I suscribe to Midwifery Today and this Facebook Q and A showed up in my email today!

Jenny Marie Hatch

Facebook Q&A

How do you explain the “pain” of labor to your clients?

I describe the pain as pain. Real pain. Not as “waves” or “extreme menstrual cramps.” Like the kind of pain you may have never felt before. I also describe it as productive pain. Breaking a limb or having a chronic medical condition is a type of suffering. I think it’s important to differentiate between the two. Labor pain will end and there’s a tremendous gift at that end. I think it’s a disservice to downplay the intensity of the pain in labor.
—Kerri Jackson Pelz

I tell them it can be a gentle tightening in their bellies that feels like a sweet hug, it can feel like sharp period cramps, it can feel like a bear hug that takes your breath away, it can create pressure in your pelvis and down your thighs, it can sometimes feel like your uterus is turning itself inside out and pulling itself over your whole body! And at the same time, I share that labor pain is unlike almost any other because the sensations are a sign that all is right, that their beautiful, powerful uterine muscle is doing the work to get the baby out and we will be celebrating and supporting that magnificent work. My mom always told me labor was “pain with a purpose and when it is complete you will have a beautiful baby in your hands.”
—Roseanna Azarow Ebert