pain relief options other than drugs during labour?

Question

im 38 wks pregnant, i know about the drugs that can be used for pain, just wondering if anyone has any tips they found helpful during labour. thanks

Answer 1

The best advice I could give is watch your breathing. I used entonox (gas and air, think it's called entonox) as it has no lasting effects on you or the baby. It also helped as it gave me something other than the pain to focus on. You breathe in and out in a nice slow steady way and because of the mask, you can actually hear how your breathing sounds. It doesn't take the pain away but it relaxes you. The pain of labour can be overwhelming and you can panic and lose your head. If you're not comfortable with entonox, try a brown paper bag, breathing in and out nice and slow. Don't try and fight the pain. Give in and scream when it hurts, it's a good release. Relax your shoulders during contractions. Have your partner rub your lower back and maybe use a hot water bottle there between contractions. some say birthing balls are good and water births are supposedly good too. During the last 3 weeks, invest in some raspberry leaf tea. It tones your uterus and makes pushing easier. It tastes a bit grim but just add some sugar and it's drinkable. Other than that you could maybe bring along your favourite music, doesn't have to be oh so serious. Enjoy your labour, it's an amazing experience. Good luck honey, best wishes xx

Answer 2

Honestly, labor is painful. However, like you said, there are alternatives to drugs. I am glad that you are considering skipping drugs.

1. Try laboring on a birthing ball. That helps labor and it aligns your body better for birth.

2. Hypnosis - it seems to work for some people. Look into a hypnobirthing class or contact a midwife in your area.

3. Find out if your hospital allows water birth or allows you to labor in a tub. Being in water helps.

A few practical tips :
1. Go with a midwife / nurse rather than a medical doctor. Doctors are more likely to push drugs than midwives. Midwives also give more support and help you stick to your resolve of a drug free labor.

2. Make birthing plan and make your wishes known to the doctor, to the labor nurse and others concerned.

4. Set a time limit for how long you will go with natural labor. Eg. I am not sure 36 hrs of labor pain for a natural birth is worth it.

5. Gather information about non-epidural drugs which may take the edge off the pain, but still allow you to feel the contractions.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Yeah, try doing it with nothing at all. I did and I didnt have a choice, but I was more intuned with body while giving birth, which made it a whole lot better, **** yeah it hurt, but I wouldnt be using drugs again like with my 1st.

Answer 4

Do not tense your mouth up. Keep your mouth loose and moan rather than scream. The more tense the rest of you is the more tense your uterus and vagina will be and the more it will hurt.

Also, don't believe the hype. Labour in the absence of fear, is rarely painful. Fear deprives our bodies of oxygen as blood is pumped to the arms, legs, heart, and lungs in order to facilitate fight or flight.

If any one in the hospital (which is where I assume you are going as homebirths have no drugs, and birthing centers rarely do) causes you to feel stressed, or unsafe, etc. Kick them out. Lock the door if you have to. You will be much safer free of stress, relaxing and focusing on your birth and that little voice inside you that tells you when things are wrong than hooked up to the machine that goes "beep", stressed out, and everyone paying attention to the machine, and not to you and your needs.

Answer 5

I've got a tip for you, get that epidural in early!

there's a reason that drugs are used so very frequently during labor.....they WORK!!

Answer 6

Education, preparation and support!

I've had three unmedicated labors and uncomplicated births with healthy babies.

Make sure your caregiver and your partner are supportive of your wishes to labor unmedicated. Write up a birthplan and discuss it with your caregiver. Consider hiring a doula. Some hospitals provide doulas for free, so ask ahead of time!

Read a lot of good books on childbirth:
(At 38 weeks, it's kind of late, but see if you can get through any of the following. I'd start with the one I put a * by and the two websites.)

*The Birth Partner by Simkin
The Birth Book by Dr. Sears
Husband Coached Childbirth by Dr. Bradley
Choosing Waterbirth by Bertram (sp?)
Birthing From Within by England
http://www.gentlebirth.org
http://www.spinningbabies.com

Consider seeing a massage therapist while you are still pregnant. Also a chiropractor. These things will help you to get your body in balance. This will help to make labor easier.

Labor as long as possible with your bag of water intact. this helps to prevent infection AND it makes labor more tolerable as the pressure on your cervix isn't as intense. Also, as soon as your water breaks they put you "on the clock" to deliver in "X" hours or they'll want a c/s.

Squatting helps. Deep, relaxed breathing....in through the nose, out through the mouth. Stay active and move around. Walk or dance.

Take a rice sock with you and have the nurse heat it up for you in the microwave. (Take a ziplock bag to heat it up inside.) Put this on your belly or back.

If you feel a lot of discomfort in your back, have hubby or a support person do counterpressure on your lower back.

Peppermint oil for nausea. Lavender oil for relaxation.

Insist on choosing your own positions for pushing. DO NOT lay flat on your back as this is the WORST position. Squatting is a great position as it opens up your pelvis more. You can squat with your partner/doula's support or you can ask the nurse to put a squat bar on your hospital bed.

