Labor Pain Symptoms

Labor Pain Symptoms - How Painful is Labor?

 

Just as every pregnancy is different, every labor is different, too. In addition, each person has a different and subjective view of how pain is interpreted. For some people, labor might be no more painful than a typical monthly period whereas for others, it would rank somewhere above dental surgery with no anesthesia. There are many factors that contribute to how painful a labor is considered to be and whether or not labor pain symptoms are tolerable without anesthesia of some kind.

Relative Restfulness Of The Mother

Almost any task is easier if you are well rested to begin with and bringing a child into the world is no exception. Almost no woman goes into labor perfectly well rested due to the increasing frequency of Braxton Hicks contractions and getting up to go to the bathroom at least once in the night. However, going into labor mid-morning after a decent night’s rest is usually considered to be much easier than going into labor at midnight after a shopping marathon or exhausting family holiday celebration.

Pain Tolerance

For some people, pain tolerance is just part of their make-up. If you are someone who runs to the medicine cabinet at the first hint of a headache, then you probably have a low pain tolerance. However, that is not to say that an unmedicated labor is impossible for someone with a low pain tolerance. There are many other factors that go into the perception of how painful labor is.

What Are You Scared Of?

Fear brings tension with it, and tension is the enemy of an effective labor. For the body to prepare to deliver the baby, the cervix has to relax. If you are scared stiff, you will be continually working against your own bodily processes. Learning as much as you can about the labor process can help you take the fear out of the experience. In addition, it can be worthwhile for you to spend time learning relaxation techniques. When you feel your jaw begin to clench up during the laboring process, you can employ the learned techniques to help you relax throughout contractions. Any experienced mother will tell you that relaxation is the key to an unmedicated labor.

The size of the baby relative to the birth canal and a few other physical factors, including the position of the baby, can affect how painful your particular labor is as well as your labor pain symptoms. Much of the perception of pain is affected by how painful the mother expects the experience to be and how tense or relaxed she is during the process.

Laboraide's mission is to give you the best tool to reduce pain during labour. That tool is found right here at the Laboraide Shop.

Photo credit: Nina Matthews Photography / Foter.com / CC BY