Last night I looked after a young lady who I shall call Maisy. She arrived at our labour ward in the early hours of the morning in labour. She was very distressed and in pain, so much so that she could hardly walk. After assessing her cervix to see if she was in labour I managed to calm her down by explaining why her contractions were causing pain. I then taught her the progressive muscle relaxation technique and sat her on a birthing ball.
When someone has entered the stress/pain cycle it can be very difficult to pull them out of it by getting them to listen to you and understand what you are trying to tell them. To her credit, Maisy listened to everything I said and very quickly began to reap the benefits. To her amazement the contractions stopped causing her pain. She was able to breath through the contractions sat on her ball with wonderful support from her partner who remained calm all the way through. When offered analgesia she declined saying that she was no longer in any pain.
Maisy went on to have a lovely normal delivery in a kneeling position on the bed. I am not going to tell you that the second stage was pain free cos that would be silly. As that head is crowning the perineum gets stretched and stings a lot. But Maisy was wonderful, she listened to me - when to push and when to pant - and we had an intact perineum. Her baby was alert and awake and fed at the breast within an hour of the birth.
Looking after Maisy was a delight. It makes the midwives job so much easier when mum takes control and breaks out of the stress/pain barrier. If Maisy can do it then why are you still telling yourself that a pain free labour is not possible, all it takes is to believe.
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