Being Pregnant
What Does A Contraction Really Feel Like?
It’s the “mother of all menstrual cramps.” It’s a wave; you have to “ride it.” It’s not actually painful, but “intense.” It takes over your “whole body.” It hurts in your back. There’s an “elephant sitting on your pelvis.” It “kills.” It’s a very “bad, strong charley horse in the abdomen.”
In some ways these descriptions are all true. But put together, these images and metaphors can be confusing. Maybe that’s because women experience (and describe) contractions so differently. But given the variation in experience and semantics, there is still the fact that a contraction is a particular bodily function. Since the question, “But what does it really feel like?” is asked to me so often in childbirth class, I’ve come up with a few ways to describe it. Here’s my best shot:
The uterus is the biggest muscle in a pregnant woman’s body. When it contracts it is tightening. You don’t contract it yourself; it happens involuntarily, in a vaguely similar fashion to the way the stomach contracts involuntarily when you vomit. There is a squeezing and tightening and shrinking of the muscle. Basically, the uterus is tightening and getting smaller. The shrinking pulls the cervix open and eventually pushes the baby into the birth canal (vagina) and out of mom into the world. So you can imagine that the sensation of a contraction is a stretching, muscular pain.
Now think about where you uterus is. Yes, it’s in your pelvis, but it’s also up by your ribs and connected to the muscles in your lower back by ligaments. It’s basically dominating your entire torso. So for the long part of labor before you are actually pushing the baby out, the sensation of a contraction is felt up around your waist, maybe your lower back (this is especially true if your baby is posterior and causing what’s called “back labor”) and in your pelvic area.
Remember that contractions come and go; the cramp analogy only works if you imagine the cramps being turned on and off at intervals. Menstrual cramps are really more of a consistent dull ache that is more or less dreadful. A labor contraction can be very cramp-y — some women strongly associate them with menstrual cramps, others less so — but unlike cramps the pain is pronounced and then stops. Amazingly, most women have virtually no pain between contractions. Some women who have “back labor” may continue to feel pressure on the back between contractions, but most women feel little to nothing. In fact, even at the most active, difficult part of the dilating phase, known as “transition,” when contractions are so close together and last up to 90 seconds, the breaks can be pain-free. Mom can actually fall asleep for two minutes between them if she’s really worn out. But the fact that contractions come and go really makes it hard to find the perfect analogy for labor. I suppose the experience of vomiting comes and goes, but even that is different as there’s almost continuous feeling of nausea between the bouts of being sick.
The breaks are long in early labor (between 5-30 minutes!) and then get shorter. For very active labor, the contractions come about every 2-3 minutes, so even though there are breaks, it can feel more or less overwhelming. It’s also a passive situation unlike the pushing stage when you’re more involved. The contractions are like waves in the sense that you’ve finished one, and it’s only a matter of time before another comes at you. They also swell: they start out relatively easy, then get harder and harder until they peak and the intensity goes down again. When you look at contractions being measured on a monitor, you can see the line swell up into to a high point and then slowly dip down. So what is that like? Well, when a hard one is coming on, you’re thinking about how to deal with it, then when it’s going down, you feel a sense of relief. All of labor moves through this pattern: here comes another one … there it goes.
Since your torso is a pretty substantial part of your body, it can feel like you’re being taken over by the contractions. A menstrual cramp might make you grab your lower abdomen, but with a contraction you can feel like it’s sort of spreading from your lower back around your torso to the extent that it feels quite consuming when they are longer and stronger.
So the bottom line: it’s muscle work, it’s tightening, it’s cramp-y, but it comes and goes and can be felt all over and around your torso and pelvis. In addition to the option of pain medication, immersing yourself in warm water, taking a shower, using heat pads, getting massaged on the lower back, and moving into positions that help open the pelvis and pull the baby (pressure) off the lower back are all ways to cope with contractions.
What did your contractions feel like? Or if you haven’t given birth, what have you heard? And does any of this help you prepare?
The next two parts in this series are up:
What Does It Feel Like: Pushing
What Does It Feel Like: The Milk Coming In
photo: davhor/flickr
Go Back To Being Pregnant
18 Comments
Jenn commented on Mar 14 11 at 3:04 pmWow, this was amazing- thank you! I haven’t given birth yet, but I’ll bookmark this to re-read again in a couple years when the time comes. I think understanding the physiology behind the pain will help it seem less scary- it’s pain with a purpose.
