Yes and No.
There are so many factors that you have to consider.
Low / High pain threshold
your choice of pain relief
straight forward labor / labor complications
how you handle yourself acceptance / panic
etc etc
You have to remember that you will mostly hear the horror stories.. the majority of the time everything goes well..
I had a pretty straightforward delivery 12 hours from the first irregular contraction to having my baby in my arms.
I have friends how have barely made it to the hospital.. that's how fast they delivered.. and others struggling for 4 gruesome days before being artificially 'started' and then having to accept a Cesarean because the baby could come out..
point is..you just don't know.. and that is perhaps one of the things that is the hardest to handle.. it's out of your control, if you choose to give birth naturally.
I was afraid of the pain.. I don't think my pain threshold is exceptional...it might even be on the low side..
What helped me was educating myself on what I could do to help myself during labor.
First of I took breathing lessons..
I read all there was to be read on pain relief methods, their pro's and con's.
And I made sure to inform my husband and write a letter to my midwife stating what I thought I'd like given different scenarios (normal labor vs prolonged labor )
You can work
with your body and pain, let it's instincts take over or you can overanalyse, panic and act counterproductive to the whole process.
I had a tiny amount of laughing gas (nitrous oxide), I say tiny because I hardly dared take very much because I was told it would be taken away if I became to unfocused and 4 acupuncture needles in my back.
That was it.
And yes it did hurt, and I did ask if I could have an epidural when I thought I had had enough.. but by the time I requested it.. I think I only had 1-2 hours to go.. so it wasn't an option.
I remember thinking after wards.. Would I want to do this again ? Yes.. but not within the next 14 days
Labor is tough.. and most feel butchered afterwards... in fact that was a big surprise for me, because I'd heard so much about labor itself..but next to nothing about what went after it..the healing.. All along I had thought.. hey, once I've delivered I'm over the hurdle..
) actually, what scares me more, at the moment, is not the physical pain but the responsibility and the changes to one's life.
