Image Source: HBO [1]
If you've ever wondered what it feels like to have a contraction during labor — or maybe you're just curious about how other mamas felt — say no more; we were nosy for you. We asked real moms [2] to answer the question, "If a friend asked you to describe your contractions, what would you say?" and the answers we got are not only enlightening, humbling, and eye-opening, they're also straight-up natural birth-control methods.
Here are the 21 best responses we got — if you're still considering going through more childbirth after reading this, we salute you and support you in all of your endeavors.
- "Satan coming up from the depths of Hell and shooting flaming arrows at your hoohah." — Stacey [3]
- "Like someone is carving out your insides with a dull spoon!" — Racheal [4]
- "Starts off as bad cramps and quickly escalates to feeling like you are being electrocuted :)" — Casaundra [5]
- "Why do you think those ladies on 'I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant' are always sitting on the potty?" — Tami [6]
- "Like a stampede of horses running over your ovaries and you can hear them coming." — Amy [8]
- "One hundred bones breaking all at [once] that plus really bad cramps." — Karla [9]
- "It was so incredibly intense and painful but something I would do again in a blink." — Magdalena [10]
- "Like a beach ball sized puffer fish was expanding in my gut every 2-4 minutes." — Lara [11]
- "I literally grabbed a nurse and begged her to just confirm that I was dying since I was convinced I was dying." — Nikki [12]
- "You will wish for death in the first 2 minutes." — Amanda [14]
- "I'd tell [my friend] to never mind and just use birth control." — Sheryl [15]
- "A reminder that I was getting closer and closer to meeting my baby boy." — Wendy [16]
- "Your stomach and pelvis imploding and exploding at the same time!" — Larissa [17]
- "The worst pain you'll ever love!" — Kelly [18]
- "Like my groin being hooked up to an electric fence as the voltage was gradually turned up . . ." — Laura [19]
- "Intermittent glimpses into the gates of hell, there really is no other comparison, you will wish for death." — Kristi [21]
- "Like fire hot pokers jabbing through my lower back." — Ginny [22]
- "Felt like a little man with a huge sledge hammer was inside me beating the crap out of my lower back — I thought i wouldn't survive it!" — Kabsha [23]
- "It's like someone is using a chest spreader on your VAGINA!! Without anesthesia." — Sandra [24]
- "Having to take the worst poo of your life, only it's stuck." — Rosie [26]
Image Source: Universal Studios [7]
Image Source: NBC [13]
Image Source: ABC [20]
Image Source: Universal Studios [25]
And then, possibly our favorite — though it's not even from a woman:
- "Well, first I got too close to the table where she was. Then she grabbed hold and proceeded to inform me that, 'If I was to ever attempt to touch her naked body again . . . '" — Bob [27]