Posted by Julie on July 31, 1998 at 08:07:53:
In Reply to: to mothers- cluster or childbirth? posted by harley on July 29, 1998 at 22:51:47:
Harley,
I had natural childbirth with all 3 of my children, and here's what I can tell you. Labor contractions are the most painful in the "transition" period right before you are allowed to push. Contractions are about a minute apart; and you just get a chance to catch your breath from the last one when the next one hits. Labor contractions, even at their most painful, build - much like a wave builds in height and intensity until it crashes on the beach. In childbirth classes, you are taught to "breathe through" the wave - you can feel it build - but psychiologically - you know that the wave will crash and at least for a few minutes, the level of pain intensity will crash with it. No such luck with cluster. The pain builds, and stays there.... much harder to handle, I think because there is no rest cycle between bursts of pain, it's just constant. Tell your wife that the c/h pain is just like labor "transition" pain - with NO breathers in between contractions, and no reward at the end of the process.