The familiarity and comfort of your surroundings, including noise, lighting and temperature.

The philosophy of care and the practices of the health care team in your birth setting.

Their verbal and nonverbal communication with you.

This includes images in the media, which can sensationalize labor pain as routinely extreme. A woman's experience with labor pain and what she thinks is necessary to remedy it are influenced by popular and cultural beliefs.

Societal expectations and beliefs about labor pain.Overall, more confident women report less pain. Confidence in one’s ability to cope with pain strongly influences how much pain women report experiencing in labor. Your experience of labor pain depends on many factors, including: This suggests that the pain women feel in labor and what it means to them are separate things. Some women reporting intense labor pain prefer not to describe their pain in negative terms. Your experience may differ as well before and while you are pushing. The sources and sensations of pain are different in the dilation and pushing phases of labor. Some women experience relatively little discomfort, even without pain medications. Pain intensity varies widely and generally increases as labor progresses. Words women use to describe their pain include cramping, sharp, aching, throbbing, pressing and shooting.

Pain that is felt in several areas at once, or just in one specific place.

Pain that moves from front to back, back to front or down the thighs.

Pain throughout the belly, in the hips, buttocks or thighs, or in some combination of these locations.

Low back pain, either with contractions or, less often, continuously.

Lower abdominal pain during contractions.

It’s different for each woman, and it can be different for each labor.

How painful is childbirth