Pregnancy, Parenthood & Playtime

In light of the popularity of my post on epidurals, I thought I would write about alternative types of pain relief during labor and birth because it seems to be a topic some do not know very much about. During my labor with my second child, I opted to stay at home as long as I could, and even when I got to the hospital, use a lot of these methods to avoid any type of intervention or artificial pain relief because it was simply not what I desired. Of course eventually I did have an epidural to sleep at nearly 24 hours of labor though.

When it comes to pain in labor and childbirth many women have very different experiences, pain tolerance levels, and the desires and risks you would like to take with your medical care. We cannot expect all women to feel the same way about labor pain or the pain of childbirth in general.

A couple tips on having a positive labor experience, no matter what your choice for pain relief is :

• Have a positive and supportive environment. If someone is being negative, or bothering you in any way, ask them to leave, and if they are a hospital staff member, ask for an alternative person.
• Use things that make you comfortable in general. A couple examples are music, blankets or pillows from home, or other objects that make you feel comfortable and relax.

If you choose to labor without pain medication, some tips on avoiding the temptation of using pain medication are :

• Labor at home as long as you can.
• Walk
• Stay active during labor, including early labor, do light housework or go about your normal routine.

Some physical ways to help reduce and cope with your labor pain are :

• Walk
• Climb Stairs
• Slow dance, yes, like you did at your wedding or with your parents as a kid
• Pelvic Rocking
• Sitting/swaying on a birth ball
• Use pillows to help get you into a comfortable position
• Rock in a rocking chair
• Labor in the water (Some facilities offer Birth Tubs)

Many women feel as though they benefit from being in physical contact or physical touch with another person, whether it be their husband, support person, or even a doula. Some of the options for this are :

• Massage
• Stroking
• Acupressure
• Counter pressure against the lower back (helped me a TON during my second labor)
• Cuddling

Some other methods of pain relief are mental strategies. The mind is a very powerful thing that we often do not take into consideration for something like pain relief during childbirth. Some of the mental strategies that can be used are :

• Visualization – Such as repeating a phrase in your head such as “I can birth”, then there are also tapes and meditations you can listen to. Helping to picture yourself on a beautiful warm beach, or in an exotic jungle, or really whatever works for you.
• Focus on your breathing
• Breathing Techniques – Also often refereed to as Lamaze breathing.
• Vocalization  -  Low moaning, groaning, even singing.  But remember, screaming, and high pitched type vocalization, can be and often are counter productive.
• Music – Focusing on certain song lyrics can also be very helpful
• Hypnosis – Program such a hypnobirth
• Prayer

While the mental strategies may not help with the pain, they certainly do help to take your mind off of the pain for the time being.
Of course all of the above may not work for everyone, they are a great start for those women who wish to have a medication free childbirth experience!