How painful is labor? Will I be able to handle it? Will it affect my overall pregnancy experience?
How painful is labor? Will I be able to handle it? Will it affect my overall pregnancy experience?
These are the some questions that every pregnant mother has as she progresses closer and closer to labor day. This is such a big issue that it was likely on your mind before you were even pregnant. Thankfully, there are many methods to handle delivery compared to even twenty years ago. Labor is certainly not an easy task and so LAiMA is here to help you through this challenging yet monumentally rewarding task. We at LAiMA don't want your labor experience to be a reflection of someone else’s idea of how labor is supposed to be. Instead we want your labor experience to be completely your own— the grand finale of your pregnancy!
It is important to recognize that every mom’s labor experience is different. It would be unfair to assume that your resilience in labor is based solely on your mental toughness. Every mom is different both physically and emotionally. Every person has very individual receptors levels which causes their pain tolerance to be completely different from others. In terms of labor, one women may choose to have natural labor and have the best experience of her life while another would have an epidural and have an overall negative experience.
The LAiMA philosophy of labor focuses on two things: you and your baby’s medical safety and your experience. The focus of your delivery should not be the specific procedures of your labor but rather your overall experience. Today, you have many choices how you progress through labor— you can ask for anything from mental refocusing, epidural, or musculoskeletal adjustments. With these options available, you should monitor how you feel as you progress through you labor. If you feel that the pain is beginning to make your pregnancy experience suffer, then it’s time to change the approach. If on the other hand, as you progress through labor you feel that, even though painful, natural labor is more fulfilling, then it will still be phenomenal experience.
Finally, don’t lose sight of what is happening. You are about to meet the most important person in your life! This is truly the one of the most significant days you will remember! The positive experience of labor will be more memorable than the specifics of how you delivered. Every year you won’t focus on the how of your delivery but rather on the what— the birth of your child and that you had a phenomenal experience bringing your baby into the world!