title: Women's expectations and experiences with labour pain in medical and midwifery models of birth in the United States.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This research focuses on how women understand and experience labour as related to two competing views of childbirth pain. The biomedical view is that labour pain is abnormal and anaesthesia/analgesia use is encouraged to relieve the pain. The midwifery view is that pain is a normal part of labour that should be worked with instead of against.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine differences in the preparation for and experiences with labour pain by women choosing midwives versus obstetricians.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prenatal and postpartum in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 80 women in Florida (United States): 40 who had chosen an obstetrician and 40 who had chosen a licensed midwife as their birth practitioner.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Women in both groups were concerned with the pain of childbirth before and after their labour experiences. Women choosing midwives discussed preparing for pain through various non-pharmaceutical coping methods, while women choosing physicians discussed pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical pain relief.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Equal numbers of women expressed concerns with childbirth pain during the prenatal interviews, while more women choosing doctors spoke about pain after their births. Women had negative experiences when their planned pain relief method, either natural or medical, did not occur. The quandary facing women when it comes to labour pain relief is not choosing what they desire, but rather preparing themselves for the possibility that they may have to accept alternatives to their original preferences.
authors.affiliation: University of South Carolina Department of Anthropology, 1512 Pendleton St., Hamilton College, 317, Columbia, SC 29208, USA. Electronic address: ericagibson@sc.edu.
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gibson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016362:Analgesia, Obstetrical / Q000523:psychology; D000700:Analgesics / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D048949:Labor Pain / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D007743:Labor, Obstetric / Q000523:psychology*; D008880:Midwifery / Q000592:standards; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D036801:Parturition / Q000523:psychology*; D010358:Patient Participation; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011247:Pregnancy; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics
keywords: Childbirth; Labour pain; Midwifery; Obstetrics; Qualitative research