My girlfriend will be induced Tuesday and i wanted to know...?

Question

...what can I do to make her comfortable? I hate it when she's in pain and I feel helpless about this. Is there anything I can bring, or say, or do?

My girlfriend an in my spouse hun.

Answer 1

Invite the father to be there.

Answer 2

They will not let her eat anything while in labor, and she will become thirsty, and hungry.. pack up some suckers... blowpops or something, maybe tick tacks.. they will help her produce saliva when her lips and mouth start to get uncomfortably dry. When she is in labor, you can rub her face with a damp rag.. and offer to rub wherever it's most uncomfortable for her.. sometimes it's the sides, sometimes it's the lower back... all in all, there is really nothing that you can do to make her comfortable... just be there for her.. and don't forget the suckers or something for her to suck on.. chap stick too. Talk to her and find out what her favorit songs are.. maybe offer to burn her a CD of her favorite songs.. and bring them for her to listen to... with my second child.. all the noise of the room distracted me from relaxing.. and that made the pain so much worse... sometimes a song, or music can drain out the sounds of everything around you, and you can focus more on relaxing.

I hope this helps you.. I am a mother of three children, and am currently pregnant with baby #4.. I had all of my children naturally without pain medication.

Answer 3

yourself. that's pretty much it.

Inducing labor is WAY more painful than regular labor, so just bei ng there, is better than her being alone. You can hold her hand, but beware of the death grip labor brings on. Helping her sit up or helping her legs raise is also helpful..maybe rub her back if she needs it. Cool wash cloths on the head are nice. Brush her hair if she can stand it. Sometimes being touched is aggravating, sometimes comforting...labor is so unpredictable. The hospital should have everything she needs. Make sure you have a baby seat to take baby home in.

Answer 4

For me the only thing that would truly help was for my hubby to rub the lower part of my back and my feet. I don't know about other women, but, if he even tried to touch my arms, I wanted to wallup him one, right in the kisser! For her back, bring a cool/cold water bottle, and roll it S l o w, up and down the LOWER part of her back that is where most of the back labor is.Bring foot lotion, particularly with peppermint in it. Rub her feet G e n t l y..I am telling you like this so you will understand how to do it, because I will be honest with a laboring woman if you do something wrong......go for coffee or step out for a few mins. because your life my be in your hands. And don't be a comedian. My husband tried that when our first daughter was being born and I almost flew out the bed and attached to his head permanently! Thank God the IV's kept me attached in bed!
Remember.....slow and gentle. Good luck and Godspeed!

Answer 5

just you being there will comfort her.
you will feel helpless but trust me i couldn't cope without my husband, knowing he is with me holding my hand, rubbing my back etc is enough.
keep telling her how well she is doing, how proud you are of her let her lean on you for comfort if she needs it but also if she would rather you not touch her let that be as well sometimes women find comfort from a nice back rub other times its hell to be touched!!
she will let you know what she wants from you.
good luck and congratulations on the baby your both gonna be just fine x x x x

Answer 6

just b there 4 her but remember she will b hurting a lot so try not 2 get in the way too much a lot of women find it very annoying when dad trys too hard at the birth, give her your hand/arm and let her squeeze it/pull it of when shes in labour. dont worry if she snaps at you, we all do it . after baby comes dont stay too long let her have time to bond, come back later after she has rested everything will be fine,good luck

Answer 7

Be there with her, talk her through it.. Just let her know that you are there, you love her and that she is doing 'great'! Make sure you speak very positive during the whole process.. and lastly don't panic or get nervous. When she sees that in you, she will become scared too

Good Luck to you both and Congrats!

Answer 8

Tell her your there, relax and take deep breaths together. Hold her hand it is the most pain she has ever experienced but the baby is the most precious gift she will ever receive. Congratulations!!

Answer 9

Try bringing some music she likes and some aromatherapy oils. You could also try some message if she wants it (I personally didn't want to be messaged, but every woman is different).

