18 Moms Explain What Giving Birth Really Feels Like

?1. “Everyone said pushing was the best part, and they were dirty liars. Pushing out a baby feels like taking a giant, fiery poop. Like if you ate 100 hot peppers and then pooped out a watermelon. That’s what it felt like.” —Amy, 32

2. “When I was pushing out my first son, who was born at home, I was certain that the pain I was experiencing would never leave my body, that this feeling was permanent. I thought that a bunch of hippies had duped me into thinking the work would be worth it. But sure enough, it left in an instant and I’d do it a thousand times over.” —Kacie, 34

3. “Birth is intense. The experience is sort of out-of-body. Time has no meaning. It’ll feel like time is dragging at certain points and then at other times, you’ll look up and suddenly realize hours have passed without your recollection. You also feel like you want to escape your own body — like this fight-or-flight instinct that keeps telling you to look for a way out because it’s so intense — but you can’t.” —Lauren, 31

4. “The whole birthing experience felt really out of control and like someone else had taken over my body. Actually pushing my child out felt like someone was ripping my vagina apart using long, sharp nails that are also on fire. I actually yelled at my midwife to stop using her nails to pull my vagina apart and she told me she wasn’t even touching me!” —Kristen, 34

5. “Giving birth was like experiencing every feeling and emotion possible. It was one of the most amazing times with my husband and we were given the incredible gift of life. No matter how different it went than we wanted it to, it was awesome! My husband would like to add that he imagines it to feel like ‘sliding down a joy rainbow into a cloud of kittens.'” —Katie, 28

6. “I had C-sections and I was so scared that I was shaking from head to toe, but my anesthesiologist said he did not want to knock me out so I could remember the moment. They really jerk you back and forth to get the baby out. My son’s head was stuck, but eventually he came out. They rushed him off to clean him so I did not get to see him right away, but instead I got to see him for the first time through my husband’s eyes, and you could see the pride in his face, and it also helped me realize our baby was healthy, beautiful, and things would be fine.” —Jen, 32

7. “I could do this every day. Honestly it was so much easier to push this baby out than going through these 10 months of pregnancy.” —Lauren, 31

8. “With my second child, I had an epidural, so giving birth felt like a lot of pressure and almost like you’re giving the biggest B.M. of your life. They say you don’t feel pain, but I almost think your body can’t tell the difference when it’s intense at the end. And afterward, the biggest relief ever. Once that baby is out, phew. You can breathe.” —Katie, 26

9. “All the things you think birth will feel like will be wrong. I read all the books and thought I was so prepared, but it was way different than what I expected. It was much easier than I expected in some ways, but also a lot harder in other ways (like delivering the placenta afterward).” —Olivia, 26

10. “Giving birth felt like … I was dying.” —Claire, 33

11. “This was our third and I can honestly say it felt ethereal. We have been trained that it is all pain, but coming at it with a different vantage point and desire changed everything. The word ‘pain’ never even crossed my mind. Pressure yes, pain no.” —Anna, 35

12.”Giving birth to me physically felt similar to breaking my tailbone. When I broke my tailbone, that’s how I knew it was broken, because it felt the same as when I felt the urge to push. So much pressure on my pelvis and tailbone!” —Amanda, 28

13. “Both my labors were purely back labor, so when people describe contractions as bad menstrual cramps, it never made sense to me. ‘Early’ labor for me feels almost like having intestinal cramping like you get with the stomach flu. When they broke my water, I had flashbacks to my first labor (where my water had broken right away). Those contractions are 100 times worse. Each contraction took all my focus. I arched my back with each one just trying to physically get away from the pain. It felt like someone was pushing forcefully from the inside against my spine and twisting it at the same time. It just made me want to crawl out of my skin. It’s pain I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. It’s by this point in labor that I usually break down in tears and say that I can’t do it anymore. Pushing at this point is a relief in some ways. The pain is still miserable, but pushing seems to ease it. As weird as it sounds, it’s the same physical relief as pooping after you really needed to. By the time you get to the ‘ring of fire’ (which does burn, but mentally made it easier because it signifies the end), it really does feel exactly like pooping, which is weird.” —Melanie, 29

14. “Natural childbirth felt like fire. Literal fire in my nether regions. I honestly left my body for most of it. I felt like I was looking down on myself from above.” —Lori, 39

15. “I had back labor with both kids and both were all natural water births. The first birth of my daughter, it felt like my spine was going to break away from my body and the baby was just going to come out my spine and back instead. Her labor was 16 hours and they had to break my water. I was seriously scared to push. I think that being so scared and unsure made transition and pushing longer. After she was born, I felt so drugged even though I hadn’t had anything. I was so incredibly happy. My second birth of our son was so much faster. Six total hours and just three after getting to the hospital. My water never broke and our son was born in the water sack. I couldn’t tell if it was the speed of the birth or the fact that the water sack didn’t break, but the ring of fire seemed less ‘sharp and fiery’ and more ‘dispersed pressure and fiery,’ so that was nice. The back pain was still super intense but the pressure put on my back by my mom and the nurse was more helpful in easing the pain. I didn’t have an out-of-body experience or euphoria this time; I was mainly in disbelief that we actually had two kids now!” —Alicia, 31

16. “My labors were completely night and day, with the first lasting many days and very intense contractions with little progress upon showing up at the hospital after laboring at home for over 24 hours. Physically, my first labor felt like immense waves of pain flowing over me. I had a lot of back labor, so pain would focus in that area of my body as well. My second labor was much more relaxed and the pain wasn’t all encompassing like the first. I felt the seizing of my abdominal muscles, like a band was wrapped around my middle, and was being squeezed and tightened. With both, I physically shook from head to toe from the endorphins or hormones during the transition stage of labor. Actual birth felt like I was completely outside of myself. I remember crawling up the bed at the hospital (it was in the sitting-up position), almost in an attempt to escape the rush of the contractions. As the head started to come out, full ring-of-fire for a brief moment and a pause before the rest of the body came out.” —Brie, 32

17. “It feels like a giant charley horse. Everywhere.” —Jen, 37

18. “I felt all of my contractions completely in my butt, which definitely did not make me feel like a beautiful birthing goddess. Pushing, for me, was unbelievably painful and the part that got me the most was the bone-on-bone feeling as their heads ground down on me through the birth canal. It’s hard to describe, but I just kept imagining I could see their heads pressing down on my pubic bone.It was rough for me personally. And ‘the ring of fire’ pretty much sums up the rest of pushing — no way but through, but that didn’t stop me from physically trying to climb out of the bed with my first. Apparently I lost my mind for a minute although, fortunately, I have no memory of actually doing it.” —Chaunie, 29

Credit: Cosmopolitan