Continuing with my musings about pain and birth, I came across a following acronym in the fall 2007 issue of the International Journal of Childbirth Education (the publication of ICEA):

P (purposeful)

A (anticipated)

I (intermittent)

N (normal)

——-

I was previously unfamiliar with the acronym, but I kind of like it. There are so many fears surrounding pain in birth–often of the unknown–and then stories abound about “excruciating pain,” and “you’re gonna need that epidural!” as well as media portrayals of birth as a scary, emergency event with lots of screaming and stress. This little acronym acknowledges that many women experience birth as painful, but also offers the perspective that it is manageable and doable.