Describing Contractions...for men.

Hi everyone

I teach some ante-natal classes and one of the Dads in the group asked me to describe to the class exactly what contractions feel like, so as the Dads to be are able to gain an understanding of it.

This kinda had me stumped! I have had children but find the pain of a contraction really hard to put into words. Therefore I thought I would ask here!

If you have a minute to spare, would you mind answering what that pain felt like for you? It would be great to be able to say "well, I asked the question and ten people said that it felt like ...".

Many thanks in advance.


PT

Yep I would say like waves of major lactic acid buildup in muscles after running like mad on a treadmill for half an hour! The pain of severe muscular fatigue (cos thats what it is! ) which builds then descends like a growing tide... haha - very poetic way to describe pain!

I was induced though and so the severity of contractions were major very fast, unlike natural labor where I have heard they build in severity from not too bad to pretty unbearable over quite a long time..

To start with they were much like mild period cramps - which feel much like a gripey tummy.

BH - felt like someone was grabbing my belly like a ball and squeezing.

Can't really remember what they felt like when they got going, too many other things were going on to concentrate on them.

how bout get them to start doing sit ups and hold each one for 10secs, when it starts to hurt that is like the first contractions, then make them keep going even when they think they can't move anymore.

One of the things i tell people who have never experienced it is that they are like a wave. they build in intensity and reach a peak, then quickly receed. And that when you aren't having one there is absolutely no pain.

As for the quality of the pain, i would describe the peak as a sharp, searing kind of pain. With a tightness, as if someone was tearing your deep abdominal muscles or bowel.

There is a really good video on 60 minutes australia where a man gets put through labour. He wimps out half way through!

The most pain Ive ever been through in my life! lol

I cant describe it...really cant!

I really, really am trying to think of a way to describe my labour - firstly I thought about saying it would be like someone with a vise-like grip squeezing their nads... then I thought about that combined with the gripey deli-belly-ness where you think you're going to crap your pants only to find out you're really, really, really constipated so you despite everything you still find yourself pushing, to then feel like you're being torn up your middle.

I was induced and reacted really strongly to the syntocinon drip though, and did have 2nd degree tearing (in not such a lovely angle/place) - so that could possibly have clouded my perception!

Thank you so much everyone! Some great material here. It is such a hard thing to accurately describe to someone else I think and like Chickoin says without scaring all the mums to be!

Awesome - I think they will love it!

oh wow, so hard to explain!
I had a 100% natural birth with no drugs at all, and my friend who was due just after me asked what pushing the baby out felt like, and i told her it is the most out of control feeling you could possibly have. your body pushes involuntarily, like imagine one of those rubbish crushers that crush huge amounts of rubbish into tiny cubes, thats you! and every part of your belly clamps down with force you cant even imagine- the sheer power of the contraction took my breath away anyway! and as the baby is actually coming out, (TMI WARNING!!) but i told her it feels like your bum is turning inside out and your getting the worst chinese burn in your life down there and you are about to split in half! lol her eyes just about fell out of her head! i think she wished she didnt ask after i said that. well, she did want an honest answer! hehe i did add at the end tho that once you are at that stage, you know you just have to deal with it,and remind yourself that once this bit is over, youll have your baby! and as much as people say it and you cant quite believe it until you have been there, but the second you are looking at your baby, you dont feel an ounce of pain! so amazing how something so intense can be blocked out in an instant.