PlumbLucky commented on Mar 14 11 at 3:14 pmPain/discomfort the entire darn time, marked by heavy pain contractions at regular intervals. Surprisingly similar to my menstrual cramps (I know they aren’t supposed to come and go, but they do) which tells me that doctors were lying about at least one of two things:
1. Cramps don’t hurt as bad as labor, quit being a baby (see above)
2. They’ll get better after you have children (hah!)
Of course, as far as the “better” or “worse” goes, I’m not sure if they are any worse so much as I can now correlate them properly to labor and say “well, it does hurt darn near as bad as the first few hours at least”.
mom of 2 commented on Mar 15 11 at 12:31 amThis is great because it stresses that labor is MUSCULAR. For some reason I didn’t get that at all despite all the childbirth classes, reading and preparation. It’s muscular. Forget period cramps, and dental pain (which has absolutely no relationship to labor pain whatsoever–it’s like comparing Doritos to a cat) but it’s essentially athletic. Have you ever done a workout full of squats and lunges that left you unable to sit on the toilet for three days? Where your muscles burned so hard at the mere thought of sitting down that you just preferred to stand? It’s like that. That’s the kind of pain. It’s different, because it’s labor and in labor is your brain goes into overdrive and is outside of your control (making it more frightening than painful, really) but it’s muscular as in athletic-muscular. It’s the woman’s marathon, where you sweat, shake, get hypoglycemic and dehydrated, deal with it, and press on. But oh my is it fabulous to cross the finish line and hold that baby in your arms!
ceridwen commented on Mar 15 11 at 12:37 am“…. and dental pain (which has absolutely no relationship to labor pain whatsoever–it’s like comparing Doritos to a cat)” Ha! So funny.
Nessie commented on Mar 15 11 at 9:21 amI had a back labor and had to be induced. There were no waves of anything, no breaks in between the pain. It was the worst pain I’ve ever experienced. I had taken several childbirth classes and was planning on a natural birth. I was writhing in agony and couldn’t speak. I can’t describe the pain, except to say if there had been a fire in the room, I wouldn’t have been able to move to save myself. I ended up with an epidural and it was wonderful.
moosh in indy. commented on Mar 15 11 at 11:36 amI am currently 33 weeks and have been experiencing braxton hicks much more than I did with my first.
This morning I decided it feels kind of like you have really painful gas you want/need to let out but can’t because you’re in the presence of company. So you squeeze with all your might to keep it in, only adding to your pelvic discomfort.
That or everything relating to pregnancy goes back to gas for me.
Amy commented on Mar 15 11 at 11:43 amI definitely agree that the sensation is intense, muscular and athletic, like Mom of 2 mentioned. For me, I was suprised, despite all the reading and classes, that the feeling was so deep and spread out in the pelvis, including the bum. I described it this way–it’s like when you have the worst kind of diarrhea and you have to go right now, there’s no stopping it (like the vomiting analogy) and what you have to pass is a bowling ball. That’s what it was like for me. It wasn’t painful, but it was gripping, heavy, hugely intense, all encompassing and strangely euphoric all at once.
erin from swonderland commented on Mar 15 11 at 12:19 pmI always think it feels like a blood pressure cuff, only it’s coming from inside of you, and it’s harder and fiercier than that. But the squeezing feeling… I always have a “don’t panic” moment when the blood pressure cuff is tightest, before it is released. It’s like that, times a hundred. I always find myself releasing some of the pressure by saying, “ahhhhhh” low and open, involuntarily, like I’m actually letting out some of that tightness. I was complete with a lip and essentially stuck in transition for 3-4 hours with my last labor, six months ago. The memory is fresh! :)
Sara commented on Mar 15 11 at 3:22 pmThis helps a lot. Although I’m expecting baby #2 I have yet to actually go through labor. My DD was in a transverse (sideways) position so a C was scheduled. I never felt a single contraction. I’m attempting a VBAC this time around so I feel like a first time mom all over again.
michellehorton commented on Mar 15 11 at 4:18 pmThis is the best way I’ve read natural labor described, and I definitely think it’s helpful to understand exactly what’s happening. I think the next important thing is learning how to control them, which is trickier to explain. And warm water was the most amazing tool I used during my labor. Not only in my birthing center’s birthing tub, but just in the shower.
