How to Manage Pain During Child Birth

Child birth comes with a lot of pain. During pregnancy, your uterus expands from the size of an apple to the size of your baby. Now, during labor, the uterus contracts repeatedly to push the baby through a very small passage, your cervix and vagina. It's important for your health and the health of your baby to effectively manage pain during child birth.

Instructions

1. Relax. In many cases, pains are exaggerated due to emotional and psychological sources. Fear of child birth can intensify pain. Learning about what will occur during child birth can significantly reduce the emotional and psychological sources of labor pain. Getting to know your doctor and delivery facility during a hospital tour will also help you mentally ready for labor.

2. Use massage to relieve pain. Massaging the feet during labor can relax the uterus, stimulate the pituitary gland. Studies show that massage or touch during labor significantly reduce the level of anxiety. The best scenario is your significant other learns massage techniques before labor for instance during childbirth classes.

3. Hydrotherapy is another effective method to relieve pain during labor. Relaxing in a jetted or soaking tub has been shown to lead to faster dilatation of the cervix, and lower the rate of instrumental and cesarean-section deliveries.

4. Use medication to manage your pain. There are a wide variety of medications to choose from, including anesthetics, analgesics, and ataraxics. Anesthetics cause loss of sensation and might put you to sleep. Analgesics are pain relievers. Use of analgesics during child birth is particular popular these days. Injection of analgesics can help you to stay awake through the whole labor. Ataraxics are tranquillizers that can help you to relax.

5. You can also manage your pain using acupuncture. This is an ancient Chinese method that helps to relieve pain. During acupuncture, needles are inserted into specific locations on your body to trigger the release of endorphins that will block pain signals.