Originally posted by nmh
Christine, I had an amazingly easy labor and birth. At no point did the thought of asking for pain relief even begin to cross my mind. It was hard work and no doubt, and unlike anything I've ever been through, but it wasn't scary or unbearable. I was chit-chatting between contractions right up through the pushing stage. I freely admit that I was insanely lucky, my labor pattern was just about as kind as you could ask for with just eight hours of labor and a steady ramp-up of progressive, dilating contractions. But I also think that being well-prepared helped, and that some of my choices helped encourage that easier labor pattern.
For what it's worth, I had a birth plan (couched as "birth preferences") but it was underlined by faith in my midwives. I was flexible about it (and indeed, a lot of things didn't work out precisely according to "plan") but writing it helped me and the staff and my husband to have an idea of what I expected and what was going to make me comfortable while in labor.
Comment