For those of you who have children!?

So... I'm a 20 yr. old student & I just started the nursing program... In one of my anatomy & physiology books it shows a series of 4 [real] pictures of a woman giving birth & I'm okay with blood & guts & nasty stuff... but I now NEVER want to have kids EVER in my whole life. These pictures scared me for life... It just looks so rediculously painful. I don't understand how so many women do it.... and keep doing it over and over. I mean, I know blah blah blah kids are gods gift and they make it all worth it, but seriously...

Oh, and my close friend just had a baby & she had an 'epideral' and she not to believe what everyone says... it helped for the pain but she could still feel everything

K.
I just had a baby 12 weeks ago. I also had the epidural.
I can tell you it was GREAT!! No less than 5 minutes after receiving it I was so calm and relaxed I could nap in full blown labor.

I felt NOTHING, no contractions, even the ones peaking off the monitor screen. I did not feel while pushing nor him coming out nor the Dr. stitching up my very mild tear.
Not only was my 2nd and 3rd stage of labor pain free but it also sped up my labor. Once I had the epidural at 3:40 I had my baby at 8:40 just 5 hrs later and with only 12 minutes of pushing.

I never had the mother instinct, people brought their babies to work and I couldn't care less. But now that I have my own, it is completely different. I love my Little baby so much, there isn't one thing I wouldn't do for him. I melt when I look at him and I can't even watch those diaper rash commercials with the crying babies without holding my son closer to me
But I am also 32, at 20 a kid was the furthest thing from my mind.

Is there a question here that i don't know about?

That's why they have epidurals (shot in your spine that numbs you from the waist down), if the pain is too much, you get the shot and the pain goes away.

A lot of women like to try the "natural" route and not take pain meds, but my thought is that there is no need to be in pain during such a wonderful experience. But some women want the experience (pain and all) and do not want to subject the baby to any pain medicine.

I, on the other hand, has a C-section. So, I had the morphine, the spinal and more time to recover...but no labor pains!

So, don't freak...you have plenty of time to decide what you want to do. You do not have to feel pain if you don't want to.

So many go through this... and so many women have the same worry as you. It's all OK! Trust us!

Believe it or not, labor is the EASIEST part about being a mom. Think about it - Labor only lasts less than 24 hours for a lifetime of magical moments. I personally did not think that labor was unbearable - and I had no drugs. You are still young and will probably change your mind in the next ten years, but for now it is good you don't want kids. Finish school, get a good life going, and then rethink it - if you still don't want kids great, there are lots of people out there that should never have had kids but did anyway - I like a girl that knows what she wants!

each woman is different from another and each pregnancy is different from another. some may feel pain like crazey, while others may not feel that much pain. some are in labor for hours and hours, then some don't even have time to make it to a hospital.
most of all, there is pain meds that (most) women get when they go into labor that lessings the pain to having no pain. for example; when i was in labor, my back was in furious pain but nowhere else hurt. after getting the meds, my back pain was completely gone and i had no other pain including down there. the only thing i felt was like a big poop coming out, it was only pressure that was bearable, nothing else, didn't even feel the contractions (thankfully). but, if i ever have another, it may be completly different and i may have the worst pain of my life.
if you've never had a baby, then you probley don't know what ppl mean when they say that it's worth it. after you have your 1st, then you'll understand more. don't let some pics scare you, you just have to give birth yourself to understand that special feeling :>)....

Yeah, it was very painful......but giving birth was way better than being pregnant for me, as I thought I would finally be able to walk around without huge belly!!!!

Yes. It hurts ... lots. I have four children.
With my fourth (I am in my late 30's) my body went into shock whilst having her. I was shaking so badly and I swelled up all around my groin. It was awful. But the swelling went down after a few days and I was fine. It is agony and it kills and YES, it is worth it, this amazing tiny little warm baby is given to you and life changes completely - don't say never - you "never" know!!!! one day

i'm not going to lie..it hurts but it's one of those pains that you forget about when you hold your baby for the first time. i have given birth to 2 kids (no painkillers either) and witnessed 2 other births. i thought it was neat. it's amazing your body can work the way it does. maybe with time and the right situation, you'll change your mind.

I had two natural childbirths and they were great. Absolutely wonderful.

It's not as bad as it looks. I mean, don't get me wrong...it IS painful. But you are so distracted by the thought of finally meeting the little baby you have bonded with over the past nine months, the pain is just a minor thought in the back of your mind.

Haha... your feelings are very valid. But I must tell you... when the nurses held up a mirror so that I could see myself pushing my baby out I told them to take it away. I didn't want to see it... it does LOOK painful! It was not encouraging to actually see what was going on and what I had to push out. I did not take an epidural and I pulled through it. You know that it will end as soon as the baby is out so you just have to tough through it and it will all be over with a bit of time. I really is worth it to go through more pain than you will ever endure in your entire life to produce a child. While you're in labor and delivery your mind and body really kicks in and prepares you and makes you brave enough for it all. Now that I'm pregnant with my second one I am scared to go through it all again... but as I said... I know my mind and body will kick in when it needs to and I'll be able to, once again, get through it.

Your not the only one. I know people who have chosen adoption due to the worry of child birth. Personally the pain of child birth sucked! but it's well worth it.

I should think that by the end of your program you'd be a little less scared of the whole thing. It's just your initial reaction. Relax and renew your birth control prescrip.

Ha bless you your right it is terrifying but you cannot truly understand how it reall is all worth it until you are holding your child in your arms.
I have given birth to eight beautiful kids-most recently four month old triplets and every minute of the pain was more than worth it.
I'm not gonna lie and say it is a walk in the park but I will assure you that missing out on not having kids for this reason would be a real pity. 20 odd hours of labour versus 20 plus years off love and bonding with your own amazing gift from God.

If you are talking about an epidural during natural birth then you need to know that normally it wears off before you push the baby out depending on how long you are in labour. If you feel you do not want to go through natural birth you always have the option of a C section but they both have their pros and cons. You are only 20 so having children is not an issue or desire right now but i can guarantee that later on in life your maternal insticts will set in and you will want to have a baby despite having to go through the birthing process.