There are several choices to make when it come to pain relief and each has its advantages and disadvantages. Here are are a few of your options which will help you decide. Which form of pain relief is most appropriate. The right choice will depend on how far into labour you are. And how quickly labour is progressing, your midwife will do an internal examination to see how dilated your cirvix are.
Pethidine is a painkilling drug with a sedative that injected or given intravenously during the early stages of labour if your midwife thinks you are likely to give birth she will discourage you to have pethidine. This is because pethidine crosses the placenta to the baby and its effect on the baby will be at its maximum if given shortly before the baby is born.
Pethidine has a sedative effect and makes women drowsy and their breathing shallow. Many women feel sick, so it is given with another drug to prevent sickness. Some women become very weepy after they have had pethidine. Pethidine given during labour crosses the placenta with the result that some babies are slow start breathing after they are born. Every delivery room carries a supply of a drug that can reverse the effect of pethidine and this can be quickly injected into the baby if he becomes drowsy. However the pethidine will linger in your baby's system for up to a week. And may make your baby unresponsive and difficult to feed in the early days of his life. There is a huge range of reactions to pethidine some women say that it is wonderful while others say they felt out of control. When I was having my second child my midwife told me that pethidine will slow my labour down.
This is a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen. It is en haled through a mask or mouth piece. It is best used at the start of a contraction to take the edge off the pain-it is only a mild painkiller.
There are no side effects to your baby. The oxygen content of the entonox is probably good for your baby. If you use gas and air over a long period of time it will dry your mouth and throat, so sip plenty of water.
A tens machine send electrical pulses through wires to a pad that are stuck to your back. Releasing your body's painkilling hormones. And preventing pain signals reaching your brain. You can control the level of pain relief yourself.
It is not thought that using a ten machine in labour has any adverse effects on either you or the baby. Although there isn't a great deal of research evidence available.
This is a local anesthetic which is injected into your lower back through a tube to numb pain signals. From your womb to your cervix to your brain. It provides total pain relief for 90 percent of women but can lengthen your labour and you may need a catheter.
May add an hour to your labour can cause low blood pressure so a drip can be set up during labour. Very occasionally the epidural may not take or it can only partly work down one side. For example in this case it may need to be repeated
Being in water helps relax you. Meaning you can cope better with the pain and can control your contractions. It increases your chances of having a natural birth but may not be suitable if you are having complications. Please discuss this with your midwife first.
