I'm pregnant, and I keep hearing awful birth stories!

I swear people just LOVE to tell pregnant women horror stories!! Here's some non-horror labor stories for you: A friend of mine just had her baby a few weeks ago, at home. She delivered with just her, her husband, and a midwife there. Her family was on the way but the baby didn't want to wait for them. :) It was painful, of course, but very smooth. The baby had no problems, she had no complications. She said the best thing about the homebirth for her was that there was no one there to tell her "no" when she wanted to do something! She was able to eat (easy to swallow foods incase a contraction came on while she had food in her mouth so she wouldn't choke), walk, move around, change positions, etc. She did most of her laboring on all fours as that was most comfortable for her. She was in active labor for only an hour! Another friend of mine had her baby a few months ago in the hospital. She did have an epidural but no complications. She was in active labor for about 7 hours. Both her and the baby were great. My mom had me in the hospital with no epidural. This was back in the early 80s. She didn't even know she was in labor because I was pinching a nerve. She felt one hard contraction when I came off of the nerve, pushed and there I was! Luckily she had gone to the doctor's to get checked out since she was 10 days late or I'd have been born in the mall! (btw - by that "luckily..." comment I in no way mean you shouldn't have your baby at home. Thats great...but I think even people who support homebirths and don't support hospital births will agree a mall is no place to have a baby, especially for someone who was not prepared to have a baby anywhere but the hospital!) Try to ignore people who tell your horror stories and when someone starts just tell them "I'm sorry, I'm trying to remain positive about my upcoming delivery and I really can't listen to stories like this right now." Its good to be aware of the risks and potential problems, but don't get wrapped up in them. Get wrapped up in how amazing it is going to be to hold your child for the first time! :) I don't have a personal story for you yet because my daughter won't be here utnil this summer. :) Congrats by the way!

i was terrified of going into labor because i thought it would be sooo painful... but as i went into labor (at first i didnt even realize i was in labor, just thought i was having braxton hix) it really wasnt that painful, just very annoying.. at the hospital i asked for the epadural (sp?) so that i could get some rest and sleep before i was going to have to give birth.. after they gave it to me i had a few naps and all was well :) about 1hr before i had to start pushing my son out the epadural wore off! so i felt everything! and honestly after all was said and done and i was holding my little boy, none of the pain i had went through mattered anymore! it was well worth it (and not as bad as soo many ppl make it out to be).. you will be fine, dont worry yourself over it! and just remember when ur holding your baby for the first time, all the pain that you felt wont matter anymore!

With my second labour I was in fits of laughter as when they gave me the gas and they told me to pant like a puppy I could picture myself sitting like a puppy sits when it begs and panting. I was so surprised that this actually stopped the pain. I don't know if it was the image in my head or the fact that I was laughing that did it.

Every labor and delivery is differnt. Even the same woman giving birth any number of times, all will be different. Every woman handles pain differently. Is it painful? YES! Is it worth it? YES! The main factor here is that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and you can't be in labor forever. Enjoy every minute of it, don't go in scared, I think that makes it worse. Listen to music, that helps. My husband and I made a tape of our favorite songs and played that in the delivery room. I think that it is horrible to shared awful experience stories with a woman that is either pregnant or has never been pregnant. And in my opinion...Epidorals ROCK! I had 2 natural deliveries and one Epidoral, and I would have 35 kids if I could have epidorals with each one! One of my friends had 4 kids, all natural and loved it! Relax and enjoy!

