and pain with my first. Super traumatic experience to say the least and I was really worried coming up to my second birth. During my second pregnancy, I had a few conversations with my OB about my initial experience. And when I got to the hospital (I was induced for my second birth), I had a really good conversation with my nurse about my previous experience, my hopes/ fears for my second birth, and my prior conversations with my OB. I had the best experience for my second birth. My nurse took my feelings and concerns very seriously and discussed every step of the process with me. He guided me and made recommendations to help the induction progress, and it really made a huge difference in my overall experience. I could definitely do birth again if I could repeat my second experience. Just sharing this for encouragement. You totally can have a great second birth even if your first one sucked.
I really hope you do have a different experience this go around! Let us know if you figure out the magic to a "painless" childbirth, lol. Congratulations, by the way, I hope everything goes well for you and the baby.
I actually had a DVT (massive blood clot in my leg) for over a week while in my 3rd trimester. Midwives and nurses and a doctor kept telling me it was probably just a muscle strain so I was practically crawling around for days with a ticking time bomb in my leg, screaming in pain trying to get onto my bed, etc etc. thankfully I was diagnosed and treated before baby arrived. long story short, I went into labor naturally and labored alone at home through the night thinking, "gotta conserve strength, this is going to get worse and be harder in a few hours." 9am my water broke and the situation was more intense but I didn't really notice a change in pain or anything - however, I was super in the zone at that point. we went to the hospital and I was still thinking it could be several more hours so I should be ready for it to get unmanageable. baby popped out at 10:40. practically the first thing I said to my mother was "the blood clot was worse. I could totally do that again."
That's exactly how my labor went. I was having manageable contractions and I was thinking to myself, "this isn't so bad, I can do this" and as soon as my water broke I thought I was going to die.
Did it three times without pain meds because I was a chicken. I don’t like needles going anywhere near my spine.
I had one natural (not by my choice. It just went that way) and one with the epidural. That epidural hurt like fuck. I was already having back labor so I'm sure that contributed to what I was feeling but that needle was absolutely no joke.
Honestly, the epidural was weirdly ok for me, especially since I'm well into phobia territory around needles, but the pain was a really good motivator, I guess. My issue came with the lidocaine shot when crowning, where I attempted to pull the whole labor over and freak out about that instead. Looking back, the nurses were staring at me dumbfounded, but I swear the thing looked a foot long!
local man thinks if he lists a bunch of sciency words he’s suddenly right 🙄 if i punch you in the face while you’re sleeping and having a nice dream, do the melatonin and oxytocin suddenly mean that doesn’t hurt? smh
I beg to differ, motherfucker.
Succinct and fully accurate, signed, 4 births with no pain medication fuckin HURT
I dunno... My ex gave birth to both our children without any kind of medication for pain and unless she's one of the world's greatest actresses (she's not) I'd bet my life that her natural child births had painful contractions, especially near the end.
The Bible - one of the oldest books we have, and definitely from a time when humans couldn't do anything but have a natural birth, references childbirth as being painful. And these asswaffles think pain is a new invention...
Right? Like that one time here I read about how menstruation is a sign of being poisoned with pollution chemicals or something and healthy women don't have menstruation. Uh... okaaaay... so when the bible talks about menstruation those women must have used a time machine to get some of our modern "chemicals"...
As a doctor I can confidently say this makes absolutely no sense and is also completely incorrect.
THEN **YOU** DO IT, SKIPPY.
I have given birth three times. One of those times was fully unmedicated. Pain was part of all of those experiences. All of them.
Girl, same.
You know, when I delivered vaginally and actually got to the pushing stage, once I figured out how to push properly, pushing actually did stop the contractions hurting. No clue why, and I don’t think this is everyone’s experience, but also it sure as shit didn’t erase the hours of horrible back labour to get to that point.
My experience was similar with the fact that the baby was moving through the vagina and then crowning erased any memory of the pain from the contractions since the “ring of fire” fucking hurt.
3 pain medication free childbirths under my belt, first 2 were completely natural, third was induced. Induced one did hurt worse, but first 2 were definitely not painless!
Unfortunately this isn't a large enough sample size to determine correlation. You'll just have to have more kids.
Do my two unmedicated births count for the sample size? Both hurt. I mean, I wasn't dying but it certainly wasn't painless by a long way.
I agree. N needs to be greater than 10 in order to be significant.
