Elisheva says,
> I'd go farther than Marsha, who said pain is common but manageable if you
> know how to cope with it. My own experience is that my 3rd so far was by
> far the fastest, the most painful -- really scary for 20 minutes or so near
> the end -- but overall also the happiest. My midwife couldn't believe I
> was
> in good labor because I was still laughing out loud between contractions.
>
> But pain -- short term pain for a purpose, anyway, I'm not talking about
> chronic and purposeless pain -- is not incompatible with great joy.
>
>
IMHO there is something about labor that is really different than any other
kind of pain experienced....perhaps because it is purposeful -- because it is
accomplishing something? It would be interesting to explore exactly what
type of pain women were having that believe their labor pain was the most
excruciating pain ever -- was it unrelenting back labor? Was the baby in a
funny position? Was it Pitocin induced? What is it that makes women of
today believe they MUST have something to assuage the pain -- that they can't
get through it contraction by contraction (and yes, this DOES relate to
breastfeeding -- big time!). Is it fear of the pain? Are we not teaching
moms how to cope with it correctly -- is "blocking" the pain, a la Lamaze
techniques -- what we need to be teaching, or is helping the mother sort of
get inside her contractions, visualising what is going on, concentrating on
her body and her deep, relaxing breathing the best way to go?
My husband tells me that I should not be allowed to talk about labor because
my three were very easy and quite fast, despite the first being a vaginal
breech (8 hours, first contraction to the end), the second one induced (3 cm
to 9 cm in 15 minutes -- now THAT was almost uncontrollable), and the third
one very nice & smooth -- too bad the midwife didn't make it and there wasn't
any electricity, and Bob had to do the honors by flashlight!!
I've had excruciating, unrelenting pain -- two adult earaches at separate
times, both in the right ear, in which I was kneeling on the floor, pounding
my head against Bob's knee in overwhelming agony. I'd birth 10 babies before
I'd willingly submit myself to that sort of pain again.....
Part of my point is that all of us have seen the effects of epidurals,
Stadol, Nubain, Pitocin -- etc etc -- on breastfeeding. Our babies in the
Family Birthing Center where there was no medication given breastfed just
fine. Our babies in the hospital frequently don't/can't.
What can we do to help these women not need epidurals/pain medication for
normal labors? But how can we convince them prior to labor & birth that they
need to work with the labor and experience the ineffable joy that comes after
successfully running the marathon that is labor?
I think I've said this before -- all three of my children are/were cross
country runners. Watching them at the end of the race was agony for me. The
pain etched across their faces; the white, taut, drawn look as they continued
towards the chute....but i don't think they would have thanked me if I had
offered a wheelchair to take them over the finish line -- not unless they had
fallen and twisted an ankle. They would have finished the race in the
wheelchair -- made it over the finish line -- but would they have experienced
the exhileration they did when doing it on their own?
Jan -- frustrated still in Wheaton
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