I've had three, and all of them were wonderful roller coaster rides. I remember hearing the people I love in the room with me counting, and the looks on their faces when they saw the baby. I remember the amazing feeling of finally meeting that little person that I felt like I knew so well. I remember feeling scared, excited, uncomfortable, pain, ecstasy, awe, wonder, an amazing amount of love, and pride. Every birth story is different, and no matter how many you hear, none will be like yours, nor will any of them prepare you for yours. The most important thing I learned was to not expect a birth to go a specific way - things can change. Expect pain, expect beauty, and expect to meet the love of your life, and leave the rest in the hands of the powers that be. Enjoy every minute of it, welcome the pain as another step closer, try to really see your partner and coaches - their actions and reactions are priceless and can give a lot of relief and smiles, trust yourself and your body. Best of luck to you - and enjoy the last few weeks of pregnancy! This is the easy part :-)

it may sound wierd coz i'm a man. but i've witnessed my wife gave birth to our son. i saw her labor for 4-5 hours and yes i can see it was very hard. but after she gave birth and everything was fine. she told me she want to have a 2nd child when we're financially able to raise another one. so there. but honestly, i loved her even more just by watching her in agony for 4 hours now i have great respect to all the mothers in the world for bringing every child into this world.

I haven't had children but I have also heard terrible birth stories that do frighten me too!!! but I was watching somethng today that might be helpful. Someone was talking about being afraid of giving birth and another person said it woul be hard and painfulo but it was only for a day!!!! After that you will be a parent for life so the one day's pain and birthing is just the beginning of the nparenting phase. I thought that was a nice way to look at it!!! Good luck and allt he best with your birthing day, enjoy the moment, it is supposed to be the best thing ever

If it is your first time then you might be pleasantly surprised. I know that when I had my children I heard all sorts of stories that seemed pretty scary, so I took steps to have as much planning done before the event. Usually the birth process can be more frightening when you ahven't taken steps to exert a little control over the situation. I heard stories about 30 hour labors and the whole nine yards, only to have my labors be so fast that they didn't have time to administer anything for pain relief. I didn't actually FEEL my labors until I was dilated to about 8...baby crowns at 10. I always walked a couple of blocks to the hospital and didn't have my husband pull up to the emergency door..that was more due to my not really knowing how far I was with labor mind you. I stopped every couple of minutes to let a contraction pass, then continued the stroll. With my twins, I was still sitting up and talking when my contractions were lasting 90 secons and were coming pretty much every 2 or 3 minutes. I was timing them by watching the clock and didn't feel them at all and had no pain relievers. I didn't feel any contractions until about 15 minutes before the first twin crowned. So not everyone has a hard time with labor and delivery. Your experience will be unique to you. Just be sure you get things on your chart. With my twinds I asked that I have demerol just as soon as the second baby was clear from the umbilical chord, and they gave it to me. YOu will do fine...take your prenatal classes, study a little LaMaze in case you need it.