Spend time in the shower during labor.

If you can, consider a waterbirth in a birthing tub. Being in the water truely takes away a lot of the discomfort. It is also a gentler transition for baby. (I had 2 waterbirths and one "land" birth.)

Moaning/groaning/LOW pitched sounds. Humming/singing. DO NOT let your voice get high pitched. That is a sign that you are tensing up. Have hubby watch for signs of tenseness in your body and remind you to relax that area. (My doula with my last birth could see the tension in my forehead from across the room.)

I used a birthing ball (exercise ball) with all three of my births. It's really comfortable to sit or lean on and helps encourage pelvic rocking when you sit on it. It can help baby move down when you use the ball. Exercise balls aren't too expensive now and can be found at places like Target or Walmart or sporting goods stores. If you have a doula, she probably has one. Or call the hospital and ask the nurses if they have one. (But then you risk someone else using it and not being able to get it if they only have one!)

Answer 7

Nothing helped with me., except tohave my husband near and to hold his hand. I dont even think I would have cared about calming music..lol, That wouldnt have worked. I would have been annoyed by it. Anyways, Just have the person near you that you want to be there. I had all 3 of my babies natural and I am pregnant with my 4th and will have her natural also.

Answer 8

my first labor and birth were filled with all the usual interventions. i was very nervous, and ended up going to the hospital as soon as i went into labor. i was very scared, and the nurses werent very supportive. i didnt know how to deal with the pain, and the nurses kept offering me an epidural every half hour, even though i had said i wanted a natural birth. after 6 hours, i finally gave in and took the epidural. then i had to have a catheter and pitocin to speed up the labor that had been slowed by the epidural. i was strapped the bed, couldnt move. i couldnt feel my self push, but when he finally crowned, i felt every bit of it. one thing they dont tell you about the epidural, it only blocks to the bottom of the spine, so when the baby comes out, you feel it. and it hurts more because youre not prepared for it. i also have a couple numb spots on the back and butt from it. (very common complaints of the epidural, along with back pain.) soo, when i got pregnant the second time, i was determined to have a natural birth. i went into labor at 3 am, and let my man sleep through the early cramp like stage. when i started to need to breathe through them, i decided to try something i had read about in a few different books. i didnt think it would work, but it was worth a try. i got my huge bloated self into a hot bath. every time a contraction came, my man would pour a bowl of hot water over my belly. i cant even tell you how much this helped! i was absolutely amazed. i was screaming with my first child, the contractions hurt so bad when laying on my back. but when i got into that hot water, it melted the pain away. (i know it sounds silly, but trust me, its amazing.) at 5 am i felt like i had to take a huge bm. thats when we were like, ut oooh. wed better get to the hospital. turns out, i was in transition. (the worst and most surreal part. the pain is unimaginable, but when you go through labor naturally, i guess your brain lets out some awesome drugs, because i was in and out, couldnt hold a conversation, and it didnt seem to hurt that bad at all.) so we get to the hospital at 5:40 am. i knew we had to get to the birthing unit immediately. we get there, and i see that nurse, and i begged like a little girl for that epidural. lol. the nurse laughed and said, youre not having an epidural, youre having a baby! i started pushing because i just had to! its really true, when you go through labor naturally, not pushing isnt an option, the urge to push takes over your whole body. baby sephira was born at 5:45 am. 5 minutes after we got to the hospital. i had no interventions of any kind. no IV, no urine samples, no electrodes strapping me to the bed, no medications to speed up labor, nothing. and it was awesome! sooo much better than the first. keep a few things in mind, stay home as long as possible, the earlier you go, the higher the chance of interventions. (there are studies about that.) use water! hot water! and lastly, youre the mom! you have every right to refuse any intervention you like! the nurses will feed you a line of BS about everything you refuse. (i tried to refuse the IV with my first, the nurse actually told me id be endangering my baby!) in the end though, its your right, and they can push an IV in under 10 seconds if theres an emergency. stand up for yourself, the nurses want to make everything as easy for themselves as possible. if you refuse the electrodes, they cant watch everything from a screen in the nurses station, which means they have to come check you by hand every half hour. (oh no! such hard work!) do your homework, be informed! the united states is the world leader in c sections and interventions. our c section rate is 27%! in europe and other countries, its only 4% and you know whats scary? thier infant mortality rates are at or lower than ours. ok. sorry if that sounded like a rant. i just get so angry at the hospitals. we go in, get strapped into a wheel chair, then rushed to a bed where we are treated as if were deathly ill! were not sick! were in labor! lol. i hope some of my long saga like story helped you. i wish you a safe and healthy labor and birth, congrats on your new addition!

Answer 9

I am going to use hypothesis, calming music, and no drugs. Congrats

Answer 10

Both times for me .. I found that grabbing my Husbands & the Nures hand for support helped. Although I Did get the Epidural , But i still wanted that extra Push of support.