Labor and delivery curiosity!

[anyakitty.livejournal.com]

Okay, I have always been SO curious about the nitty gritty details of labor and delivery. I am fascinated by those shows that come on TLC sometimes depicting natural and home births. I don't ever plan on having children but I just simply must know:

1. Is it really as bad as it is in the movies? Do people really scream/go crazy from the pain? Can you compare contractions to menstrual cramps to give me an idea of how much worse they are?

2. This is the big one... do a lot of women tear? How does THAT feel? Do they stitch you up or do you have to just let it heal or does it just simply depend?

3. After you give birth vaginally, is your vagina really never the same ever again? Is this only a physical, inside thing but also a visual, outside thing?

Please, don't spare me any details, I want it all no matter how questionable. It's either this or asking my boyfriend's sister who is pregnant for the second time and I'd rather not, haha. Thanks in advance!

Comments

[inmycrease.livejournal.com]

Just wondering... is there anything you can do during pregnancy to help prevent tearing later on? Like stretching/ oils or something?

Ps. I think that Midwifes/ Doulas have the most amazing jobs ever. To be able to help bring someone into the world and comfort the mother at the same time... just amazing.

[lunalove06.livejournal.com]

Yes! Massaging of the perineum can be done during pregnancy, by the woman or by a willing partner. This teaches the woman to respond to pressure in her vagina by relaxing the pelvic floor. Googling "perineal massage" comes up with several how-to guides. The book Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn by Penny Simkin also discusses it on p. 203-205.

Also, in Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, Ina May says "I've never seen a tear in a woman who was kissing her way through the pushing phase of labor or touching herself as her baby emerged." (p. 251) Ina May advocates kissing throughout labor if the woman and her partner feel comfortable doing so, because it helps to open up the vagina, as well as to release more oxytocin (a hormone that helps to reduce pain). Ina May and other midwives also say how it is helpful for women to gently touch their baby's head and/or their vagina as the baby is crowning - this helps the woman to know how hard to push in order not to tear, and also allows the woman to catch her baby if she wants to. Also, water birth is helpful in preventing tears b/c the water provides counter pressure against the stretching of the perineum by the baby's emerging head.