# What hurts more than childbirth?



## mamazee (Jan 5, 2003)

If you've experienced both the pain of childbirth and something that hurt worse, tell us about it!

For me, the pain of a bad gall bladder was worse than childbirth. I can't think of anything else that hurt more.


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## *MamaJen* (Apr 24, 2007)

Kidney stone! That totally hurt worse than childbirth for me (I had a super easy labor). But yeah, ugh, that deep internal pain of a kidney stone just sucks.


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## JollyGG (Oct 1, 2008)

My broken arm hurt worse. Of course I handled labor pretty well. But breaking my ulna and radius was the worst pain I've felt.


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## fruitfulmomma (Jun 8, 2002)

Cracked tooth.


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## mamabear0314 (May 13, 2008)

Worse than my 1st birth? Absolutely nothing. I would rather die than experience that again.

Worse than my 2nd birth? Again, probably nothing although it was much better than my 1st birth.

Worse than my 3rd birth? A kidney stone was worse, gallbladder attacks were worse, broken hand was worse.


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## cyclamen (Jul 10, 2005)

Honestly, giving birth and then having my baby be really sick and die, and not being able to do anything about it. That hurt worse than giving birth.


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## fruitfulmomma (Jun 8, 2002)

Oh,







cyclamen.


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## michelleepotter (Apr 8, 2013)

So sorry, cyclamen. :-(

For me, my first miscarriage was the worst _physical_ pain I've ever felt in my life. It was the first time I can remember actually begging for pain relief. The second one happened earlier, so it didn't hurt as much (physically).

My kidney stone also hurt worse than childbirth. I had to drive myself to the hospital, and I couldn't go more than 20mph because it hurt so badly.


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## JamieCatheryn (Dec 31, 2005)

I got sick with intestinal cramps that felt worse yet similar once.


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## JollyGG (Oct 1, 2008)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michelleepotter*
> 
> So sorry, cyclamen. :-(
> 
> ...


I also thought that my miscarriage hurt a lot. It hurt a lot like my labor pains with the first, but there just wasn't an emotional resilience to handle the pain with. I was only 8-12 weeks along so did not expect that kind of pain. I remember going to church and just sitting in the pew crying the whole mass because it hurt so much.


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## cyclamen (Jul 10, 2005)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fruitfulmomma*
> 
> Oh,
> 
> ...


Thank you, fruitfulmomma. :-(
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michelleepotter*
> 
> So sorry, cyclamen. :-(
> 
> ...











Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JollyGG*
> 
> I also thought that my miscarriage hurt a lot. It hurt a lot like my labor pains with the first, but *there just wasn't an emotional resilience to handle the pain with.* I was only 8-12 weeks along so did not expect that kind of pain. I remember going to church and just sitting in the pew crying the whole mass because it hurt so much.












This, completely. I think the emotions make such a difference in how we are able to handle pain.

DD2's birth was so incredibly easy and barely hurt until right at the end, ten minutes of transition, half an hour of pushing - compared to DD1's birth, where transition lasted for hours and pushing lasted for hours, and she had a nuchal hand....excruciating - it just didn't hurt much at all. But when she didn't breathe, it was like my heart was being squeezed out of my chest and my arms were burned. I had no idea that it could feel like a physical pain, but it hurt so much that I thought I was probably going to die too.


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## KaliShanti (Mar 23, 2008)

Kidney infection hurt way worse than any of my 3 natural births, even the first with back labor.


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## PrimordialMind (May 4, 2013)

The anal fissure that came to be after DD's birth is more painful because its chronic and i have to keep reliving it every time i go #2 (gets worse then gets better, over and over). So the collective pain is worse than the 8 hours i was in labor, only 2 of which was active labor.


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## LLQ1011 (Mar 28, 2012)

Gal bladder for sure.

my 17 week loss was also more painful.


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## philomom (Sep 12, 2004)

Gallbladder and kidney stones both much worse than any of my three natural births. My births are more like very bad period cramps. And fast.


