Belief of painfull labours (Tokophobia)

When a thing has been done a certain way for a long time, resisting change can be a reflexive instinct, and the powerful interests of the status quo are hard to move resulting in a pandemic of tokophobia.

Hi Ann,

That's so interesting that in England nurse-midwives are called obstetric nurses. I tend to agree. The dynamics in the US are pretty strange surrounding women's rights in birth. However, homebirth is not illegal in any state, but there are a few states (not the majority by far), that prohibit home births to be attended by midwives. That is a terrible law for states to have because it leaves women vulnerable to having an unassisted birth when they would've chosen otherwise or to birth in the hospital.

If I had my way I would've become a direct entry midwife (non-nurse midwife), but the career opportunities are not as stable as if I became a nurse-midwife. CNMs are legal in every state, as opposed to CPMs.

I love your blog. I will keep it as a resource. You're so right that the importance of caring for a woman so she can remain calm and relaxed is the key to keeping her labor pain free. That's also one of the main reasons why hypnobabies works. When mom is completely relaxed she no longer interprets her birthing sensations as painful. I hope that when it is my turn to be a midwife that I will live up to all I've ever wished a midwife to be for moms and babies, so that their birth will be a wholly positive experience for everyone involved.

Thanks so much for reaching out. Be well.



From RCM, research by jean greer in Ireland re the fear of childbirth.
‘Tokophobia’ is defined as morbid fear of childbirth (Bhatia and Jhanjee, 2012), and this diagnosis has recently been endorsed within the UK as an indication for planned CS (NICE, 2011). This decision seems contrary to current trends within maternity services that focus on promoting normality in birth (Gould, 2012). However, there have been concerns for some time among midwives that the conceptualisation of fear of childbirth as a pathological process, situates the problem within the individual woman, and deflects attention from maternity care provision (Walsh, 2002).
All the women feared the pain of labour and were reassured by the availability of a 24-hour epidural service. Despite this, the majority of the women (65%) expressed hope that they could labour without an epidural, although they lacked confidence in their ability to cope and feared the pain would be too severe. Six of the primigravidas in this study (40%) had already been advised to have an epidural during labour by family or friends and all the men wanted their partner to have as much pain relief as possible during the birth: “She [her mother] said: ‘If you want my advice, you get an epidural as soon as you go into labour because you’ll never be able to cope.’ You see they all know me and know what I’m like” (W10, prim).
 Four participants (11%) identified midwife support as a resource to help them cope with birth. These were two multiparous women and partners. Recalling previous births,
they described how the midwife had reduced their fears: “...from what I could see, the midwife had everything under control and like it seemed ok... so I was pretty relaxed” (M3, third baby).
Normal birth was still very alluring for most of the women in this study. It has been reported previously that women idealise normal birth while also rejecting it as dangerous (Maier, 2010). Most women in this study (89%) aspired to a normal birth but more than half (68%) feared they would not be capable of achieving it safely without medical intervention. Gould (2012) contends that this is a consequence of the language of risk that is used when offering birthing choices to women. This perception of riskiness reduces the comprehensibility dimension for women, and increases their need for resources to help manage birth. 

‘Fear of childbirth’ and ways of coping for pregnant women and their partners during the birthing process: a salutogenic analysis

05/09/2014 - 14:15

To explore ‘fear of childbirth’ and its impact on birth choices among women and their partners in Northern Ireland.

Jean Greer BSc, RM. Anne Lazenbatt PhD, MSc, BSc. Laura Dunne PhD, BA.