Perception of Pain

Your uterus is a muscular organ. It contracts intensely to squeeze your baby out. These contractions are the prime source of labor pain.

How much pain a mother experiences depends on factors like: • Strength of your contractions
• Baby’s size and position in your pelvis
• Whether the baby is face-up or face-down
• Speed of labor

Every mother-to-be, should explore her feelings and options regarding labor preparation and pain management. Like most pregnant women, you probably have already spent hours thinking about how you’ll handle the pain of labor and birth.

What you should keep in mind is that, how you perceive pain and experience the birthing process is significantly going to impact your bond with your baby. This means that the more you prepare yourself and develop a support system for you and your baby, the better opportunity you will get to bond with your baby after birth.

Any time you are faced with the unknown, it is common to experience fear. So, it’s absolutely normal to have some fear about the process of giving birth and the pain that comes with it.

Consider the following scenario:
Your labor is progressing. You are moving from the active phase of labor to the transitional phase of labor. Your contractions are becoming stronger, longer and closer with every passing minute.

Now, you can either start to panic, withdraw from your support team, begin to question your ability to give birth to this baby and wonder if you can trust anyone. OR, you can practice conscious attachment to your baby. Even though you are becoming extremely uncomfortable with every contraction, you assure yourself that you are in a safe place and that your body is functioning normally. Even though you are feeling a great deal of pain, YOU ARE NOT SUFFERING.

While labor can unveil in many ways, and in some cases – even unexpectedly, it is the memory of birth that is going to impact the mother-baby bond. Perception is the key here. This perception, coupled with positive attitude will help you tap your intuition and allow you to make the best choices for you and your baby. Your memory of birthing will forever be with you and your partner. Whether it will contribute positively or negatively largely depends on your perception. So have a positive outlook by indulging yourself physically, emotionally and spiritually in the preparation for labor and birth as it will contribute massively to your experience.