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Why does labour hurt? |
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There are so many possible answers to this question, from the technical to the spiritual. Some women ask this question rhetorically, others because they really want to know. Others ask it because they are seeking consolation for the pain and a way to move beyond it. We hope these ideas help you.
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To Touch the Hand of God The creative power of God is a power that women are allowed to experience in giving birth. For the nine months of pregnancy, you have grown your baby in your body, but God has been guarding your baby also. At the moment of birth a woman reaches out and takes her child from God’s loving hands. It is the closest any mortal ever comes to being in the awesome presence of the Creator. Of course that’s going to hurt. |
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Because Parenting Hurts. Birth is a training ground for parenthood. The pain of childbirth is nature’s way of preparing you for the physical and emotional effort that is to come. Through the years, when you doubt your strength as a parent, you can look back on the day you gave birth and know that you can endure.
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A Whole New Woman Pregnancy changes women physically, emotionally, and psychologically. A pregnant woman is like a completely different person; one whose life is condensed into the 9 months of gestation and whose emotions and sensations are proportionately intensified. A third woman emerges during labour. How much more intensely does a woman feel everything if she exists for only the 12—18 hours that it takes to deliver her baby?
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No, really. Why does it hurt? Pain is a natural and necessary part of the birthing process. Pain is your body’s way of telling you to go slowly, to change position, to move and behave in ways that will help your labour to progress. Labour pain is not like the pain of injury: it is not a sign that something is wrong. It is a sign that something is happening. |
