Curriculum Topic: Educator Demonstration, Virtual Friendly
Activity Type: Labor & Birth, Healthy Birth Practice 1
Purpose: Labor pain is: P - purposeful, A- anticipated, I - intermittent, and N - normal.
Supplies: Flip chart, white board, or a Powerpoint presentaion
P-A-I-N acronym handouts for class reflection
Instructions:
In Prepared Childbirth – The Family Way, authors Debby Amis and Jeanne Green say that labor pain is:
Purposeful
Anticipated
Intermittent
Normal.
Write this acronym on a flip chart or white board. Can also be displayed on a Powerpoint presentation with animation.
Talking Points:
For most women, labor is painful. “How painful is it?” is one of the questions most often asked in childbirth classes. Some educators, especially those who teach hypnotic birthing methods, avoid using the word “pain” entirely, with the intention of minimizing the focus on pain. Yet others openly speak of “pain” in class, to acknowledge the reality that pain does exist.
When the word is used, it is important to encourage parents to consider the positive aspects of labor pain – the ways that labor pain differs from other types of pain, the ways that labor progress and coping may be enhanced by responding to the messages the pain is delivering, and the psychological rewards and increased self-esteem that some birthing parents feel after “conquering” the pain of labor.
Guided Discussion:
Labor pain tells a birthing parent many things.
Purposeful
- How to move and what to do to help their labor progress.
- Promotes the release of stress hormones in the baby, which can help adjustment to the extra-uterine environment.
- Promotes the release of endorphins.
- Results in the birth of a baby.
Anticipated
- You can learn and practice coping strategies to be used in labor — you know it is coming!
- While in labor, anticipate (and enjoy) the time between contractions.
Intermittent
- You can focus on periods when the uterus relaxes between contractions.
- Consider the difference between intermittent pain and continuous pain.
- Put time in perspective ... even when contractions are four minutes apart in active labor, there are 15 minutes of contractions and 45 minutes of rest each hour.
Normal
- Remember, labor pain is not an indication that something is wrong, but that something is very right.
- Labor is the only physiological function of the body that is supposed to include pain.
- Enlist support people who believe that labor pain is normal and purposeful.
Reference: Adapted from the Lamaze Toolkit
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