Motherhood is a beautiful thing. However, it entails enduring nine months of discomforts and struggles and a pain-wrecking labor process.
Why labor is the most awaited part of pregnancy because it signals the start of delivery. Many women experience many sings of labor including lightening, passing of the mucus plug, contractions, water breaking and dilatation of the cervix. When contractions and dilatation of the cervix combine, many mothers described it as the most painful experience in their lives.
Why does it hurt so bad?
Labor involves the uterus in preparation for the expulsion of the fetus from it through the vagina. The uterus is a muscular organ that contracts powerfully to squeeze the baby out and the contractions are the culprit in labor pain, reports Fit Pregnancy.
Aside from the contractions of the uterus, intense muscle tightening throughout the abdomen and pelvic area may pose pressure on the back and perineum. Sometimes, women describe it as ten times more painful than their dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation).
Jay O'Brien, M.D., medical director of inpatient obstetric services at Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island in Providence said, "All that combines to ratchet up pain."
Meanwhile, Live Science reports that women way before have bigger pelvic diameters than modern women making it more painful to give birth today. In fact, the birth canal of that female Homo erectus is, in fact, 30 percent larger than that of the typical modern woman.
However, to be able to ease labor pains, there are many methods recommended for women undergoing labor. Relaxation is a very effective method to ease the pain. "The most important thing you can relax during labor is your mind," Stacey Rees, a certified nurse-midwife at Clementine Midwifery, in Brooklyn, New York told Parent.com.
Also, to stay relaxed, deep breathing is very helpful. To fasten the labor process, moving around helps a lot. Aside from that, it can lessen the sensation of pain too. Walking around, squatting and changing positions could be done in the labor room.
Labor is indeed painful but at the end of the day, rewarding. It is a thing that most women will go through at least once in their lives. Management of pain is essential during this process.