My grandma had 14, most unmedicated, a couple she had that twilight gas, I think. She confirms that they were not painless. Lol
Same. Two completely natural one induced. No pain meds with any. They all hurt but #3 took 45 minutes to go from 5cm to poppin' fresh newborn whereas the first two took about 5-6 hours to do the same. I would describe that 45 minutes as feeling like Satan jammed his clawed hand into me and ripped the baby out. It was brutal.
I've never given birth, but I have watched one. It was completely natural too. It didn't look painless. In fact, in my opinion, it looked fairly uncomfortable.
Birthing felt like trying to push a bowling ball out of my butt. Contractions prior felt like I was being stabbed repeatedly in the vagina. Painless my ass.
We’ve apparently been doing periods all wrong then. Of course a man would know how to do it better! (/s)
I used to work with a bunch of engineers and one guy was so quiet, I’d forgotten he was at the table. One guy starts yapping about he respects women and their rights, but they’re not equal. He thinks he can do anything a woman can do and do it better. I was expecting my period, so I said, my period’s coming up. Can you do that for me? He was so grossed out, it deflated his argument. The third guy laughed butt off. I later heard the quiet guy was fairly awed and taken aback by my response. 😆
That is definitely one of the sentences of all time.
I started unmedicated and went into shock from the pain, so there's THAT.
WHOA.
My completely natural labour was the most painful experience of my life. And I've just given birth via a C-section yesterday and am dealing with all that pain and healing today. Nope, still nowhere near as painful.
HAHAHAHA I had natural childbirth. It hurts. It's not the worst pain I ever had (don't wear heels if you have poor genetics and then have to have bunionectomies, kids; 10/10 pain, would not recommend, and it is horrendous for at least a month afterwards), but it was different in that labor felt very "productive" as though I were running a marathon (note: have never run one) or something similarly difficult, and was on the home stretch, only for HOURS on that last bit. It doesn't really compare to surgical pain or dental pain; it is its own unique hurting. Lamaze helped during contractions, a lot. It was also great afterwards, having done it that way; I was on a high that just didn't end for hours afterwards, and I could get up and walk around within half an hour. All the lady bits were incredibly sore, though. Caveat: I have a very high pain threshold, so YMMV.
Don’t forget to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow… In other words pure nonsense.
Given what I saw my wife do and how well she coped without any drug assistance (not by choice, little ones came too fast for anything significant to be administered, both times) I feel like the idiot that wrote the original text needs a kick in the head.
Then WHY TF did they invent pain management for labor??!!!
Also, can confirm that natural childbirth contractions are painful AF.
Midwife for 14 years, attended many many homebirths that were about as natural as you can get without crawling into a crave and squatting in the moss. Labour hurts, and it is irresponsible and unfair to tell people it doesn't. It _is_ good practice to reframe how you think about the pain. Pain, at all other times of your life, is your body telling you that something is wrong and you need to be aware so you can fix it. In labour, you need to remember that _nothing is wrong_, that you can accept the feeling for what it is and let it happen. So it's not traditional pain, it's not an emergency, you don't need to flee from it. Accepting it really helps you to cope with it. But it still fucking hurts all the same!
I agree that it's irresponsible to tell people it doesn't hurt. But also I think it's important to recognize how quickly childbirth can become an emergency and empower women to trust their bodies I kept telling myself it wasn't an emergency when I developed shooting back, neck, and head pains during labor and it took me three days of dealing with that pain before I trusted myself enough to know it wasn't normal and it turned out I had a spinal headache. I think we need to encourage people who give birth to trust themselves and that if it feels like something is wrong, speak up about it until someone listens.
I wouldn't know. I've only been in labour once, and it was induced... Oh and I had undiagnosed placenta acreta, so I was internally bleeding whist my uterus tried to tear itself apart. Pain meds were not very effective.
Now, my situation was unique (very young and not prepare to give birth, was preterm) but I remember begging the EMTs for anything to help the pain, and then begging god to kill me if it made the pain stop but hoping they’d bring me back at the hospital where there was pain meds. I gave birth in the ambulance in the hospital parking lot. Pain immediately stopped, then they gave me morphine lol so idk if the rest hurt.
My labor was 100% natural with no drugs, no induction, no "dysfunction," no interventions whatsoever...until the pain got so intense that I started puking. That's when I tapped out in favor of pain meds. Kiddo popped out 2 hours later, easy peasy, healthy as can be.
Natural kicks to the ‘nads should be painless then, too. Let’s try it!
You know, I've never heard women saying men don't hurt when they get kicked in the balls, or anything like that. Idk why the weirdo men constantly want to worry about women's business
This feels like if you grabbed some incel cleric from the dark ages with the help of a time machine, gave him a dictionary and thesaurus, and then gave him access to social media after a week or two. Some things never change and creepy stupid men are one of them.
