Labor

Alright, you’re here.  You’ve made it through those difficult nine months of feeling like a whale and you finally start having contractions.

Or are they really contractions?  The first time around can be very unnerving because you’re never felt them before, or you’ve had previous medicated deliveries or surgeries that removed that feeling from you.  Maybe it’s your second or third time around and you’re contractions seem different.  What’s the difference between false, early and real labor?  (See the stages of labor here.)

The Labor part of ‘Labor & Delivery‘ is the most confusing and complicated part.  But don’t worry!  I’m going to walk you through every step and straighten out all the confusion associated with labor.

The good news is you quite literally don’t have to actively do anything during labor

Why? Because your body is doing it all on its own.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could always choose the exact day and time we wanted to have our babies and control the frequency of those contractions and how strong they are.  Nope, not so.  That baby and your body, even God’s timing is all at play-NOT you.  Of course, you can help to start labor in a few ways, but not always.  I’ll help you more with that.

The key to going through labor is relaxation

“Well I already know that,” you may think.  “But how do I do that?  How in the world am I supposed to relax when I’ve got wires stuck to my belly in the hospital?  How can I relax when my husband might by freaking out too?  Relaxing is the last thing on my mind because I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen.”  I know, I really do.  That’s why you’ve prepared, so you know HOW to relax.  It doesn’t matter exactly which method you use to relax because if it works for you then stick with it; everyone’s different.

Discover How To Relax Through Every Aspect of Labor

But I’m asking you to trust me on it this too.  Be diligent in doing what you can for yourself so that you can in turn do the best you can for your baby.  Yes, you could quit right when you walk through that hospital room door and elect for that epidural or cesarean.  That’s easy.  But it’s NOT worth it.   When has anything ever been easy that was really worth it in the end?

You WILL get through your labor

Another perk about labor is that your frame of mind about time is naturally ‘drugged’, you could say.  What I mean is, things don’t seem as long as they are when you pay attention to them.  You will feel like it’s only been a few minutes, but really hours have gone by.  Or if you try to calculate how many times you’ve had a contraction, you won’t be able to do it accurately.  You’ll have MANY more contractions than what they seem.  One of God’s little gifts to you.

One thing that I kept telling myself was, “Millions of women have done this for thousands of years.  That means I can too.”  It’s true.  God wouldn’t have entrusted you with this gift and this task of bearing and delivering a child if he knew you couldn’t get through the labor.  You are MADE for it, and that’s divine.