I think it's awful how negatively birth has been portrayed. A little girl told me the other day that she never wanted kids b/c it'd hurt too much. That's so sad. My birth was great. I was 13 days over "due" when I woke up at 4 AM with a crampy pelvis. It was kindof uncomfortable, so I thought that the baby had engaged. Then it went away..came back..went away..every 5 minutes. I took a shower to try to get it to stop. When it continued, I woke my husband up to tell him labor started. We went for a walk to the park and came back home around 7. We called my midwife & she said to just hang out for awhile and see what happens. My husband had to go to work at 8, so I was alone until 9. I think being alone made me freak out a little, not knowing what was gonna happen. He and my midwife came to the house at about 9:30..She checked me & said baby had engaged and I was at a 3 and that we should try to nap. We did nap for a couple of hours and then went for another walk. I was really nauseous, & when I threw up contractions intensified, so we called the midwife again. She came back & started setting up camp (I'd asked her to stay). All afternoon we walked around outside. That evening, they decided I needed to either sleep or work to get it going stronger (still 5 min apart), and I was ready & wanted to work. We found a tree with a branch sticking out just right for me to hang and "swing" from, so me and my husband labored there for hours..It was incredible. My contractions grew stronger as we worked, and we finally went inside. It was late, and the midwives lit lots of candles & turned my twinkly lights on. After some showers & squatting during contractions, sometime during the night I went into tranition. I knew it was transition b/c I just started sobbing! Contractions stayed pretty intense, and I met them with lots of low growling. I think that helped a whole lot, b/c I couldn't really feel them when I growled. My midwife said it was like "I'm gonna eat you alive, labor!" I thought "urge to push" meant "really want to push," so when she checked me early that morning and felt a teeeenny bit of tissue, she thought it might not be cervix since I really wanted to push. Everything got set up, and I pushed for about 30 min. It was then that we realized I didn't have *the* urge to push, and that it was cervix...The pushing made it swollen, and that was the first time I really felt like it hurt. I was discouraged, so, while laboring on the toilet(where I was for the most of it..backwards leaning on a pillow on the tank), she had me reach up and feel te baby's head. My water still hadn't broken, so it was squishy and amazing... That encouraged me so much, and we kept on with laboring. I started falling in and out of sleep, I was exhausted. After dozing outside, I decided I wanted to be inside with my head on my husband's lap so I could sleep. It wasn't 2 contractions and I realized my body was pushing all on it's own. I'd bury my head in his lap & when it was over look to my midwife for some sign that we could push the baby out, and she'd just smile. My exhaustion told me she hated me, but now I know she was letting my body guide. A couple contracions later & we moved to the bathroom so I could pee before pushing. Once in there, she had me pushing at the peak and breathing through the rest. I was just sure baby was RIGHT there, so I kept saying I wasn't gonna leave the bathroom. She kept saying, "You don't wanna have your baby in the bathroom! There are plenty of beautiful births in the bathroom, but not yours." She was right. We waddled into the living room where I leaned against my husband and pushed my water bag & 8.5 lb baby boy out shortly thereafter. As he was coming out, his hand was by hs face. My midwife reached inside to sweep his hand away and he grabbed her finger! She said that was the first time that's happened to her. He came out hungry & latched right on, nursing for about 30 minutes. We took a bath together and I cleaned him all up. Daddy was first to dress him, and in a couple of hours everything was clean and quiet again. It was incredible..next time, tho', I know I can wait awhile before calling the mudwife. I needed her there b/c I didn't know what to expect, but I now know I can handle it for some time on my own. I also know not to push until my body takes over. That would've eased almost all the pain and shortened the labor time. I recommend reading "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth." It's full of beautiful birth stories and really helped me embrace my labor...Enjoy your birth!

HELLO i am a mother of four, i was 19 years old when i had my first boy, and my mum told me it is painful,and will get worse if you think this it will never get as bad as you expect, mylabour started at 5.30am i went along to the hospital, and as expected i was in labour the whole time i would walk about, when things felt like you couldnt walk lean up against a wall hands up high, take a deep breath and imagine all the air slowly going down your spine as you are imagining this the contraction would of passed, also it helps a lot to keep getting in and out of the bath, the more you walk and stand you will encourage your baby down, it never did get as bad as i expected the worse bit is when your crowning the babys head, you feel this really burning sensation ask the midwife to squeeze a cold paper towel with water over you, once you feel im going to split give one last push and the head will be there, it sounds bad but once youve done that the worse bit is over, good luck, but im sure you wont need it if you take my advice

My first was a nightmare cos the delivery was in hospital it was uncomfortable and no one explained anything. I remember telling my hubby that if he ever touched me again i would kill him. The second was at home short and sweet. I would always go for a home birth surrounded by family. A lot is said about the pain of delivery but if the surroundings are good then that really is not the focus of the event. Anyway it is just like bad period pains which only last as long as the contactions, ie a minute or so with breaks inbetween, and when you get that little bundle in your arms you very quickly forget about it.

I had a lot of women tell me how horrible it was when they gave birth. After I had my firstborn son I went around and let them know that was nonsense. It was not horrible. It was beautiful and when my son came into this world the smile that enfolded my husbands face was something else. He stayed throughout the whole thing even to our son being delivered. He said it is an experience that he would encourage all guys to embrace. It is a wonderful thing to see a creation of you and your husband come forth into this world. Yes, there is pain but remember you will have only what you can handle. I know that I did but I don't actually remember the pain itself. I only remember looking into my son's face and the love that filled my heart was over powering! Giving birth is a beautiful event.