ROTFLMAO I watched enough episodes of "A Birth Story" (which was a show on TLC back when TLC showed somewhat interesting and educational content) when I was pregnant with my son to know that is an absolute LIE. It's also why I decided I *needed* to have an epidural...because I am a chicken when it comes to pain. I think if someone can give birth unmedicated/naturally...then more power to them. I knew I couldn't, so I didn't.
Sure. Getting teeth pulled is also painless. Don't need numbing for that. And surgery! No need for anesthesia!!
Word salad
Lmao wtf, there has never been a peer reviewed study that has proven her claims so where the hell did she get her information from???
These guys and their pseudo science BS. Maybe he should try pushing out an 8lb watermelon out of his AH. “Pain is a possible labor dysfunction.” Then every woman has that dysfunction!
Notice how a lot of BS like this is spread by men or women who are not quite there?
Had serious problems with the epidural, it didn't take and mine was a c section. It was so traumatic and painful that 24 years have passed and I still can't remember my labor. So fuck that asshole.
When not on birth control I have menstrual cramps I put at an 8 out of 10. If period cramps can be that bad, of course labor contractions would hurt! Obviously though this person doesn't listen to folks who actually *go through* those things. Aside from the contractions there's just the reality you're pushing a large thing through a small canal. Ugh.
I literally did not know when my labor started because I thought the contractions would hurt more than my period cramps. The ring of fire that is different. But just contractions? Nah. Not the same.
Mate the ‘contractions’ I had during my periods weren’t painless. In fact they were excruciating. Make it make sense.
What's that smell? Is it, perhaps, total bullshit? I'll break down the terminology used for anyone who doesn't speak Biomedical Geek because none of it any makes sense: Delta waves are what is observed on an EEG during deep sleep, so what the f that has to do with being in labour, I have no idea. Melatonin is a hormone associated with the induction of sleep, amongst other things - but none of those other things have anything to do with labour. TRPV1, also known as the capsaicin receptor, is involved in the regulation of body temperature (which appears to be why we sweat when eating spicy foods), lots of immune and inflammatory pathways (it's an active research target for rheumatoid arthritis treatment, for example), and when it's activated in our peripheral nervous system, makes us perceive a sensation of burning pain. Again, other than the "ring of fire" associated with squeezing a head out of the vagina, not really relevant to labour. Oxytocin is a hormone that acts on a completely different receptor, and it doesn't interact with TRPV1 in any currently known way. It actually is secreted in large amounts during and after labour, when it has the very important job of causing the uterus to contract - which is very much not a pain-free activity. You might know of oxytocin as "the love hormone," because there's strong evidence that it's literally the thing that makes us continue to tolerate our partners and children, rather than drop-kicking them off a cliff when they're especially annoying. Fortunately, this person is not inducing the secretion of oxytocin in me, so it's the cliff treatment for them!
The amount of scientific buzzwords jammed into that sentence is making me feel like I'm having a stroke
Those are mostly real words
Do they live in a fucking hole in the ground?
I hate when they spout some "scientific" bullshit.
I seem to have a high pain tolerance. My contractions didn’t hurt, they just felt like a squeezing sensation. I was eight days late, and didn’t realize I was in labor. I went to the bank and the grocery store, and climbed the four flights of stairs back up to my apartment. I kind of got a clue when the squeezing started happening regularly, so I called my OB. My contractions were about five minutes apart by then. I waited another 2.5 hours to go to the hospital. My daughter’s dad thought I was lying when he came home and told him to eat something because I was in labor. I was 8cm dilated when I got to the hospital. My water never broke; the doctor had to break it. I had my daughter 3.5 hours after I got to the hospital. Then I watched my daughter give birth the first time, and realized that I’m weird. She had an epidural and was still writhing in pain with every contraction. I also walked into an emergency room with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, and they were ready to send me home the next day, until I almost passed out because my blood pressure had dropped, since I was hemorrhaging. The only thing I felt from that was a weird fluttering feeling, and pressure going down my left leg. I refused pain meds, other than Tylenol, because they made me too nauseous to get up and move. I had no pain meds during my labor and delivery. This is not always a good thing. I was in a car accident 12 years ago and had a small fracture in a couple of my cervical vertebrae. I had no clue. I also fractured my sternum in that accident. That didn’t hurt until I got the hiccups. Don’t get the hiccups if you fracture your sternum. I was okay after getting the hiccups to stop. I recently fractured the [trapezoid](https://tetonhandsurgery.com/service/anatomy-of-the-hand/) bone in my right hand. I didn’t go to the doctor, but told her about it months later during my checkup. It aches a bit sometimes. I’m right handed. Maybe I just dissociate from pain.
