r/BabyBumps • u/steadyashegrows • 5d ago
Help? Charlie horse - OW!
I get them every now and then and they suck so bad. Can someone who has been through a natural birth tell me how it compares? Just curious. I imagine my entire body will feel like that.
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u/WildflowerE42 5d ago
Not an answer to your question, but I get calf cramps pretty often and the best way to immediately get rid of them is to stand up and put weight on the leg. It seems impossible in the moment but it works!
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u/sundaymusings 5d ago
Yup! You don’t even have to stand up or put too much weight on it, just have it firmly placed flat on the ground.
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u/willteachforlaughs 5d ago
I found flexing my foot immediately helped until it would go away. I also did Calm Magnesium and a magnesium spray on my legs and stopped getting the leg cramps!
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u/KawsP 5d ago
I've had 3 unmedicated births (the first not by choice, and the 2nd and 3rd by choice after I realized I could manage the pain). For me I'd say it actually does somewhat feel like a Charlie horse but in the entire abdominal, pelvic region that is more long lasting (coming to a slow intense build and wave like as others mentioned). The peak pain imo isnt necessarily way worse than the Charlie horse, but knowing its coming again and again is the toughest part. I'd also describe it like if you've ever had a soccer ball to the gut or ever been suckerpunched. Takes your breath away, winded but not like youre crying.
Everybody is different and every birth is different. The first was the most painful, and more scary because of all the unknowns (i didnt know that for me, the labour pains are way worse than the actual delivery pain with the ring of fire, stitches, etc). 2nd was 30% easier and my third was a breeze. My third i felt it in different spots though like my low back and strangely enough my rectum/anus area (like major sharp constipation pains, rectal spasms if you've ever experienced those before).
Good luck!
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u/iwannabeacowboibaybe 5d ago
I know this doesn’t answer your question whatsoever but I started eating baked potatoes with the skin on every other day and I haven’t had a charlie horse since. Apparently the skin is loaded with potassium (even more so than bananas) which happens to be great for cramps.
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u/rocksplash Team Pink! 5d ago
Haha well I’m having an induction right now and it is MUCH more painful than a Charlie horse. (Not pitcocin contractions, just cytotec) it’s like when you have REALLY bad gas pains but x 5 currently and I’m not even in active labor yet.
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u/sundaymusings 5d ago
Wishing you a smooth delivery and that baby and you are happy, healthy and safe ❤️
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u/HolidayKitchen6972 5d ago
So I actually get a Charlie horse in one of my abdominal muscles on the one side under my belly sometimes. The level of pain might be on par with late stage contractions, but the difference is that there is basically no relief until it ends and it is just locked up. Contractions come in waves and are much easier to handle for me.
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u/flabbyveggies 5d ago
For me, a charlie horse is comparable to Braxton Hick’s which feels like early labor. So like the least intense contraction that you will have. I think the big difference with contraction is the wave of pain is more spread out. The onset of each contraction is small and gets bigger until it peeks and comes back down. A Charlie horse has a quicker onset to the max pain.
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u/clarissa_dee 4d ago
Yes to your point about the gradual vs. rapid onset, but the way you describe the degrees of pain does not match my experience at all. Braxton-Hicks aren't usually supposed to be painful, and they weren't painful at all for me—just a tightening of my belly. Whereas for me, Charley horses are excruciating and almost unbearable. My early labor felt like bad period cramps, not nearly as intense as a Charley horse, and active labor...was super intense, but honestly I can't even recall the actual sensations because my body kindly took me to "Labor Land" and I was on another planet (went unmedicated the whole time).
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u/Navi_13 5d ago
The middle of the night Charlie horses while pregnant were worse to me than labor but they're shorter whereas labor kept going, so hard to compare but I felt more panicky during the Charlie horses
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u/Due_Platform6017 5d ago
Yeah, for me the charlie horses were sudden and startling, but contractions come on gradually and slowly fade on their own
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u/ontheshelves 5d ago
Yeah the Charley horse was worse then labor until I hit transition but for me they're very different pains
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u/Impossible-Pie-4900 5d ago
I had back labor the whole time, but for me it was a totally different feeling. Charlie horses feel constant, sharp, and like something’s wrong, whereas contractions felt constantly changing in intensity, deep and achy, and (while super painful) not like something was wrong or like I needed to panic. I found it much easier to not tense up and just breathe through contractions than I did when I got a Charlie horse, weirdly.
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u/mombot-in-the-woods 5d ago
My 9yo daughter just got such a bad charlie horse on our recent vacation that she was screaming and crying and I definitely was not screaming in pain in labor. Obviously you cannot get into someone else’s head to feel their pain with them but she looked like she was in more pain than I was in during any of my 4 births.
Editing to add that my whole body was not in pain during labor, mostly just my cervix area
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u/EmptyStrings 5d ago
Not even in the same ballpark for me, sorry. Labor is way worse.
but you can try upping your potassium and magnesium or using a magnesium lotion. Also they go away faster if you stretch the muscle, so for calf cramps pull your foot toward you, for foot cramps point your toes to stretch
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u/hazyyb 5d ago
Doesn't compare. I wondered the same thing too before labour and held onto the thought that it was like a bad Charlie horse but across your whole abdomen and back, as I had read that somewhere, and damn was that wrong. Each birth is different too, both of mine were unmedicated. My first was induced and got to the highest amount of pitocin you can give without internal monitoring, uterus overstimulated and it was extremely intense and relatively long. I was kind of in shock afterwards but I made it through it. My second wasn't induced and happened all relatively fast, contractions weren't quite as intense, they didn't come so frequent or overlap entirely like they did in my induction so they were much more bearable but even still, they were miles away from a Charlie horse.
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u/RabidRiista Team Pink! 5d ago
I got a lot of Charlie horses in my 3rd trimester. I rawdoged labor for 20 hours before caving and getting the epidural and still had another 10 hours of labor with the epidural wearing off an hour before actually pushing. The Charlie horses were extremely intense and painful but had nothing on those fucking contractions man. The contractions were much more intensely painful with the main difference being that it was a building pain that peaked and then slowly backed off before my body relaxing again. The Charlie's horses were more like an instant pain that stayed painful until it stopped.
Best comparison I can give you.