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## scottishmommy (Nov 30, 2009)

A Charlie horse in my calf during pregnancy. It was unreal!


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## mar123 (Apr 14, 2008)

Kidney stones; I've had four. UGH


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## adalau (Apr 12, 2012)

Getting my tonsils out at 26. Way worse. I drank Vicodin like water. With my two natural childbirths I had zero meds and did not even need any Tylenol after either.


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## Jenny Vater (Nov 5, 2011)

Getting stitches on the bottom of my foot.


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## chlaal (Jun 28, 2006)

Gall bladder for me also. I think part of what made it so bad was not knowing what it was. At least with childbirth (I had two drug-free vaginal births) you know that it will all be over eventually and you'll have something nice to show for it. When my gall bladder got infected I had no idea what was causing this awful pain and I seriously thought I was dying.


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## ocelotmom (Jul 29, 2003)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JamieCatheryn*
> 
> I got sick with intestinal cramps that felt worse yet similar once.


I had a random horrible abdominal pain after being sick once. I don't know if it was worse than childbirth (certainly didn't last that long) but it was right up there. If I'd been home alone I might well have called 911. I'm pretty sure it was just gas.


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## FLmomof1/1ontheway (Apr 25, 2007)

to all your mamas that have lost a baby. Yes, I don't think anything can hurt more then that.

Thank the Lord all my babies have been healthy. I don't like to say labor is painful, just INTENSE. I tore extremely bad with my first due to being forced to push her out as fast as possible. It was horrifying. But when I had to have an ingrown toe nail surgically removed that was bad! Needles all around my toe to numb it - needles to the bone! I also once had a filling put in with no numbing that was bad too!


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## JenVose (Jun 17, 2013)

Super strange, but having the stud of an earring pushed out of my ear (the back was on too tightly and the stud slipped to actually be inside my ear lobe, has been the most painful experience of my life (and that was after I received a local anesthetic in my ear!).

Also, I had a miscarriage, and I don't know whether the pain was truly worse or whether it was the fact that I went through it for so long without knowing what was happening and also no clue, once diagnosed, of when it would end, so I didn't have the focus that I had in labor to know that there would be relief and an awesome reward for my pains in the end.


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## MissAnthrope (Jan 31, 2011)

My broken ankle was much more painful than childbirth.

Labor is extremely intense, but the difficult part is dealing with the fact that you aren't in control-- it's not that it's painful, it's that having to surrender to it is scary and once you're scared it's easy to perceive a lot of sensations as pain.


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## andersonsmama (Jul 26, 2005)

Losing my son to SIDS was the hardest thing ever, the emotional pain feels worse than being pregnant at 40 with gallstones. It's been almost two years and sometimes I have sharp shooting pains in my arms from no baby. Stoping nursing instantly also excruciating.


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## erinbethp (Sep 14, 2010)

I've had migraines that were worse, especially one I had when my youngest was only a few weeks old and was screaming because DH was holding him instead of me.


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## ihave7kids (Apr 21, 2012)

A ruptured appendix was the worst pain I've ever had...way worse than childbirth, even the ones with Pitocin! My natural labors really weren't bad, but the induced ones were very difficult.


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## michelleepotter (Apr 8, 2013)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MissAnthrope*
> 
> My broken ankle was much more painful than childbirth.
> 
> Labor is extremely intense, but the difficult part is dealing with the fact that you aren't in control-- it's not that it's painful, it's that having to surrender to it is scary and once you're scared it's easy to perceive a lot of sensations as pain.


I wouldn't say that was true for me. For example, earlier this year I started getting my first tattoo. It's a big cherry tree across my entire back, and I got two sessions in before I got pregnant. I wouldn't say that getting the tattoo hurt more than childbirth, but it was definitely much harder to deal with, and partly because I knew I could make it stop whenever I wanted. There's a considerable amount of willpower involved in intentionally submitting yourself to pain. Essentially, being in control made it worse for me.