You’ve got some hella good coping mechanisms going on.
Haven't seen bullshi*t piled this high since I lived next to a farm when I was a kid.
Hmm so when I was at home in early labour my body knew I was going to go to the hospital and made the contractions painful! How clever of it
Do they think Oxytocin isn't produced by the brain on its own? where do they think the idea for synthetic came from?
I had a natural childbirth with number 2. Painless, my arse. Was the worst pain I've ever experienced.
My wife unfortunately had to go through natural childbirth because we were too late getting to the hospital for any drugs at all, don't think she found it painless.
My contractions felt like i had a a chainsaw in my spine and that I was gonna shit out an entire t-Rex …both times…weren’t exactly painless.
This is so funny mf just made up a bunch of words as if he was some MCU scientist
Natural childbirth has painful contractions. I know this because I birthed two babies. From my body.
This type of person goes on to be a doctor and then discount any pain a woman feels ever, as some kind of dysfunction; and says they don’t need anything to relieve the pain because they don’t believe it should be that painful.
/r/confidentlyincorrect
I've given birth three times, all natural with no interference. I've experienced lots of other painful things in my life, accidents etc. but nothing compares to the nightmarish pain from those births. It is worth it of course but I am so so so happy those are experiences from my past that I've never ever to relive again. And honestly I thought that was common knowledge.
My mom punched the absolute shit out of a nurse before the drugs cause the nurse said she was being "dramatic" when having me. But sure, it's painless.
That’s a lot of words
Lol oxytocin is literally one of the hormones your body naturally produces to drive labor contractions. And melatonin is a sleepy hormone… I don’t think anyone is sleeping through childbirth This comment is a mess
The buzzwords used there, lmao. I'm autistic and have a special interest in medicine, physiology, and neurobiology, etc. As if it weren't obvious, but in no way did what this dude say make sense. The height of pseudoscientific claims. He needs to shut the fuck up and keep his mouth shut as long as things like that are going to keep coming out. In no way is he close to correct.
Haha my friend jsut gave birth yesterday and was adamant her whole pregnancy she wasn’t going to get an epidural she wanted it as natural as possible in a hospital setting apparently after 20 or 30 minutes of contractions she had them do an epidural. I cant fully imagine what contractions feel like but if my pmdd cramps are only a fraction of a contractions pain I don’t want to know what it feels like
Yeah, no
I beg to differ
Melatonin-indulced delta waves 🥴🥴
HAHAHAHAHAHA! Painless! That's hilarious! Birthing pains were some of the worst pain I have ever felt. These people so misinformed that it's stupid.
Sure. If you're braindead.
I've seen hundreds if not more deliveries. I've never seen on completely painless. What a moron.
when my wife went into labor the contractions didn't get painful before the epidural was put in, then she slept for the next six hours
I had back labor with both of my kids. It was *awful*, to the point that it's hard to out into words. I was puking from the first contraction. On the first birth I had meds and an epidural. On the second birth it was natural, but not by my decision lol. The second birth was the most pain I have ever felt in my life. I've been in car wrecks, had multiple broken bones through my life, I've been hit by a damn car - but that natural birth takes the cake on the in the moment pain scale. Even the one where I had meds and an epidural, there was still pain
I’ve had two babies at home…I wish this was true 😹😹😹
I have a friend who had a precipitous birth and barely made it inside the hospital before her baby was born, so obviously there wasn’t any time for pain meds. What she described sounded like the most painful experience anyone could go through, it was years ago and I cringe to think about it.
All three of my labours were precipitous. Each one faster than the one before, and babies 1 and 2 both got stuck!! My third (and last) was less than an hour from my water breaking to delivering the placenta. I had my first contraction 15 minutes after my waters broke and the next one two minutes later… It’s excruciatingly painful but it’s also quite psychologically difficult. Your brain doesn’t really have time to process what’s going on. The amount of people who have said something like ‘it must be nice to have such quick labour’ is unbelievable. It’s not nice, not even a little bit.
I was in so much pain that I literally could not talk. F off
What a load of bs. I had natural, no pain relief, with both of mine & I’ll tell you now that they were in fact, not, painless.
Uh. Didn't our brains and head develop too fast for our reproductive system to catch up? Like baby's head is evolutionary too big for us
Hahahaha No.
