Primiparous perception of labour pain - Essay Example

Back ground and obstetrical data will be collected using patient's files. Following the completion of each interview; Data are usually text so audio tapes transcription using data base needed and themes best describing pain perception will be analysed. Hermeneutic phenomenological approach will guide me to understand women's experience of labour pain. This study will take a step in complex field of pain understanding and management by attempting to gain more understanding of primiparous perception of labour pain by focusing on quality, nature and meaning of pain rather than pain intensity.

According to Creswell (1998), "The investigator writes a research questions that explores the meaning of that experience for individuals and asks individuals to describe their every day lived experience then collects data from individuals who have experienced the phenomena under investigation". Normal birth defined as "Spontaneous in onset, low-risk at the start of labour and remaining so throughout labour and delivery. The infant is born spontaneously [without help] in the vertex position [head down] between 37 and 42 completed weeks of pregnancy.

After birth mother and baby are in good condition." (WHO, 1999). Although natural labour pain is a positive pain indicates that women's body working well and hard, and mostly increases in intensity with progress of labour, reaching mother to appositive end - the baby; most women report painful labour especially for those who had not previous birth experience "primiparous women".Most women represent perceived labour pain as cramping, sharp, aching, throbbing, pressing, shooting, and few women not experienced painful labour.

That means the only suffering women can know what it feels like .The degree of pain experienced during labour is related to frequency, intensity, duration of uterine contraction and dilatation of the cervix. The positions of the fetus, descent of presenting part, stretching of the perineum and pressure on the bladder, bowel and sensitive pelvic structures also contribute to pain levels (Melzack, 1993). During the first stage of labour visceral pain of diffuse cramping and uterine contraction felt more within primiparous , in the second stage of labour ,sharper and more continues somatic pain in the perineum caused by fetal head pressure felt more within multiparous women.

(Lee Man et al 2003). According to Ural (2004) labour pain perception and expererience range from woman to woman and also from pregnancy to pregnancy. Waldenstrom (1999) highlighted many of the factors that affect experience of labour pain like: belief in ability to cope with pain, societal expectations and beliefs about labour pain, birth environment, anxiety, fear and previous experience of birth. Midwifes are less able to accurately identify pain levels when the women describe them as sever.

Non verbal cues (facial expression, body movement and vocalization) may be appropriate tools for the assessment of pain, however, action