my experience

Women today are programmed to expect a very painful labour. This programming comes mainly from the media who love the drama of childbirth and cannot help but portray labour as an acutely dramatic and painful event. When was the last time you saw a woman in labour on one of the soaps who did not appear to be in agony? A calm, pain free labour would not be exciting enough to pull in the viewers who seem to relish other peoples' pain. Did you not see the tram disaster on Coronation Street? It is drama that pulls in the audience and so the producers can only look at labour as an opportunity to stomp up the volume with tales of woe and anguish.
Little wonder that today's women are afraid to go into labour. That as soon as they think they may be in labour they are frozen with fear and start producing adrenalin by the truck load. It is adrenalin that makes labour contractions painful; without it the contractions would not be as strong and so not as painful.
As a mother of four I personally have had two very painful labours and two pain free. Once you know how to act and mentally react to labour it is a simple step to achieving a pain free labour.
As a midwife I try to pass on my experience to prospective mothers but cannot reach enough to make a difference. This blog is my way of reaching out to women today to try and give them back control of their own bodies during labour. To see quiet confidence instead of stark panic in the eyes of the women I meet every day at work. Let me know if you want to hear more.