@Erin: I did the “ahhh” too when the contractions were at their highest intensity.
iris1973 commented on Mar 16 11 at 7:46 pmThe worst part of labor for me was the pressure on my rectum. it was like having to have a BM so badly it was killing me, but that wasn’t what it was. It was contractions. The pain in my torso was nothing compared to that pressure, which is what finally broke me and made the decision to get an epidural. I don’t see much about that in most people’s description of labor, which makes me feel even more isolated in my experience. :(
iris1973 commented on Mar 16 11 at 7:51 pmAlso, I wound up in the hospital with kidney stones at 7 months. It was undeniably one of the worst weeks of my life. Everyone’s comment afterward was, “Hey, you got through that; labor should be EASY in comparison.” Um, no. It’s not the same thing at all! At least labor has a purpose. Kidney stones were like being ripped open by a rusty sword for days at a time. I fantasized about all sorts of terrible torturous deaths (being eaten by a shark? crucifixion?) and decided none of them would be as bad as this pain. Labor was intense, but it certainly wasn’t as bad as some of the pain out there. it is unique. And in some weird way, when it’s over, you kind of want to experience it again!
Becky commented on Mar 25 11 at 12:16 pmI would have to describe the sensation of back labor a little bit differently; I have anatomy that pretty much dictates that I will have back labor–through 5 unmedicated, natural births, four with midwives.
The back labor is like a drilling sensation only it’s very wide and non-specific. It eases but doesn’t go away during the rests in between. I did prenatal yoga, chiropractic, counterpressure, and waterbirth on hands and knees to cope with it. Back labor is really annoying. But it’s not so much athletic. It’s painful. But you can get through it. And it’s not as bad as a toothache.
AlbertaMom commented on Mar 31 11 at 3:48 pm@Nessie – totally agree! My first labour was back labour, and it was exactly as you described – incredibly painful always, with it getting worse with each contraction to the point of thinking I was going to die. Completely unmanageable. I couldn’t even hear what the nurses were saying to help me let lone respond. My labour with my 2nd daughter was much more typical, and though painful, the pain did go away completely between contractions. Like a miracle every time! And I could focus on the pain being productive, and work with it, and through it, knowing I would get a break when it would stop for at least a few moments. I am now pregnant again and praying for no back labour!
ELIZABETH commented on Apr 01 11 at 11:47 amThe best way i can describe my contractions is to imagine that a giant hand is grabbing all of your organs from the lungs down through the thigh muscles and squeezing everything into a tiny ball right at your belly button…and then once the contraction was done…absolutely nothing. but my god, when the contractions lasted a 75 to 90 seconds and came every minute, its intense. but sooo worth it.
Rebecca commented on Apr 02 11 at 12:55 pmI describe it as, how it must feel to have a seizure. I felt very much like my body was just “seizing” up, and the worst part of that was not even the pain, it was the loss of control over what your body is doing.
Tonya commented on May 28 11 at 2:25 pmI am 34 weeks pregnant with my 4th child (8th pregnancy). The higher the number of pregnancies can make some difference when it comes to delivering and for the period immediately after to a week or so after. How? Well, the labors are typically quicker the more kids you have (not always true, but for the most part it is). I was fortunate as with my first born, labor only lasted 3 or less hours. I did it all natural (which is not a test of womanhood, I comment on that in a momentfor). When I was actuall pushing, there was NO pain. Once I found something to focus on and told myslf that I can definitely do this, I seemed to gain control instead of my contractions controlling me.
With the first one, it was all back labor (the worst kind of labor in my opinion). It helped to have someone put pressure on my lower back during contractions until it was time to push. I recommend bringing a tennis ball or something similar as it helps to lay on it or for someone to, for a lack of better words, bury it into your lower back. It gets tiring for then to use their hands after a while. My proider broke my water for me. The baby was all te way down and I was dilated to 5, so she decided that if she broke my water I would have him. I was 4 days overdue. She was right. The contractions for that labor (back labor) felt like I really had pulled a muscle in my lower back and sometimes like my coccyx (lowest part of the spine) was broken or needed to “pop” for relief. Again, once I found something to focus on and made myself concentrate on breathing (the he-he-he-ha mess was a joke for me, may work for some, but I felt like an idiot practicing it weeks before and dismissed it after about 10 minutes. Breath in, breath out…there ya go, just breath!) once I did this I was able to handle the pain and it made me calmer therefore allowing my body to get to the pushing phase faster. I think stress slows things down so as difficult as it may be…take charge. You’re the mom now anyways! When you are fully dilated be ready to push and don’t stop when you hear you doc saying “come on, come on, he’s right there. usually at that point a couple of really good pushes will do the job! most of us poop out right before the baby is “over the hump”. No pain when I was pushing (except for the few very quick seconds as the head was coming through (the ring of fire). Then it’s done!!! Test of womanhood…modern medicine is great and if you are in too much pain, there is nothing wrong with meds to help relax you or an epidural. just remember that epidurals too early can (not always) slow the labor process and can result in a c-secion in the end because of no progression. Laboring too long can lend itself to developing infections or other complications. There is also a point when an epidural won’t make a difference (too late). Talk to your care provider beforehand about the different options available. I had a midwife with my first one and a doc with the others (high risk) and I LOVED he experience witht he midwife best. Hec, they we delivering bbies before there ever were OB docs, right?
