If you're pregnant, chances are you are at least a little concerned about the impending pain of baby delivery. Since labor varies from woman to woman and baby to baby, you won't know how painful your childbirth will be until it begins. However, you should be less anxious and more prepared to handle anything that comes your way if you have some coping strategies under your sleeve.
Underlying Cause
Labor pain is caused mainly by contractions of the uterine muscles and pressure placed on the cervix, according to KidsHealth, part of the Nemours Foundation. Other causes of labor pain are the baby's head placing pressure on a woman's bowels and bladder and the sensation of the birth canal and vagina stretching, says KidsHealth.
Common Sensations
Most women feel labor pain as a cramping sensation in the abdomen, back and groin and an overall achy feeling, according to KidsHealth. Some women believe the pain feels similar to menstrual cramps, some feel waves that feel like diarrheal cramps and others may describe their pain as severe pressure. However, it isn't always intense pain that causes a woman to seek pain management as much as it is the repetitive and long-lasting pain associated with contractions, says KidsHealth.
Preparations
Getting regular exercise can help you build muscle strength and endurance, which can help prepare your body for labor stress, according to KidsHealth. Talk to your doctor before engaging in an exercise regimen; he will consider factors such as the health of your pregnancy and your pre-pregnancy fitness levels before telling you how much you should or shouldn't exercise. Another way to prepare for labor discomfort is to attend childbirth classes with your partner or labor coach. Classes can teach you stretches that can help strengthen muscles that support your uterus and offer pain management techniques such as visualization, says KidsHealth. Other pain management techniques to look into are bathing, walking, yoga poses, hypnosis, massage, changing positions and distracting yourself.
Medications
Most expectant mothers in the United States choose some type of pain medication to help them through labor, according to BabyCenter. Analgesics, or pain medications such as morphine, can be given through an intervenous tube or a shot; tranquilizers can be used to calm or relax anxious women, but they don't reduce pain; and regional anesthesia such as nerve blocks and epidurals block off pain to certain regions of the body, according to KidsHealth. However, all pain medications come with drawbacks and potential side effects. For example, analgesics can cause the mother to have trouble breathing and affect the baby's heart rate and initial reflexes, and epidurals can cause a woman to have trouble pushing and cause her to have a long-lasting headache.
Choosing Natural vs. Medication
Natural pain management methods such as relaxation and breathing techniques can give you a better feeling of control over your labor but they don't actually dull the pain, according to the Mayo Clinic. Alternately, medication can reduce the pain of contractions but can cause side effects. Discuss all of your pain control options with your practitioner. Even if you opt for one type before you go into labor, you may change your mind once labor actually begins.
