To say labor is full of pain might be an understatement.  The amount of pain one may feel may be more or less than someone else had felt and that is dependent on the individual’s capacity to tolerate pain.  There is no point in denying pain and assuming that it would be pain free. The best option is to prepare yourself mentally to tolerate the pain.

The contractions at the start are smaller in duration and not very painful. As the dilation progresses, the contractions become stronger and stronger. The capacity of bearing the pain increases with each contraction. You might think it as a way of nature that prepares you and makes your stronger with each contraction. The contractions pull up the cervical muscles at the bottom of the uterus and therefore dilate the cervix more and more until it is wide enough to let the baby out through it.

Therefore, the more you relax the easier the uterine muscles are able to expand. The fear of the pain makes the muscles more tense which in turn ends up causing more pain. The pain is also the mechanism that tells the body about the progress of the delivery process.

The good news is these days there are ways expectant mothers can learn and use that learning to manage the pain to the level of their comfort. The childbirth classes that you attend, teach the tactics to relax and distract yourself from the pain.

The pain management techniques without using medication are often recommended by even the doctors. However, even using medication for managing pain during the labor is available if needed. The preference for keeping away medication as far as possible minimizes any adverse affects of the medicine on the baby. Secondly, pain relieving medications make the lower body kind of numb due to which it may not be possible to push effectively which can make a C-section necessary.

Even if you prefer a natural childbirth without the use of any medication to control pain, you should prepare yourself mentally to the use of medication if the need arises.