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## lilblueberry (Jan 18, 2012)

When I was pregnant I had two root canals. The drilling of both teeth was unmedicated and then I had two gaping holes in my teeth till baby was born then I fully novicaned finished the root canals. The unmedicated drilling was like torture treatment.


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## PrimordialMind (May 4, 2013)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lilblueberry*
> 
> When I was pregnant I had two root canals. The drilling of both teeth was unmedicated and then I had two gaping holes in my teeth till baby was born then I fully novicaned finished the root canals. The unmedicated drilling was like torture treatment.


OUCH!!!







My teeth are hurting just reading about what you went through.


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## wookumus (Sep 16, 2009)

the uterine "massage" i received after childbirth to get my sticky placenta out. it was awful


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## Alenushka (Jul 27, 2002)

Death of my loved one.


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## CortC (Aug 4, 2011)

I have had 2 natural child births. With my first, I bled heavily and my placenta didn't detach. So my midwife removed it manually without warning or numbing me. That hurt way worse than the contractions and pushing.


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## cyclamen (Jul 10, 2005)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *CortC*
> 
> I have had 2 natural child births. With my first, I bled heavily and my placenta didn't detach. *So my midwife removed it manually without warning or numbing me.* That hurt way worse than the contractions and pushing.


Oh my god, that is awful! I am so sorry you went through that.







After my second daughter was born, I had to have my placenta manually removed in the ER. I had the NICEST doctors ever, they were so sweet and so sorry to hurt me, and they gave me morphine and kept asking if I wanted more because they didn't want me to feel it, but it was still absolutely awful. I remember feeling her hand scraping the top of my uterus and involuntarily trying to push her hand back out. It took a whole bunch of tries. I can't imagine how much worse it would have felt without warning or morphine.


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## nmelanson (Apr 14, 2009)

First birth was easy - it was long, slow and steady and very manageable. I didn't even know I was going through transition. Second Birth was something else. I was induced and went from 5cm dialated to baby being out in less than 15 mins. However, worse than labour pain was the headache I got from sunstroke once, and gallbladder pain when I was in Latin America. I think those were worse. I still would give birth again any day, my experiences haven't made me fear it. I feel so sad when i meet people or hear of people that are absolutely terrified of it before they've ever had the chance to experience it.


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## phathui5 (Jan 8, 2002)

I would take childbirth over when I broke my toe any day.


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## ocelotmom (Jul 29, 2003)

I had a broken finger a year ago, and it really wasn't nearly as painful as I would have expected. Childbirth was worse. It throbbed some that night, but not enough to keep me from sleeping, and I think I took a few advil for it over the next few days in order to get through work with a broken right middle finger. But it doesn't really register very high on my list on painful things. Maybe a 5/10.


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## CortC (Aug 4, 2011)

Thank you for your empathy. Needless to say, I used a different midwife with my second and had a much better experience.

I am so sorry you had to go through the pain of losing your baby. I can't even begin to imagine the pain. Thank you for sharing. It was very brave of you and touched me deeply.


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## Serafina33 (Jan 24, 2013)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mamazee*
> 
> If you've experienced both the pain of childbirth and something that hurt worse, tell us about it!
> 
> For me, the pain of a bad gall bladder was worse than childbirth. I can't think of anything else that hurt more.


Ear infections. I've had outer ear infections three times and the pain was worse than natural childbirth. Lasts longer, too.


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## mamazee (Jan 5, 2003)

<3 to all the moms who have lost babies! Luckily, I've only suffered great physical pain - no emotional pain to anywhere near that level.


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## mamazee (Jan 5, 2003)

As for physical pain, I agree that some migraines are more painful than childbirth, to the PP who said that. And I had food poisoning once that was at least equivalent, pain-wise.


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## ocelotmom (Jul 29, 2003)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Serafina33*
> 
> Ear infections. I've had outer ear infections three times and the pain was worse than natural childbirth. Lasts longer, too.


