Throe

n. [A-S. threá, for threáw, chiding, menace, affliction, from threówan, to suffer.] 1. Extreme pain; violent pang; anguish; agony; especially, the anguish of travail in childbirth, or parturition. “Prodigious motion felt, and rueful throes.” Milton. My throes came quicker, and my cries increased. Dryden. 2. An instrument for splitting wood into shingles. Simmonds.

To struggle in extreme pain; to be in agony; to agonize.