How does crowning feel like?

Crowning feels like an extremely intense combination of pressure, stretching, burning, and stinging in the vaginal and perineal area, often described by birthing people as the most intense sensation of labor. As the baby's head stretches the vaginal opening to its maximum, the skin and tissues are stretched thin, which compresses nerves and causes a hot, burning feeling commonly called the ring of fire. Many describe it as a severe burning, like intense friction or like the area is on fire, along with enormous pressure as if you need to have a bowel movement but much stronger. There is also a feeling of extreme tightness and fullness, as if the area might tear, which sometimes it does. Some people feel a brief moment of panic or fear that they cannot do it, while others feel relief that birth is almost over. For those with an epidural, crowning may feel more like pressure than burning, while without pain medication it is sharp and hot. The sensation lasts seconds to a few minutes, and after the head emerges, the burning quickly subsides and is replaced by relief and then by focus on delivering shoulders.