I'm inclined to agree with this. I've only really had one ear infection in my life, but it progressed from "Oh, my ear hurts a little, that's odd" to spontaneous eardrum rupture in under 12 hours. HORRIBLE pain. I had whole new sympathy for little kids who get ear infections all the time after that.


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## IdentityCrisisMama (May 12, 2003)

Posting without reading to see if anyone else has shared this but I burned my retinas once (snow blindness) and that hurt worse than childbirth. Way more painful, way more scary, and no perks whatsoever. ;-)


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## dalia (Sep 3, 2007)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *IdentityCrisisMama*
> 
> Posting without reading to see if anyone else has shared this but I burned my retinas once (snow blindness) and that hurt worse than childbirth. Way more painful, way more scary, and no perks whatsoever. ;-)


Yikes!!! I didn't even know that could happen!

I threw my back out a couple times really bad, the last time just a few weeks ago and I am pregnant. AWFUL. I had bad back labor with my first and it was easier than the pain I was experiencing.


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## Nazsmum (Aug 5, 2006)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *phathui5*
> 
> I would take childbirth over when I broke my toe any day.


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## 3lilchunklins (Feb 22, 2012)

Idk, I was in transition for an hour, that was pretty stinkin painful!!!


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## StephM76 (Jan 13, 2009)

I had food poisoning once that was worse. The intestinal cramps were outrageous, and it was made worse because you don't know when it will end! At least with labor theres an end in sight, and something to look forward to.


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## Adaline'sMama (Apr 16, 2010)

Losing my son, of course, was the first thing that came to mind.

The thing that has hurt the worse in my life was having an internal/external version during the delivery of baby B. That was the most excruciating physical pain I have ever endured. Thank god it was fast.


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## demeter888 (Jan 18, 2013)

This is going to really piss off some people, but even my mom who gave birth completely drug free, agrees:

When you bend an acrylic finger nail really, really hard, bordering on tearing off the nail underneath. It throbs for a looooong time and hurts for a few days after that. And yet, my stupid a$$ would go back for more acrylics. It's much more painful than tearing the actual nail, I'm guessing partly because of the weight of the acrylic as the blood flows to the injured area.

That is the worst pain I have felt; no surgery, infection, or injury has come close.

ETA: There mere thought of great harm coming to my son is so terrifying and painful that I have broken down dizzy, shuddering, and sobbing a few time times just edging an intrustive thought, reading bad news that has happened to other children,or seeing him almost have an accident. Emotional anguish is definitely incomparable to physical pain in most ways. I initially thought it was hormones to feel this afraid, but much to my shock the fear has only increased as he has gotten older.

Human beings have an amazing capacity to heal, and thank goodness we do because our families and other children need us to.

I wanted to add that I was sexually assaulted at 15 years old. This physical pain, humiliation, terror, and continued suffering is beyond really intellectualizing, but still is nothing compared to the fear of harm coming to my son.


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## demeter888 (Jan 18, 2013)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *cyclamen*
> 
> Honestly, giving birth and then having my baby be really sick and die, and not being able to do anything about it. That hurt worse than giving birth.


I'm just crying, and so sorry for your baby.


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## cyclamen (Jul 10, 2005)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *demeter888*
> 
> I'm just crying, and so sorry for your baby.


Thank you.


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## erinmattsmom88 (Oct 28, 2010)

I have had 2 C-sections so from that perspective, the worst physical pain I have ever endured was for a surgery. It was worse than 2 C-section recoveries. I had a breast mass (benign) removed a few years ago. They had to "mark" the mass first before the surgery. The morning of, I had to report to the radiology department before pre-op to get this done. They brought me into a room and set me up in a mammography machine. They visualized the mass then stuck a quite wide needle into the side of my boob all the way through to where the mass was located (just my luck, in the middle), and then inserted it into the mass. I have a high tolerance for pain, but this was no joke. I had no anesthesia, no numbing medicine... nothing. I was crying it hurt so bad... I never do that. To make matters worse, I was hungry/thirsty because I had to be NPO after midnight and was nervous about the status of the mass, etc. So with that situation and the pain, I passed out while sitting up in the mammography machine. Such a weird experience. It took 3 people to remove me from the machine... so I'm told. It hurt so fucking bad. That sucked. The mental anguish between surgery day and the day I got my results wasn't pleasant either. Oh, and I got my results on Christmas Eve 2008. Thepathology results were my Christmas present that year.


