Which birth is harder?

Asked by: Alexandria Raynor  |  Last update: November 7, 2025
Score: 4.1/5 (50 votes)

Even though labor and vaginal birth can be hard work, they are generally easier on a woman's body than a cesarean. Recovery after vaginal birth is usually shorter and less painful than after a C-section, and allows the woman to spend more time with her baby.

What type of birth is the easiest?

Generally, a vaginal delivery is easier to recover from than a C-section delivery. Your labor and delivery experience will be unique to you. During pregnancy, it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with the different types of delivery and other terms associated with childbirth.

Which is harder giving birth to a boy or to a girl?

evaluated 4070 male fetuses and 4005 female neonates, retrospectively, and found that epidural anesthesia, duration of labor, delivery with forceps, and CS delivery were significantly higher in the male group (13).

Which birth is the least painful?

Which is more painful: C-section or vaginal birth? In general, you'll feel more pain throughout a vaginal birth than during a Caesarean section. That's because the contractions you feel during a vaginal birth build in intensity, leading to the pushing phase (which can also be painful).

Which delivery is more painful?

Ultimately, a natural birth may be more painful than a cesarean section. However, the pain after your cesarean section combined with the heightened risks to you and your baby may outweigh the initial pain of childbirth. Make sure you consult with your doctors to get the best possible advice for you.

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What birth hurts the most?

Second Stage or Active Labor

The second stage is the most painful stage of labor. The baby passes through the cervix, through the pelvis and birth canal, and out through the vaginal opening. On average, it takes one to three hours from the time that the cervix becomes fully dilated to the birth of the baby.

Which delivery is difficult?

Fetopelvic relationships like floating head, deeply engaged head, mal positions like deflexed head, mal presentations like breech and transverse lie, prematurity, multifetal pregnancy, fetal malformations and conjoined twins can create difficult deliveries during C sections.

How painful is childbirth on a scale of 1 to 10?

A numerical rating scale (NRS) of 0–10 was adopted to evaluate maternal pain, with 0 describing no labor pain and 10 describing the most severe labor pain. The higher the score, the more severe the labor pain is.

Which birth order is the hardest?

Middle Child

Middle children are hardest to label because it really depends on their older sibling. They tend to act the polar opposite of their older siblings so they can be their own person, so if the oldest is rebellious then they might be a parent-pleaser.

Does labor still hurt with an epidural?

With an epidural, you might be able to feel contractions — they just won't hurt — and you'll be able to push effectively. There is some evidence that epidurals can speed the first stage of labor by allowing the mother to relax.

Which baby gender is preferred?

Around the world, parents have typically preferred to have sons more than daughters, and American parents have been no different. But there are signs that's changing. It may be because there's less bias against girls, and possibly more bias against boys.

Which gender is more active in the womb?

Most babies are especially active in the evening, though some prefer moving around early in the morning. There can be great variations among healthy babies as to how often and how hard they "kick." Kicking includes all types of movements. Research shows girls kick as often as boys.

Which gender takes longer to be born?

Moms who give birth to boys tend to have slightly longer pregnancies. According to a studyOpens a new window of more than 656,000 pregnancies, male babies had longer gestations, making them more likely to go past the due date.

What is the rarest type of baby?

An en caul birth, also known as a “mermaid birth” or “veiled birth”, is when the baby comes out still inside or partially wrapped in the amniotic sac. This happens in only 1 in 80,000 births, making it extremely rare. It might look like your newborn is completely gift-wrapped in a soft bubble.

What is the easiest age to give birth?

A woman's body is most fertile from the late teens through the 20s. Although many women in their 30s and older can conceive naturally, as time passes, the quantity and quality of eggs in the ovaries begin to decline. By the time a woman reaches her mid-30s to 40 years of age, this decline increases significantly.

What type of birth is safest?

Vaginal birth is much safer than a C-section for most women and babies. Sometimes a C-section is the only safe option, like when the baby is positioned side-to-side in the belly (transverse lie) or the placenta is covering the cervix (placenta previa).

Which birth order is the happiest?

Prior research demonstrated that parents rated that last-borns and only children aged 3–9 years were happier than first-borns and middle-borns in the US (20). Our study is the first to report that middle-born children rated themselves as the most unhappy.

Which sibling is most rebellious?

According to a report from Joseph Doyle, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the "curse of the second-born child" might be true after all. Doyle and his colleagues say that second-borns, particularly boys, are inclined to be more rebellious than their older siblings.

Which child is usually the most difficult?

In a study done by MIT, economist Joseph Doyle surveyed thousands of families in Florida and Denmark and found that second-born children — particularly second-born sons — end up being the most troublesome. And they are not just the most difficult in their own family but in society as well.

What hurts worse than giving birth?

Both kidney stones and childbirth bring on some serious discomfort, but they've got their own styles. Kidney stone pain is often localized, sudden and intense, peaking as the stone moves through the urinary tract. The pain is typically felt in the lower back or side and may radiate to the groin and abdomen.

How many bones break during birth?

Bone fractures during delivery are relatively rare, with an incidence of only 1 in 1,000 births. Among common birth injuries, the clavicle is the most frequently fractured bone, accounting for 45.7% of cases. The humerus, femur, and skull are the next three most commonly injured bones at birth.

Can you feel a baby coming out with an epidural?

However, like with all other things regarding pregnancy and childbirth, how well you're able to feel baby coming out depends on your individual factors, such as how the epidural affected you and where it was placed. “In the end, some people can feel their baby coming out, even if they have an epidural.

What is the least painful delivery of a baby?

Epidural anaesthesia. Epidural injections are the most effective pain relief available. They are used for vaginal births and also for caesarean sections, because they allow the mother to stay awake and alert during the baby's birth.

What is the average delivery time for a first baby?

The average labor lasts 12 to 24 hours for a first birth and is typically shorter (eight to 10 hours) for other births. Throughout this time, you'll experience three stages of labor. The first stage of labor is usually the longest and it ranges from when you first go into labor until your cervix is open.

Is a C-section or natural birth more painful?

Pain and discomfort: Both C-section and vaginal delivery can be painful, but the pain associated with a C-section is usually more intense, and the mother may need more pain relief during the recovery period. Remember this is a major abdominal surgery.