My second, no back labor, stomach cramps. Yep, it felt like my worst menstrual cramp only with breaks here and there (not constant) or it can be compared to when you go out to eat and ate the wrong thing and your stomach is really upset and hurting until you are able to sit int he bathroom for a while and well…you know…poop! That is what it felt like to me. I knew to breathe through and find a focal point when I did have a contraction. I did so well, that I reall felt I had more tie than I did and brushed m teeth, told te hubby to go ahead and shower and then we would go to the hospital. Oops! I delivered my own kiddo at home standing up int he bedroom. Crazy!! My water didn’t break until he was coming out. Thank goodness it all went well. When I got out of bed that morning with the stomach pains (contractions), I originally thought I needed to go visit the bathroom, but when I sat down, I realized it wsn’t quite the same pressure (felt like it when I was standing though). I tried laying back down, but that was way uncomfortable. Standing was the best for me. Don’t let a doc tell you that you HAVE to be laying down with feet in stirrups. BS! You get in what position you ae most comfortable in. Some women deliver on their side, on all fours, leaning over birthing balls, etc. I the doc says there may be a problem witht he baby…well, then forget you, right? It’s all about baby at that point and doc is in control (in my opinion). I think what really happened was I remembered there was no pain when I pushed with the first one so I thought (while hubby was putting the oldest in the vehicle), I’ll just push a little to get through this one contraction. Yeah, well, that’s all she wrote, he came righ tout because my body said, I’m not stopping!!!
Third, I knew not to play around. Didn’t want to have another one at home. My water actually broke inthe morning while my husband was in the shower He knew we wouldn’t have much time. He jumped out and I don’t think he even dried off. Thankfully my mother was visiting and kept the two older boys. We jumped int he truck and headed to the hospital. My husband “scolded” me ont he way because between cotractions (yep, there are breaks), I was singing and kind of dancing in my seat to I stopped and just sang instead (didn’t want to dance her out. LOL!) We got to the hospital and thankfully had a friend meet us at the door with a wheelchair (Yep, I worked there and called ahead), if I had walked in and up to labor and delivery I would have had her in the elevator or somewhere other than on the L&D floor. I was in Labor & Delivery maybe 10-15 minutes and had about 3 strong contractions (using my focal point and deciding to be in control) before my body took over and said “like it or not I’m pushing and not stopping”. I yelled for my doc who was outside the door chatting with the staff and he came right in and barely got a glove on before she was out. Not a bad experience. I’m hoping this 4th goes as smoothly and not at home.
I don’t like inductions unless medically indicated (and in that cas would rather a c-section even if it is more invasive) because the med used in inductions (pitocin) makes contractions about 5 times worse. If I were to be induced…I may not do the all natural method and opt for that nice epidural although some women do it all of the time, I don’t think I would like it much. With the 3rd, it was the same, mestrual-like cramps.
I hope this helps someone. It’s scary when you haveno idea what to expect, but I promise, regardless of which way you chose, you can do it. With menstrual cramps or backaches…it stinks! You just can’t wait until it’s over. With childbirth, you know that when it’s over you will have a precious angel in your arms and as soon as they are in your arms, you suddenly aren’t tinking about those cramps. Truly a miracle in many ways!!! Congratulations!!Tonya
Anna Hill commented on Aug 05 11 at 11:28 amI’m 34 weeks and a couple of days with my second baby i have been having a lot of menstrual cramps in the last month that don’t last long and just fade away but i was woke up with menstrual cramps at 4am this morning that was in my back and stomach and all of a sudden my stomach would tighten then release i thought it would b best to turn on my left side to see if they went away but it did’t help, the cramping was hard to tell ware it stop and began but the tightening was obvious so it lasted quite a while i tried to time them and they seemed to b ever 7 to 8 min apart so i got up to get two big glasses of ice water to drink fast (Like my Dr said to do) and continue to lay on my left side they lasted for 20 more min then i fell asleep and they went away???? what’s up with that? I know 34 weeks is a little early to jump the gun but how do i know if its the real deal?? I live 45 min away from our hospital!
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