by Laura Falin posted in Pregnancy

I like to remind my oldest child that it took a good 36 hours of labor to birth him. I figure if someday all my kids are fighting over who has to take care of me in my old age, this fact puts him over the edge. It's my retirement insurance.
Not all of those 36 hours were hard labor, but all of those 36 hours involved contractions. I noticed every single one of them and none of them felt good.
I have friends whose kids came quickly. I even have an acquaintance who had one in the car on the side of the road because they couldn't make it to the hospital. I have another friend whose doctor joked that if she had any more kids, she should rent a room at the hospital beforehand to make sure she got there in time. Before now, though, I had never heard of having a full labor with contractions...but not actually feeling them. Apparently, this is a thing. Several of you told your stories in the BabyCenter Community, and I'm fascinated.

It all started with a question from Bridget182: "I dilated with my son to 7cm without feeling any contraction pain and it was a fluke the midwife even realized I was in labor. In fact, it was so difficult to tell if/when I was having contractions and we relied completely on the monitor. I was no help. I'm now pregnant with #2 and nervous that you usually deliver faster on subsequent pregnancies. Anybody else have more than 1 kid without feeling contractions""
A few people chimed in with their own stor...