Labor and Delivery

For those of you that have been pregnant for quite some time, you no doubt realize exactly how long nine months is. In some ways, it seems to fly by but in other ways, it seems like labor and delivery has been a long time in coming. Eventually, however, that day will always get here and it always helps to be well prepared for the labor and delivery in advance. Here is just a little bit about it, some things that you can expect and what you can do to prepare yourself for this time in your life.

Many people consider labor and delivery to be one of the most stressful and painful situations that a person can ever go through in their life. Let me put your mind at ease, however, because there are some things that you should really know. Yes, labor is painful but it is something that you are going to be able to get through. If labor and delivery were so horrible, nobody would ever have more than one child. After you hold the newborn baby in your arms, anything that you had to go through in order to get them there will quickly begin to fade from your memory.

One of the ways to make labor and delivery a little less of a stressful situation is to make sure that you are prepared for it in advance. One of the most popular ways for you to do this is through lamaze classes. This is simply a method of relaxation that will help you to be able to cope with the pain a little bit better. These classes are often taken by a husband and wife but it is possible for you to have anybody as your coach. It may not seem as though it is going to work whenever you are going through the classes but it really does help whenever you are in the middle of labor and delivery.

Something that is interesting about labor and delivery is the practice of giving an episiotomy to the mother. You have probably heard about these before and they used to be routinely done on a woman as she was giving birth. It is a cut that is made from the vaginal opening down toward the anus in order to expand the size of the birth canal. It was thought that it is much better to make a clean cut than to allow this area to rip during childbirth. It turns out that they were probably wrong about this and episiotomies are rarely ever given routinely.

As you are preparing yourself to go through labor and delivery, give yourself time to reflect back on the entire pregnancy as well. This is a time in your life that you will no doubt want to remember and that your child may someday ask you about. By reflecting on it and sounding the memories down deep into your mind, you will be able to enjoy this time in your life for many years to come.

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