Talking about the pain ...

Making labour comfortable There are many simple things you can do to ease the pain, follow your instincts and respond to your feelings during birth. Comfortable positions Suggestions for positions you may find useful during labour. Your goody bag Taking things from home is a way of making the labour ward seem more familiar, as well as enabling you to be more comfortable during the birth.

We need to be honest with women about pain in labour, and we need to talk about it often, as it is one of their biggest fears. Many women don't know much about the reason for pain, so I would start by explaining how their body works and why it is important to have the pain. The info about this you will already have ...

Some other points that you could add:

• It only hurts during the contraction. In between there is no pain at all.

• If you put all the contractions together you would see that there is not a huge amount of pain to deal with - each contraction only last around a minute and a half, so adding them all together doesn't amount to much, and certainly is a lot less than we tend to imagine!

• What you are feeling is the work your body is doing. You are the pain - it is not coming from an external source. When contractions are strong, productive, organised, businesslike and rhythmic (remember to use positive language and images) then you know that your body is doing its work well. You need these strong contractions to get the work done sooner....

• Although it needs to be painful, labour is not supposed to be so hard that women can't handle it. Explain about endorphins and point out the signs of endorphine production that are present during pregnancy, so the women feel more confident about producing them later, during labour.

• Help them understand about the effects that adrenaline has on labour mechanisms. Encourage them to talk about those factors that might cause adrenalin to be produced during birth - the environmental influences and the impact of caregivers and birth companions, for example.

• Explain that mobility is the key to a normal labour. As they do yoga with you, point out how flexible and mobile the body is and how using this inbuilt capacity will enable them to give birth easily. Talk about the things that will restrict mobility during labourepidurals, monitors, drips, drugs for pain, getting on the bed etc. Help them formulate strategies for maintaining their mobility at all times, especially in second stage.

You can engage women in the process by giving them scenarios to work on and encouraging them to work out their own answers. Ask open ended questions (How...? What...? When...? Why...?) not closed questions (Do you...? Can you...? Will you...? - questions that invite a yes/no response).

Problem solving is useful and a skill parents need to develop. If you take the role of a "counsellor" rather than a "teacher" you will enable them to solve their own problems. Try to avoid telling them the answers and giving advice.