Is it possible to scare yourself into labor

If you follow that rule, the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor of arriving at the hospital in time. Most seasoned labor and delivery nurses are able to quickly get rid of any poop-by-way-of-pushing evidence before you know it even happened. And to be honest, poop happens often. Although some women report feeling brief pain when the epidural is administered, many others don't feel a thing.

The area is numbed with a local anesthetic, and any discomfort you might feel from the needle is typically pretty minimal compared to the pain of contractions. You'll likely feel a little pressure, and within 10 to 15 minutes, start feeling pain relief.

Remember, too, that there are a variety of other labor pain management options you can discuss with your practitioner if the thought of an epidural continues to give you anxiety. An episiotomy is a procedure where the tissue between the vagina and the anus called the perineum is cut in order to allow more room for baby. While it used to be common practice, these days most obstetricians allow the vaginal tissue to tear naturally.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists ACOG now recommends against routine episiotomies, and midwives rarely use the procedure at all. If you're concerned, discuss your feelings with your practitioner ahead of time and note your desire to avoid this procedure if possible in your birth plan. Try not to worry. While as many as half of all women will have at least one small vaginal tear after childbirth, the most common type is a first-degree laceration — which generally only involves the lining of the vagina and may not even require stitches.

The best way to nip your labor pain-fears in the bud is to become as educated about the birthing process as you can. It may help to keep in mind two things. Accessible Beauty Products For All. Check out her cute dance moves below: This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano. Read on as real moms and some of our favorite bloggers share what had them totally freaked out about giving birth.

Reality check: The good news is, the average span of active labor lasts about eight hours. And while technically that may not sound like good news, statistically that means your chances of delivering baby on the side of a highway somewhere are pretty slim.

Once they get down to five-minute intervals or less, it could be game time. Reality check: We know imagining all that pain is definitely pretty scary. But remember: Your body was made to do this, pain and all. Of course, in the event the pain does get to be too much and labor drags on for hours longer than expected, by all means scream for that epidural if you need to.

But even if you want to skip the meds altogether and go natural, there are alternative pain management techniques you can practice to help make delivery more bearable-like meditation and even hypnosis.

Some hospitals and most birthing centers even have hot water tubs for laboring and giving birth, which can also help ease the pain intensity. No matter what birthing method you choose, just make sure you explore all of your options first. I was so certain I had taken all of the precautions to avoid any medical reasons for a c-section. In fact, recent studies have shown that up to 32 percent of American births are done this way. I know how crazy that sounds but I really, really was.

During my pregnancy I read two books, saw one TV show and one movie that all included a woman dying in childbirth. It was only mentioned in passing, but I became obsessed with thinking about it. They may fear pain, miscarriage, preterm birth, dying during childbirth, birth defects, trauma to their body, not being listened to by their healthcare provider, or simply the unknown.

Studies show that tokophobia has been associated with anxiety proneness in general. Some experts may even diagnose it as depression, anxiety or PTSD in cases where fear is triggered by a traumatic event like an earlier life-threatening childbirth experience. Women with tokophobia may experience nightmares, sweating or crying at the thought of giving birth.

Some even have a visceral reaction at the sight of a pregnant women. This can lead a woman to request an elective c-section. Some women never overcome their fear of childbirth and either adopt or remain childless even when they desperately wanted a baby. In extreme cases, a woman will ask to terminate a wanted pregnancy rather than go through childbirth. In , actor Helen Mirren revealed that she watched a film about childbirth at age 13 that traumatized her so much that she never wanted children.

This leads many women to feel shame if they view it otherwise.