Affirmation for Labor and Birth

One of the topics discussed in our birthing classes was affirmations. I've shared a few already, but here is one for Labor and birth:

My contractions are massaging the baby and hugging it

-This one is slightly humorous to me. Since only moments before discussing this list of affirmations, we were discussing new moms. They often have too many preconceived unrealistic expectations for Labor. For instance, sometimes a new mom will request the renaming of "contractions". Instead of calling them contractions, they'd prefer to use the word "surge" or "hugs". This concept of changing the name to imply a less dramatic experience was almost laughable to me. If someone else tried to downplay my physical reaction to my contractions by calling them hugs, I might punch them.

My second thought was of a large child "hugging" their hamster or bunny rabbit until it stopped breathing. Then, I started thinking about the fact that powerful hugs can be just as violent as hands choking someone around the neck...

However, I do secretly love this affirmation. Because, as painful as a contraction might feel to me, it really is serving a purpose. It's causing me to dilate but also to massage the mucus out of the baby's lungs and to move the baby down and out. Which is sort of the whole point to this process, right?

So, I guess, overall, I'm okay with the contractions being visualized as hugging the baby as long as no one else suggests smiling through the "hugs" of labor.