Background
Methods
Participants
Procedure
Analysis
Results
Participants
(n = 21) | |
---|---|
Age, M (SD)
| 29.4 (3.5) |
Level of education, number
| |
School less than year 12 | 2 |
Year 12 or vocational equivalent | 5 |
Tertiary | 13 |
Unknown | 1 |
Onset of labour, number
| |
Spontaneous | 5 |
Augmented | 4 |
Induced | 12 |
Birth outcomes, number
| |
Normal vaginal birth (unassisted) | 10 |
Instrumental vaginal birth (vacuum/forceps) | 4 |
Unplanned caesarean section | 7 |
Pregnancy risk level, number
| |
High | 8 |
Low | 13 |
Pregnancy risk level | Onset of labour | Mode of delivery |
---|---|---|
H = High | SPON = Spontaneous | NVB = Normal vaginal birth |
L = Low | AUG = Augmented | IVB = Instrumental vaginal birth (vacuum/forceps) |
IND = Induced | CS = Caesarean section |
Overview of findings
The meaning of the pain
Meaning: The pain is productive and purposeful. Women’s response: I can cope
…at the end of it you’re going to have a baby and you’ve been waiting your 9 months for this to happen and it’s the natural thing that’s going to happen, everyone goes through it. It’s not like you know you’ve been in a car crash and you’ve broken bones and stuff like that. This is something that’s completely natural. (2108)H, IND, CS
Oh basically I would just try and think of the end result and what was going to happen. I wasn’t actually thinking about the pain that I was in at the time. I just thought ‘this is happening for a reason’. (2104)L, IND, CS
Mentally you know it’s for a good reason. (1207)L, AUG, NVB
She was rocking me and, like, making me rock, which made it more intense but I knew that that was a good thing … you had it in your mind the whole time that the contractions were good even though they were painful, it was good because it was sort of tracking your progression and if anything if they got sort of closer together or more intense … well it doesn’t make you worried like if … if it was any kind of pain and you don’t know what it is or something I suppose you’d feel stressed about the pain. I never felt stressed about the pain or you know worried that my body … that something was wrong ever. (2106)L, SPON, NVB
… every contraction brings you closer to the goal, so you know it had to be done in order to give birth. So you’re not worrying that much, you’re just worrying about the intensity maybe. But, again, you know it’s intense. But it brings you to the goal. (2101)L, AUG, NVB
It was so tiring and exhausting but so rewarding. (1205)L, SPON, IVB
…and then probably an hour after my waters broke I started getting the contractions. But again I wasn’t scared because I knew what was coming, I was like, oh yeah, so this is a good step, this is a good step even though it was painful. (2103) L, IND, IVB
I would say it’s painful but it’s manageable. (2103)L, IND, IVB
You can cope with it, you can definitely cope with it. The body will find a way. (2101)L, AUG, NVB
Pain was all worth it and it is hard but not impossible. It hurt but it wasn’t impossible pain … the pain is bearable, you know you can get through it. (2111)L, IND, NVB
Meaning: The pain is threatening. Women’s response: I need help
The pain was getting worse and all I kept on saying to Peter was ‘I want the epidural … if this is the pain I’m having at 3cm what is it going to be at 8cm?’ (2201)L, SPON, NVB
I was like okay, hopefully it’s 10cm, I was convinced I must have been and then they checked and I was only six and then it was the most sinking feeling that I’ve ever experienced, and then that was it, I was like I’m done, time for the epidural … I’d gone through all that pain for nothing … (2107)H, IND, CS
I basically felt like my insides were turning inside out. It just … it felt like my stomach was going to fall out. The only thing is I just didn’t have that urge to push, I think if I had that urge to push and if I was dilated that little bit more it probably would have been that little bit easier for me but because I didn’t have that sensation … I couldn’t do anything with it, it was just a massive massive stomach ache. (2104) L, IND, CS
Once I realised that I was only 4cm dilated as well like that’s pretty disheartening and they got the doctor in as well and said that they’d need to induce me. And so I asked for an epidural because I couldn’t handle the idea of it being more intense and more pain and possibly much, much longer. I’d given up. (2106)L, SPON, NVB
… and they’d said, well, you must be ten now ‘cause you’re trying to push and we should check and I was still 6cm, so that was my give up point and that’s when I went for morphine and the epidural … So by that point I think I’d just given up and I don’t know if the pain became a little bit irrelevant, it still hurt because I’d kind of handed over all the control to the drugs, in a way. (2107)H, IND, CS
It was the worst thing in the whole entire world and I never want to go through it again. (2114)H, IND, IVB
And then the pain just got … oh it was horrendous, it was horrible and I think just because it was so quick and I was already tired from it, like just being tired from being awake the whole time was horrible. (2204)H, IND, NVB
Maybe more expecting the twisting and the knotting and perhaps a little pressure. But just the absolute sharpness of the [pain]. Really scary. (2203)H, SPON, NVB
The social environment
Social environment: I am in pain but I feel safe. I can cope
Having him there didn’t alleviate the pain, it just was comforting … he was like my life net … I don’t know how women would do it alone. It would be awful. (2107)H, IND, CS
I think everyone was just really calm around me like my midwife was very calm. Every time she spoke to me she was very soothing and ... there was no panic in her voice … I think I would have panicked if she was more panicky. (2202)L, AUG, CS
Yeah, definitely people talking me through it you know you’ve got to slow down your breathing, breathe in through your nose, breathe out through your mouth, just talking you through it was very helpful, to help you re-centre and get back on track. (2106)L, SPON, NVB
I just kept saying that I couldn’t do it. And then Sally was like “no, you can, you can do it, you can keep doing it, you’ve been doing it, come on”, you know? And that was good, that was good to have her, she was perfect at that time. (2111)L, IND, NVB
You don’t care what’s happening around you as long as you know they’ll take care of you and you’ll be in good hands … and then you can just let go, you just do what you have to do and just go with the flow. (2101)L, AUG, NVB
Social environment: I am in pain and I feel unsupported. I need help
You’re in this most incredible pain that I’ve … I wouldn’t even know what to compare it to and then they make your partner go home, which is just absurd because you need that support … you don’t want to do it alone, it’s horrible. (2107)H, IND, CS
Because I know they really can’t help me out and it’s ... it’s in fact distracting and it stresses me out. I don’t want to see anybody ‘til I have my baby because I’m really in that much pain, I don’t want to see anybody at all. Your husband is the person that you can share ... but not with everyone … (2102)L, IND, CS
When they told me I was 3cm … that’s probably the main thing out of my whole labour that really got me, I started crying ‘cause I was just so upset because like you hear you have to be this many centimetres … when you’re at hospital, and women can cope between these centimetres and … because I was only 3 … I was like not coping with it… But I reckon if they were to tell me that no, look, you are 8cm, this is the pain at 8cm, I would have been like alright, I’m managing with the gas then. (2201)L, SPON, NVB
…having like a hundred people in the room and their faces all looked petrified. A hundred faces really stressed is pretty scary. (2114)H, IND, IVB