Labour pain Vs period pain endometriosis: similarities?😱

[Lapinblanc88]

Hello

I have stage 4 deep infiltrative endo and I've finally managed to get pregnant with IVF after 5years of trying. I'd be soooo grateful if fellow endo ladies could enlighten me. Midwives are clueless about endo😔

I was set on getting a planned c section, but I'm now thinking about a pool birth without a peridural.

I have read that very painful periods are a strong indicator of how bad your labour pain will be.

If that's the case I'm very worried !!

Would you be so kind and let me know how bad your labour pains were compared to your period pain , and if you had a peridural ?

First birth?

Any complications?

I have read that women with endo face more complications .

[Badger17]

Hi there,

Not personal experience but my friend with endo said that she didn’t even need paracetamol when she gave birth because it was nothing compared to her period pain!

[Jdgirl030]

Congratulations! I had one natural birth and one with indication with stage 4 deep infiltrating endo. I thought that because I had experienced pain with the condition I might be better equipped. I would say this was certainly the case with managing the contractions during the natural birth, but pushing is going to be painful whether you have endo or not.

If you are induced with the drip I would seriously recommend an epidural. The drip makes your contractions 10x worse and I seriously regretted saying no.

One thing I was advised was to avoid surgery if possible because I had had abdominal surgery before and things would be sticky inside from scarring and a c section would have put me at higher risk of fused organs after birth. Just something to consider

Good luck with it all!

[Lapinblanc88 in reply to Jdgirl030]

Thank you. That's v interesting! Would you say that your contractions were more or less the same as bad period pain with endo?

Thanks for the tip on induction. My doula told me the same thing!

[Jdgirl030 in reply to Lapinblanc88]

Labour pain is like a pain you will not have felt before with endometriosis. It is like really intense sharp tightening going all across your stomach, sometimes into your back, and it lasts for a minute or so and then disappears...then you have a few minutes break and it starts again. As you get closer to birth they increase in frequency (less time between). Then at the point of needing to push you feel a huge pressure (I thought I needed to wee) it’s pretty overwhelming) but if you trust your body and get into the right position your contractions will help that little one with where they need to go and you really don’t need to do much at all! Just remember to breathe! Gas and air was wonderful!

[Rjb_88]

The two pains are so different.

My endo didn’t affect labour at all and it’s severe, the only time it came up was when I was sat cross legged for an epidural and I thought I was having a non stop contraction but she said I wasn’t and I’d been sat in a way where the baby was pushing down on endo scar tissue to cause it. As soon as I put my legs down I went back to normal labour contractions 😊

I’d go with what you want, if you want to try a water birth then go for it!

[Alex9]

No comparison! My period pains are much worse ! I didn't even know I was in labour until 2 hours before I gave birth, like you I was expecting labour to me more painful than a period. All day i just thought I needed a poo . Sorry tmi !I had no pain relief whatsoever.

Now for my periods I'm on tramadol.

I'd say my burst ovarian cyst was the worst pain ever , labour is way down the list .

Relax and enjoy!