Pain is a warning that something's wrong... so why is pregnancy so d**n painful?

Question

it's the most natural of naturals

Answer 1

because its just your body thinking something is wrong because its not used to being that way, whether its your 1st or 11th child.  

Answer 2

My wife has had two children, and I didn't feel a thing.

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Answer 3

Having never been pregnant myself, and not being an expert on all the pains of pregnancy, here is the best guess that I can come up with:

Pregnancy is basically a time when the body of the woman and the body of the embryo/fetus are at odds.  The fetus is "trying" to gain control over systems that bring it resources; the woman's body is retaliating and trying to keep control. It is like a subtle little war.

Labour is painful because something IS wrong: the fetus no longer belongs in the female's body and it is time to come OUT.  And pushing such a large head out of your vaginal cannal is painful. Painful but possible...in fact *just* possible. Evolutionarily, the size of a fetus's head is extremely important when you consider that a human baby is essentially born helpless: any bigger and there would be far more deaths of women during childbirth.

Answer 4

I guess the pain is also there as an alarm to tell the woman: hey listen! the time has come, baby is ready!

Answer 5

It's not nearly as painful as movies and TV make it out to be.  Granted, there is a lot of discomfort because the body has to make lots of changes to grow a new person inside it, but a normal pregnancy and proper childbirth isn't as bad as movies make it seem.

If you're referring to the pain of childbirth, then the reason is simple:   It's because American doctors tend to take an assembly-line approach to childbirth (and until recently, female doctors were very rare).  Get the mother in and out as quickly as possible. For example, lying on your back is the *worst* way to give birth, since the angle of the birth canal is all wrong.  It's the easiest for the doctor, though, since the mother can be kept on a hospital bed and wheeled around easily.  Instinct is the best way to go too - following the doctor's advice as to when to push and when not to usually leads to more pain and trouble - your body will tell you what to do and when to do it.  There's still pain and discomfort, but if done naturally, it's a lot less severe.

Also, the brain has evolved to deal with the pain and discomfort.  During childbirth, for example, there are unbelievable amounts of different neurotransmitters washing through the brain, acting as natural painkillers and blocking memory formation.  In other words, even if it does hurt a lot, you won't remember it (otherwise, most people would be only children).

So, long story short, pregnancy and childbirth are so painful because of modern medicine.  Specifically, because the field of obstetrics was pioneered by male doctors during a time when empathy wasn't considered a virtue and in modern hospitals, it's critical to get a patient in and out as quickly as possible.  During pregnancy, you should still see a doctor regularly, but provided that it's a low-risk pregnancy, you'd be better off taking the advice of a certified and experienced midwife over a doctor when it's time to deliver the child.