My births have been the most awesome experiences of my life! I have had four children, all of them without medication, epidural or any other intervention. I admit, the first birth I was unprepared and just sort of suffered through. After that experience I took 12 weeks of Bradley Method childbirth classes and did all the exercise, diet and preperation. My next birth was really pretty great! My last baby was born into water in a birthing tub. Amazing! My best advice is to hire a "doula" She will help you make sure you get exactly what you want/need in labor and take good independant (not hospital) childbirth classes such as Bradley Method, Birthworks, or ICEA.

I've given birth five times in the past 12 years (my oldest is 11, my youngest is 2), and I LOVED labor and delivery. I have never felt more alive! Enjoy it and get everything you can out of it!

I am sure if you were really in the 31st week of pregnancy at the time of posting the discussion, you must have delivered the baby. If it is so, all your fears must have been dispelled. This is a universal phenomena and the life goes on because of this process. It is very great accomplishment to be of some help to fulfill God's will. In doing so a little trouble is worth taking. I hope you are happy with your baby and your husband. Haaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I have four children who I adore. I even gave birth to one of them for a set of adoptive parents and though the pain is terrific so is the feeling of accomplishment and the sense of protective possessiveness that comes over you when you hold that beautiful little person that you have felt moving inside you in your arms. There is no more beautiful feeling! Stop worrying. Your turn is coming love you will be so very happy and empowered by the whole childbirthing experience.

I have had three children all in the hospital. Only the first one was with a epideral. The second two were natural which I much prefered. I am not going to lie, it hurt to be in full blown labor, but the relief of pushing the baby out was amazing. When you have a epideral you are in pain after it wears off, when you go it natural there is not much that hurts after what you already went thru. I have to say that I enjoyed staying in the hospital though, it is nice to have some help and meals brought to you so your whole focus is the baby, which is harder when you have little ones at home. Good luck to you!

When I was pregnant with my son, I planned on having a natural delivery. But when I was 36 weeks on the way, I went to my OB for my regular check-up and we were shocked when my blood pressure was way above normal. I was having pre-eclampsia and I didn't feel a thing. My OB didn't allow me to go home and had me admitted in a hospital for observation. After 24 hours of observation, my blood pressure didn't stabilize, my son's heartbeat was already fluctuating, I didn't have any labor pains, and instead of descending in my uterus, he was going in deeper. An emergency ultrasound showed that the amniotic fluid was already cloudy which wasn't a good sign. So after the ultrasound I was wheeled off to have an emergency c-section. I was scared for my baby and I was scared to go under the knife. But it wasn't as bad as I thought. The administration of the spinal anesthesia was sure painful but that was just about all that was painful in the entire process. I was still hazy when I kissed my son for the first time in the operating room right after he was delivered and all my worries and fear evaporated. My son was delivered sound and safe and healthy! The recuperation process was swift. After a few days in the hospital my blood pressure finally stabilized and the wound didn't really hurt that much. I'm not sure if this sounds like an awful birth story but for me it was the most miraculous thing that happened in my life.

Good wishes for the impending birth of your child. Some people are so rude about telling their birthing stories. I didn't have a bad experience, and so I am going to reply. At the time, I was a small, thin young woman of 20 when our son was born in Germany at a military hospital. I think I had seen too many movies of women giving birth and being dramatic, and so in the early stages of labor I was all into that. A very nice nurse came in and just nicely said to me, "Just breath with the contractions honey". And so, I did. It made it much easier to deal with the labor, and probably helped with the delivery a bit too. Hopefully, you will have a good team to help you when your baby is born. It is a wonderful experience, and as my mom told me when I asked her if it was going to hurt, she said, "Yes, but look what you get in return". Every woman's delivery is different. Have faith in yourself, and your doctor.

I have had 2 children. the first 10 years ago and my second child just last year. My first labour was very quick. No epidural. It was over very quickly. With my second, i was in labour for 16 hours. I had the epidural this time. Easy. There is no need to panic or worry. Childbirth is a beautiful experience, wether it is at home or in a hospital. If you and the baby are healthy, everything will be ok. I loved being pregnant and I would do it again regardless of the pain of childbirth. You forget the pain once you see your baby. You'll be fine!