Contractions – What Do Contractions Feel Like?

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What Do Contractions Feel Like?

If you ask a woman ‘what do contractions feel like?’, you may get a ‘deep in thought’ or confused look back. This is because describing a contraction is something that women can find really difficult – I liken it to trying to describe an orgasm, something else which women can struggle to explain!

Experiences of contractions and labour pain can vary a great deal from one woman to the next and one labour to the next, and so many factors contribute to what a woman is feeling.

For example, if a baby is in posterior position (their back lined up against your back) then the mother may feel intense back pain on top of normal labour pains, which adds to their account of what labour feels like.

Some women may have done Calmbirth or Hypnobirth classes and deal really well with the contractions, reporting feeling minimal pain. On the other hand, some women feel all sorts of things in labour – nauseous, hot, (and!) cold, tired, aching legs, pubic pain, cramps, all of the above… well, you get the picture!!!

Also adding to feelings of a painful labour is the fact that a woman may have laboured on her back, which is a more painful (and dysfunctional) way to labour – or she may have been been induced. So before you buy into the endless horror stories that come flying your way as soon as you announce that you’re pregnant, remember that there are so many variations of labour and labour environments, and women have different levels of birth education, preparation, fitness/health, birth support (partner, family, doula etc), carers with certain philosophies (which may sadly dictate the course of her birth), family of origin stories, as well as her and her partner’s perceptions of pain and what that means in labour.

Fear also increases the amount of pain we feel. How? Fear causes tension, tension causes pain. It’s important to be as loose and relaxed as you can be in labour, being tight and tense in your muscles intensifies everything else.

Given that we now lead a very sedentary lifestyle, we don’t push ourselves physically like we used to, so the endurance and stamina involved with labour can be more of a shock – and the result has been women seeking pain relief much sooner than usual. But it needn’t be that way with good education, birth skills and preparation. Labour is exactly that – labour – and it needs to be approached like a marathon! Pace yourself, taking it one contraction at a time and knowing that it wont be easy, but it sure as heck will be worth it.

Doulas are truly worth their weight in gold – consider hiring one or if money is tight there are plenty of keen student doulas available for a reduced fee. Studies continuously show that when giving birth with a doula, labours are generally shorter, less pain relief is requested, mum and dad are more satisfied with the outcome. Because doulas don’t work for the hospitals but themselves, it is a huge benefit – a review of doula studies concluded that a doula provides more effective birth support than hospital staff or the mother’s family. This is because she is trained and experienced in birth (not medically, that is the doctor or midwives role), provides continuous care, is known to you (not a stranger) and is hired by you – so she supports your wishes and plans. You can find a great Australian doula in our directory here – just click your state to filter the results.

So with all that in mind, I asked some BellyBelly forum members to tell us what labour pain felt like to them!

Cailin’s Experience Of Contractions

“Contractions to me are like period pain – the most painful type of period pain, but unlike period pain they have a pattern. With period pain it is consistent and in most cases all over. However I personally found that it came in waves across my tummy and it would rise peak and then ease off towards the end of a contraction. Sometimes other pains would add to the contraction like back pain or pelvic pain but overall the contraction pains are a separate feeling, in my opinion.”

Lucy’s Experience Of Contractions

“For me, contractions felt like this: imagine you are REALLY thirsty, and you finally get your hands on a bottle of water. That drink bottle gets tipped your lips and you drink as if your life depends upon it. You know how the drink bottle contacts in, as you gulp? And with each gulp it contracts more? Until you finally lower the bottle to take a breath yourself? And the water bottle then relaxes and goes back to normal?

I was lucky… I never felt that my contractions actually hurt all that much. But the tightening sensation was out of this world."

Sam’s Experience Of Contractions

“I would describe contractions to be like a cross between a stitch and the worst pain you get when you have gastro x 100 low down in in the pubic bone and in my bum.

They start and I feel my heart begin to pound and I feel a tightening in my body. They build to a peak when I can’t talk or think about anything, then they begin to ebb and fade away. Between contractions I don’t think about the pain and relax a bit till that next time my heart begins pounding again."

Shannon’s Experience Of Contractions

“A contraction starts off with a small tingle somewhere in the middle of the torso, I assume this is at the top of the uterus, it grows and grows, feeding the surrounding muscles with a cramp like feeling, which radiates and spreads to the back down near the tailbone and starts to ‘bite’ into the muscles like someone is pinching on the spine. It is like a tide which pushes and pushes up and up in intensity while you breathe through it in big deep breaths, until you can feel it ‘let go’ and start to recede back down again, and even though this takes longer than one would like, at least you know that it’s coming to an end and you can feel the release. It leaves a tingling feeling for a few seconds afterward, but then vanishes completely. I would say it feels like someone rubbing the top of your baby bump, then hands grabbing your belly and starting to squeeze, harder and harder, and after a few seconds of this, someone else putting their elbow in your back on your spine and pushing and pushing harder and harder, then it all releasing and things going in reverse again until there is no pain. They are relatively predictable and you can know pretty much how long until the intensity increases, then how long until the apex, then how long until it starts to ease off, then how long until the end of it, although it does change slightly as you progress, you can pretty much predict it contraction to contraction and allow for the slight changes.”

Chloe’s Experience Of Contractions

To be honest I don’t have a good memory for anything that is painful – I just block it out. When I was in labour with Imran I felt alot of back pain.

For me early contractions feel a bit like period pain, kind of achy and some lower back pain. The later more intense contractions kind of felt like someone is digging their elbow into your back only more wide spread – kind of like lots of elbows spread out evenly. When I had Yasin the final pushing contraction felt a bit like doing the world’s biggest poo."

Melanie’s Experience Of Contractions

“Contractions start like the tummy cramps you get with an upset belly. They come every few minutes and make being upright uncomfortable. Then very soon they are so much more intense that they are completely overwhelming. And they are more frequent, so that there is no time to recover from one before the next hits. Soon getting through the wave of pain is the only focus. You long just for a few minutes to rest but then before the thought is fully formed; there is that all-encompassing pain again. But then it is time to push and the thought pushes into my brain, ‘I am actually helping myself to split in two’. The pain, discomfort and focus of pushing overtake the pain of the contractions, and suddenly they are the lesser of two evils. Until there is a head to feel, lots of fluffy hair, and then another push and a husband saying “he has boy bits” and the relief (and joy) is so complete. And I am so glad that I have done it, given birth without pain relief, but at the same time knowing that it’s not something I ever want to do again. 24 hours later though, I’ve changed my mind and decided I want another baby!"

What Did Contractions Feel Like For You?

Share your story in the comments below.



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