Answer 10

I don't know about your girlfriend, but I didn't let them break my water for me...I wanted nature to take it's course and have that "buffer" there for me and my baby. It hurt less during contractions and labor (trust me...I gave birth with NO anesthetic once and an epidural that was ineffective another time!). Her water will break on it's own and in the case that the cord is wrapped around the baby's neck, removing the amniotic fluid could stress him or her out and cause a C Section when you can just have that safety net already in place.

As far as what you can do, I would just be there for her. During times of contractions, when they're mild just touch her and let her know you love her and appreciate what she's doing. When those contractions start to get real hard and fast, please don't be upset or offended if she just doesn't want anyone touching her. The type of pain she will be having is the kind that literally ignites a primitive instinct of fear and possibly lashing out either verbally or sometimes physically. Although that's rare.

If she has an epidural, she won't experience any pain after getting it (she will even laugh through those contractions then!)and the pain is mild after giving birth but if she doesn't have an epidural done, and you don't like seeing her in pain, be ready to freak out. The pain of childbirth is an eleven on that pain scale of one to ten that they generally ask you what level you're in when you go to the doctor or emergency room.

With the epidural, see if they can give it to her while she's sitting up and not on her side. When sitting up, the epidural isn't that painful but on her side, it can be pretty bad (of course don't tell her that...and protect your smaller bones if she's holding your hand while they're giving it to her!)

Giving birth (without an epidural and before one is administered) hurts worse than a broken bone...better yet, it outdoes multiple compound fractures if you can imagine what that would feel like.

Just stay calm about the procedures and the pain. Don't let her see you overly anxious or worried. She will have enough of a job cut out for her. Don't let her worry about you but at the same time let her know that you aren't apathetic, but you are having to keep your composure to watch her back while she does all of the work.

If her pain is intense and even if y'all decided not to take pain meds or anything for it and she changes her mind...LET HER HAVE THE PAIN MEDS!! As a nurse I remember seeing women getting denied pain medication and epidurals because their husbands/boyfriends dictated that they couldn't have them since they decided beforehand and they actually got an attitude when their wife or girlfriend caved in and wanted something. Can you believe that??!

Be there with a cell phone and a charger so she can call family and friends and so you can make those calls when the baby comes.

The nurses and doctors will give you little tips while in there of the things you can and cannot do...hold one of her legs up for her while she's pushing because pushing a baby out is the most exhausting experience...especially if it's her first. If she says she hurts, don't say "I know" unless you do...just tell her you're sorry and ask her if you can do anything.

Just prepare yourself...you're going to feel helpless, you're going to feel guilty that you can't really do anything, you're going to see her cry, hear her scream (until the epidural) and you're going to see and hear things that will make you think it's killing her. You're going to see blood like you've never seen before. Just maintain your composure and make sure you see to it that it's HER day and run interference for her if she doesn't want anyone bothering her.

DO make a plan that if she can't speak for herself that you can indicate to the medical staff that she needs to be cut (episiotomy) that you can make the call...DEFINITELY go to the hospital administrator and get paperwork signed where you can make judgement calls for her if she's unable to...and if you aren't legally married, so you can go into the surgery if she has to have a C Section...

She's really going to need your loving support moreso after the birth than during because nature will just take it's course until that baby comes out.

Take a camera and preserve the final moments of her pregnancy...a video camera if possible.

Buy her several gifts to open...tokens of love and affection...and include several things for the baby.

They won't let her eat or drink anything after the induction starts except for ice chips so make sure there's lots of those there.

And most importantly...once her labor kicks in, her water breaks and that baby's head crowns, make SURE they back off of the Pitocin...they didn't with me and it was set at the maximum "safe" dosage and I went halfway through my delivery getting a hormone that made my contractions worse!! Understand though that in the flurry of birth, they often set priorities and if they do forget to turn the IV off, gently remind them it's still in the drip and to please shut it off if they can.

Good luck!

This is going to be the wildest experience of your (and your girlfriend's) lives!!

Answer 11

the ONLY MAIN THING you can do is just be there for her. stay beside her and she'll let you know what she needs. it's so wonderful that you love her enough to be there for her.