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## Smokering (Sep 5, 2007)

I haven't really experienced much pain aside from childbirth. Never broken a bone, never had a migraine, haven't had surgery since I was a kid (and I don't remember that hurting, I thought the whole thing was wonderfully exciting!) I had pelvic girdle pain when pregnant with DD, which was horrible, and I've had the odd agonising muscle cramp and bad sunburn and so on, and one nasty time at the dentist... but compared to childbirth? Not even close.

Except... after DD was born, my cervix clamped down over the placenta and it got stuck. I had to have a doctor remove it with forceps. My midwife told me in no uncertain terms to suck HARD on the gas, and I did - with the strange result that I could observe in a detached, uncaring way that this was the most horrific pain I'd ever felt. It was weird. It wasn't too bad because of the gas, but if I hadn't had it it would have been excruciating. And being at the end of a traumatic labour, when I'd hoped the horrible pain had finally ceased, didn't help psychologically either.

And to all the mothers here who've lost babies, I'm so sorry. The fact that you can keep going with life shows so much strength.


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## bazil323 (Jan 29, 2013)

Firstly, I want to extend my sympathy to all the mamas who have emotional scars (losing babies in pregnancy or after birth; sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, and any others who I have either missed or who did not feel comfortable sharing their personal story). I can only imagine what you have gone through and are going through, and emotional scars can be the most painful and longest lasting of any pain. Hugs to all of you!

Since this is my first (due in November), I asked around to my friends & family who have already given birth for their opinions. Here are a few:


My mother: Calcified disc in her back & the surgery to repair it. The continued nerve damage from the back problems.
My sister in law: The Pitocin shot after her birth to make the bleeding stop (especially since she really wasn't bleeding excessively anyway). The multiple injections of Lidocaine all around her toenails when she had ingrown nails that had to be cut out.
My cousin: The physical & emotional pain of the healing from her "emergency" Cesarean section that turned out to not actually be an emergency. The 6+ months of pain from the incision following the surgery plus the PTSD from how terribly she was treated at the hospital make insignificant the few days of mild pain from her tears followed by a couple weeks of achiness after her natural vaginal birth. Also, the cervical checks they did in the hospital for the first child (she lost count of how many they did but sometimes were as often as every 10-15 minutes) were far more excruciating than any of the contractions, excluding the Pitocin-induced ones that she said nothing compares to.
My husband's aunt: Broken clavicle was way, way worse than both her births (she had 2 C-sections, 1 emergent and 1 just because she'd already had a prior C-section). She did have a short period of contractions and early active labor with the first before they found out he was in trouble.


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## wookumus (Sep 16, 2009)

MOHS procedure on my nose to remove a deep basal skin cancer. 8 hours while awake of 40 lidocaine injections and digging out of nasal skin tissue with a sharp scooping device. followed by 23 stitches to repair the damage. ugly, not fun.


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## purplerose (Dec 27, 2010)

I had a bad stomach virus that hurt my upper abdomen badly enough I thought it was my gallbladder, and it came really close, but so far nothing has surpassed the pain of birth for me. Each one was more painful than the last. After #4, if I were to get pregnant again I would seriously consider a c-section to avoid the pain. I have broken bones and broken teeth and had oral surgery without being knocked out.


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## purplerose (Dec 27, 2010)

Erinmattsmom- why didn't they give some kind of pain relief for that procedure?! That is terrifying


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