Just a little interesting snippet - this where the term "gossip" comes from (Gossip = "God's sibling") . Women used to hold the hand of a woman in labour and distract her with news of what people had been up to - the more scurrilous the better!I learned recently that this tactic - talking at a patient to try to distract them from the pain - is called a “vocal local”.
It’s totally inhumane but that’s women’s health for you.
Nowadays we shouldn't need this as our only method of pain relief.