Your pain relief options
Giving birth can be painful, learning all the ways to reduce the pain can help. It is also helpful for everyone who will be with you during your labor to know the different pain relief options and how they can support you. Ask your midwife or doctor to explain what's available so you can decide what's best for you.
Write your wishes in your birth plan, but remember to keep an open mind. You may find that you need more painkillers than you planned, or your doctor or midwife may recommend more effective painkillers to help with labor.
Labor self-help
If you follow the steps below, you will feel more comfortable during labor. You will feel it and you can cope with the pain better:
- Learn about labor pains. Being informed makes you feel more in control and less afraid of what will happen. Talk to your midwife or doctor, ask them questions and go to antenatal classes.
- Learn to relax, stay calm and breathe deeply.
- Keep moving - your position can make a difference, so try kneeling, walking around or rocking back and forth.
- Bring a partner, friend or relative to support you during labor, but don't worry if you don't have a partner - your midwife will give you all the support you need.
- Ask your partner to massage you - but you may find that you don't want to be touched.
- Take a warm shower.
Petidine injections during labor
Relieving pain A medicine called pethidine is injected into your thigh or buttocks. It may help you relax. It takes approximately 20 minutes to work after injection. The effects last for 2 to 4 hours, so they are not recommended if you are approaching the baby-out (second) stage of labor.
Side effects
- May make some women feel dizzy, sick, and forgetful
- If pethidine or diamorphine is given too close to the time of birth, it may affect the baby's breathing, in which case another medicine will be given to reverse the effect.
- These medicines may affect the baby's first feeding. It may delay
Epidural
Epidural is a type of local anesthesia. It numbs the nerves that carry pain signals from the birth canal to the brain. It won't make you sleepy. For most women, an epidural provides complete pain relief. It may be useful for women who have had a long or particularly painful birth. The only person who can give an epidural is the anesthesiologist, so he or she will not be available at home.
How much you can move your legs after the epidural depends on the local anesthesia used. Some hospitals offer "mobile" epidurals, meaning you can move around.
However, this also requires remote (with telemetry) monitoring of the baby's heart rate, and many hospitals are not equipped to do this. Ask your midwife if a mobile epidural is available at your local hospital.
How does an epidural work?
To have an epidural, lie on your side or sit in a curled up position, while an anesthetist will clean your back with antiseptic, apply a small area, and He or she will numb you with some local anesthesia and then insert a needle into your back. A very thin tube will be passed through the needle into your back near the nerves that carry pain signals from the uterus. Medications (usually a mixture of local anesthetic and opioids) are given through this tube. The epidural takes about 10 minutes to set up and another 10-15 minutes for it to work. It doesn't always work perfectly at first and may need adjusting. Your contractions and the baby's heart rate should be constantly monitored. This means having a belt around your belly and possibly a clip attached to the baby's head.
Side effects
- Epidural can make your legs heavier, depending on the local anesthesia used.
- Your blood pressure may drop (hypotension), but this is rare because the fluid given through a drip in your arm helps keep your blood pressure at a good level.
- An epidural can prolong the second stage of labor. Forceps or vacuum may be needed to help the baby be born (instrumental birth).
When you have an epidural, your midwife or doctor will wait longer for the baby's head to come down (before you start pushing), unless your baby shows any signs of distress. This requires instrumental birth. It reduces your chances of hearing. Sometimes less anesthetic is given towards the end, so its effect decreases and you may experience the feeling of pushing the baby out naturally.
You may have difficulty peeing due to the epidural. A small tube called a catheter may be placed in your bladder to help you. 1 in 100 women experience a headache after an epidural. If this happens, it can be treated. Your back may be a little sore for a day or two, but epidurals do not cause long-term back pain.
About 1 in 2,000 women experience tingling or tingling in a leg after having a baby. This is more likely to be the result of labor rather than an epidural.
Using water during birth (water birth)
Being in water can help you relax and make contractions feel less painful. Ask if you can shower or use the birthing pool. The water will be kept at a comfortable temperature, not above 37.5 degrees, and your temperature will be monitored.
TENS machines
TENS stands for transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. Some hospitals have TENS machines. If not, you can rent your own machine. If you're interested in TENS, learn how to use it in the later months of your pregnancy. Ask your midwife to show you how it works.
How do TENS machines work?
Electrodes are taped to your back and connected via cables to a small battery-powered stimulator. By holding it, you deliver small, safe amounts of current to yourself from the electrodes. You can move while using TENS.
TENS is believed to work by stimulating the body to produce more of its own natural painkillers called endorphins. It also reduces the number of pain signals sent to the brain by the spinal cord.
Side effects of TENS machines
There are no known side effects for you or the baby.
Relieving labor pains. Alternative methods
Alternative treatments such as acupuncture, aromatherapy, homeopathy, hypnosis, massage and reflexology can be chosen. Many of these techniques have not been proven to provide effective pain relief. If you wish to use any of these methods, you should discuss them with your midwife or doctor. and it is important that you notify the hospital in advance. Most hospitals do not offer these as painkillers during labor. If you want to try any of these techniques, make sure the practitioner is appropriately trained and experienced.
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