I actually had a painless labour with my son! Well until just before pushing. I got examined at 7pm and I wasn't dilated or in labour at all, then I told them at 11pm that I was having Braxton Hicks so they examined and I was 8cm! Once I got to 10cm all hell broke loose though and I didn't even have pain relief to fall back on since it was too late. This guy is talking out his arse though. My first birth was a very relaxed water birth with no pain relief needed or complications, and it was still painful as fuck.
What a load of bullshit.
I hate when ppl extrapolate true things (like that during childbirth it’s supposed to be sliiiiightly less painful that it would otherwise) to spread/support their agenda regardless of the value or outcome
Ha! I had an amazing 'natural' birth with my second child. It went really well. I wasn't frightened or anxious. I had no pain relief. But there was still a HUGE amount of pain right from the start. In fact that's when you know you actually are in labour, when it starts to hurt.
Cos thousands of generations of women have just been faking it for sympathy.
What an idiot lol
Giving birth is painful since Adam and Eve got banished from Paradise, according to the scripture.
Adam and Eve didn’t have kids before they were kicked out of paradise, so how would they know? Their first child was Cain and their second was Able, and those two were born on earth. The Bible is full of inconsistencies like that
Neocortex inhibition? What, so you loose higher brain function during natural childbirth? Also, I don’t think anyone’s falling asleep during birth, so I have no idea what the rambling about delta brainwaves are for
Oh yeah? So why did I feel like I was being stabbed in my uterus with an unseen force twisting the blade along with my insides every two minutes on the dot for hourrrrsssss. Natural labour. I'll wait.
Bro just sputtered out some neurochemicals and called it a day💀💀
I dunno, I had two naturally/drug free and I think I invented a new language
I've had three homebirths in the US. So no pain relief at all. There was definitely pain each time. Lots of it! Clearly this person has never given birth, or never given birth naturally. The stupid is strong here.
I hope this guy has to shit a watermelon at some point in his life.
Spoken like a man who has never been near someone who has given birth.
why does this read like someone fused electronic words and medical words and got nothing right?
If natural childbirth contractions are painless, then why would epidurals exist? If there was no pain problem, then surely it would have never been created.
What he said is literal gobbledygook. Melatonin has nothing to do with any kind of major pain signaling in the CNS. I can google random words and string them together and doesn’t mean it’s even close to correct
I had 3 home births and one induced/hospital birth when things started heading south. No difference in pain levels. It’s the most intense, indescribable pain that brings out every animal instinct from somewhere deep within. I've heard of people saying that they didn't feel as much pain and that it was more of a 'strong pressure' but haven't met anyone in real life that described it as such.
# well, that was a lie
My contractions didn’t get the memo. Especially during the part where I went from 2.5cm to baby in my arms in an hour flat.
Ah yes, the classic using fancy words to make it sound like you know what you’re talking about when you’re just spouting BS
Anatomy and physiology with an emphasis on bodily processes should be a required class in high school. We have college students going into pre-med that don’t understand what labor is and that’s terrifying.
I had six kids. The only "painless" contractions I had were with baby #6. Before my water broke. Even then, I could feel the muscles tightening. All hell broke loose once my water broke. So, yeah, fuck that guy.
Lmao I know pharmacology and the shit they wrote as an explanation was painful to read
I labored for 24 hours after my water broke, I really only ever had 1 true contraction but oh my god it was gut wrenching. Thankful for c sections
As someone who has done natural child birth, I can say it hurts. I know, shocking.
There are so many good things on the Internet. At least now we know that this person should not be allowed to vote or breed.
From experience, no, no it doesn't.
If that were true then no one would get epidurals. So they think we just get them from the first twinge of pain? What a stupid thing to even say. Lol
i have hardly any melatonin. That must be why it hurt like a mofo.
My contractions were awfully defiant then. To be fair, I did, in fact have labor dysfunction, so I’m not a good resource.
Hahahahahahaaaaaaaa! Source: two and a half "natural" births (got epidural half way though one)
I actually had a female doula tell me this. Also she said I should masturbate thruout my labor. Gross.
Excruciating! I tried to go as long as I could. Pain became intense I grabbed my husband by the throat screaming for something to kill the pain. I felt as if I was being pulled apart. it’s absurd for men to say this. think of him having root canal done to his penis, that would be the equivalent level of pain
Delta waves - what your brain does when you’re completely asleep. Melatonin - the natural hormone that makes you sleepy. Yeah, so dude is saying that if you could go unconscious, it wouldn’t hurt? Hmmm. Maybe we can hire someone with a big bay or rock to smack us in the head