Dealing with Labor Pain Effectively

As a first labor can last up to 15 hours, check whether the hospitals policy allows you to eat during labor - these days it usually does - so, pack a few snacks such as chocolate bars, which will give you instant energy. In fact, shortly before labor, the ability of your stomach to absorb food decreases, so you should eat only easily digested food. This is a local anesthetic which is administered between the space of your spinal column and your spinal-cord. The procedure effectively numbs the nerves around your uterus and on occasions can render your legs numb making it difficult or impossible to be mobile.

If you want to practice hypnosis for minimizing labor pain at home, then you can also buy some audio hypnosis tapes for that purpose. If you have never practiced or experienced hypnosis before, then it’s better to start with self hypnosis and gets an idea about the whole concept. Once you know how to hypnotize yourself, and learn the art of communicating with your subconscious mind, you will develop a better understanding towards hypnosis. A good way to start process of self hypnosis is through music.

Some women brave the storm and choose to deliver their baby naturally without drugs. But the option is there should they change their mind if the pain becomes unbearable. Many moons ago when women experienced their first sharp spasm of labor to the last exhausting push, pain relief was not up for negotiation because there was none. Times have changed considerably and women have choice. Women today write their own birth plan which might include going without medication, opting for alternative medicine and non-drug approaches to manage their pain.

The contractions occur and then you have a period of relief from the pain. In order to time the period between contractions, you start timing when the contraction stops and stop when another contraction begins. If you are truly in the early stages of labor, this time period will become shorter and shorter. You can also time the duration of the contraction to see how long it lasts. As the space between the contractions decrease, the duration of the contractions increase.

Another form of medication is regional anesthetic. Most common is the use of epidurals, which block the pain from waist-down. It is given during the last stage of the labor. This is administered through an injection in the spine. In this, you do not feel any labor pain, but you will feel tightening and pressure when a contraction would strike. This way you can time your pushing efforts with the contractions. This medication has almost no side-effects, but it is not effective on some women.

Involving a low electrical current being utilized by blocking off the pain receptors in the brain whilst at the same time stimulating the release of endorphins, thereby promoting natural pain relief. Tens machines are relatively affordable and can be hired or purchased and are a good investment to sort out prior to going into labor given not all hospitals have these machines available.