Negative Expectations or Beliefs :

A woman's real (not preconcieved) expectations are a strong predictor of what her actual experience will be. Women tend to get what they expect. Negative labour or birth expectations generally result in negative experiences with many women reporting predominantly bad memories of their birth experience.

Expectations and belief structures can make birth painful or hard to cope with. Read more on Childbirth Expectations & Beliefs here.

Changing Position:

The pain may be calling for a change of position, until you find a position that works - even if it only works for a short time.

This position changing helps the descent and rotation of your baby during childbirth and can assist in birthing the placenta afterwards if you are feeling pain or discomfort.

You may also have a full bladder!!!!!!! Don't forget to drink and pee during and after birth.

Unresolved Fears:

Your body, mind and soul may be working through unresolved fears that you were not previously aware of or only subtly aware of.

Acknowledging those fears is the first step, trusting in birth, your instincts and accepting the birthing flow will help you work through them.

Sometimes, this is where another person may be of emotional support to you if you need it - your husband, a close friend, etc. Many women who have this problem go on to say how smoothly their birth went after the fears were worked through and that the baby was born instantly!

Remember too that fear is transferred to your baby - he/she may not want to come out of their safe home if they are feeling your doubt, fears and lack of confidence.

Baby's Position:

Pain can also be due to your baby's position. Changing your position as mentioned above can help your baby.

Sometimes though, babies stubbornly stay in a less then ideal position for childbirth for their own reasons.

Trust that your baby is doing what they feel is best for them - some breech babies are breech to protect themselves from short umbilicial cords!

Danger:

Something is wrong! Pain indicating that something is seriously wrong will have your instincts speaking out to you as well.

It is vital that you pay heed to them, it could make the difference between your life or that of your baby's. The Key to a Safe Birth: Intuition is a good example of this sort of pain signalling a problem.

Distractions:

Mothers choosing to freebirth, often choose their birthing environment to suit their needs.

However, sometimes there can be invasions on that environment, in the form of unwanted noises, smells, presences, movements or views.

The most common violators are other people present at the birth, but it can be something as small as an offending picture on the wall or a plastic smell that makes her feel nauseous.

Strange as this seems, those distractions can cause you to feel pain by interfering with your ability to go along with the birthing flow freely.

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