You have made it through nine months of eating healthy and exercise, of cravings and back pain, now comes … labor.
Pregnancy was a breeze until about two months before my due date and my doctor started talking about all the different types of relief available during labor, from an epidural to an exercise ball. I knew that an epidural was not for me since I can’t even stand to have my finger pricked, but my best friend begged the doctors to hook her up to one before her labor even began! I needed to weigh the pros and cons of the relief available and decide which was best for me, from an anesthetic to au natural.
One of the best ways to decide what you may need during your labor is to read! Read everything you can get your hands on about labor, talk to your friends and to your doctor. Although every birth experience is different, reading up and talking to others will give you an idea of what you may experience.
Natural Relief:
If natural childbirth is for you, my first suggestion would be to find a class in your area that teaches the Bradley Birth Method. Their method stresses the natural approach — no drugs and as little medical intervention as possible.
Natural relief can be achieved through water, both the bath and shower. I used the shower technique — I sat in the shower at the hospital and sprayed my stomach with hot water for about 30 minutes. For me, this was very relaxing, I told a friend, she tried it and hated it … trial and error!
Some hospitals have a birthing bath where you are totally submerged in the water, you can do this at home as well, just make sure your water has not broken and that somebody is there to help you out.
Touch is another form of natural relief. Massage, pressure and hot and cold compresses are some of the many ways to utilize touch. Your partner can roll a tennis ball down your back and across the soles of your feet, rub your head and neck with a warm or cool cloth or put pressure on the small of your back to the left or right of your spine. Try different types of stroking and touching, as one may feel great at first and then really annoy you a few minutes later!
Changing positions helps ease the pain of labor, every time I felt another contraction coming, I would get down on my hands and knees and rock forward and back, this along with some moaning, really helped! Changing positions helps the baby to move down the birth canal. Try hands and knees, laying on the left side, standing squatting (ask your birth center about a squatting bar), leaning over the bed or chair and sitting either in a rocking chair or on the toilet. Try all these positions and find one that works for you.
You may try one or all of the above suggestions and they may work for you.
You may also say … Give Me Medication!! Remember that if you use medication, any of the above suggestions can also be used along with your medication (unless you have an epidural, in which case you will stay in one general position).
Medications:
There are two types of pain medications that can be used during labor; they are analgesics and anesthetics.
Analgesics are for pain relief. Two common ones are Nubain and Demerol. They may not stop your pain completely, but they do lessen it. Analgesics do not interfere with the contractions. They may be injected directly into the muscle or given through an i.v. or heparin lock. I had Nubain through a heparin lock and was able to relax between contractions, something I was not able to achieve through natural forms of relief.
Anesthetics numb an area, be it from the chest level down or the perineum before an episiotomy. There are several different types used for labor — paracervical, numbs the cervix, pudendal block, numbs the nerves in the vaginal area and the perineum, spinal, numbs the vaginal area and epidural, numbs you from the waist down. There are two types of epidural, one is a walking epidural, which is fairly new, that enables you to be mobile.
Your doctor will be able to give you information on analgesics and anesthetics for your pain relief during labor.
Remember that every labor is different, what may have worked for your friend may not work for you. The most important thing is to keep an open mind. Discuss different options with your doctor or midwife, both natural and medicated. Keep in mind that millions of women before you and millions after you will give birth! And many have second, third and even fourth babies! You will know what is best for you when the time comes.
Tags: back pain, cravings, epidural, Natural Relief, relief during labor
