Labor Pain Relief: Warm Baths

Video Transcript

"A really easy and one of the most effective pain technique relievers is warm water. Warm water is a natural muscle relaxant, so is it immediately going to relax you. So if your water has not broken yet, I highly suggest that you take a nice bath. If your water has broken, or you don't like baths, then take a shower. You can put a stool in there so you have something to sit on. You can just sit on the bottom part of the bath. You don't have to stand if you don't want to; you can lean against the wall, but I highly recommend that you use that. It can be more effective than any type of pain reliever. What happens is is if we are uncomfortable we have more adrenaline in our body. What we really need is endorphins right now. Endorphins are going to naturally make us feel better; it's going to help us deal with the pain better. So when you take a warm bath that promotes relaxation. When you promote relaxation you promote more endorphins, which means that you'll have a better threshold for pain, because it's fighting a lot of the pain off. So you can also just listen to the sound of water; that can be relaxing too. So be very gentle, think about ocean waves. Think about that sound, or find some kind of music that has that sound. You don't want to make the bath or shower too hot though, because then that can make you lethargic. You want to keep it about ninety-nine to a hundred degrees. You might want to sip some cool water, or some juice, or put a cold washcloth to your forehead or your chest to keep it so you don't overheat. But definitely, water will help you with any type of pain, and is a great pain coping technique."