pain your body is prepared for

Another snippet from "Birthing From Within":

" 'Let me ask you something.  When you're at the dentist, would you havea tooth pulled or a cavity filled without being numbed first?'

'Well, no.'

'So why would you want to go through labor without drugs or an epidural?  Labor hurts a lot more, and for a lot longer, than having a little dental work!  You think about it, but there's no reason to suffer nowadays to have a baby.'

                        -Conversation between an expectant mother and her docter

Why indeed?

During dental procedures, nothing important is lost when you numb sensation, nor are there any significant risks involved.  For most people (older than 5) dental work is not a rite of passage; nor is it an important psychological or social transition in their lives.  Comparing the sudden, externally-induced pain of dental work (or other surgical procedures), with the pain of normal labor is a misleading analogy.

A better analogy might be the one our friend, Linda offered:  Women's bodies were intended to birth.  When baby teeth fall out naturally, we don't need anesthesia.  As labor pain unfolds and intensifies, your body produces endorphins to ease the pain.  When pain is abruptly caused by external actions, the body has no mechanism in place to help you cope with it."