Pain Relief During Labour

Pain Relief During Labour

Labour is a process during which contractions occur in the uterus. These contractions cause dilation of the cervix and ultimately lead to delivery of the baby. Although all pregnant women eagerly wait for the day their little one will be in their arms making their lives beautiful forever, but they are equally scared of having to go through labour pains!. Here we we’ve discussed a few techniques that can help relieve pain during labour!

Techniques to Relieve Labour Pains

Every woman knows labour is a very painful process. Below are a few steps a woman should take before and during the procedure to help her with the associated pain.

Learn about labour

Use any means necessary to get information regarding labour. This would help a woman better understand what exactly she would go through when the time comes.

Make your wishes clear to everyone

Tell your doctor, nurse or midwife about how you would like them to help you in dealing with the pain which accompanies labour.

Keep an open mind

Be open to suggestions by your health team regarding better techniques to cope with the pain you might suffer from.

Learn to relax

One of the simplest ways to deal with pain is not just take deep breaths and calm down.

Constant movement

By changing your posture every now and then, you would be able to exercise your entire body as well as prevent development of painful sores which arise due to a person staying in a single position for too long.

Use something soft and comfortable

Lean forward over a pillow or a beanbag. This would lessen the pressure you might be feeling on your back and abdomen.

Apply something hot

Apply a warm water bottle on your back and abdomen. This would make you feel much better.

For some women, the pain could be too severe to be controlled by simple techniques. For such women, hospitals have other devices and medications in place to manage their condition properly. Some of these advanced methods are mentioned below

Gas

This is a process in which the pregnant woman is given a combination of oxygen and nitrous oxide. This process has quite the impact as it reduces the pain to a certain extent. Another gas which might be given to the patient instead of nitrous oxide is pethidine.

Machine

Hospitals have machine called TENS, which relieves pain by passing a small electric current through the body of the patient.

Pain Relief Injection

Another way to relieve pain during labour is to administer an epidural injection to the patient. This injection causes the nerves which carry signals of pain from the pelvic region to the brain.

What are the complications of these pain-relieving methods?

If we talk about the gases which are administered to the patient, nitrous oxide causes nausea, vomiting,confusion,disorientation and no relief in pain in some cases.

On the other hand, pethidine leads to disorientation, altered perception, reduced breathing and no relief in pain in some cases.

The TENS machine does not cause any known complications and is considered safe.

The Epidural injection might lead to an infection, blood clots and difficulty breathing.