Labor Pain Relief: Water

Video Transcript

"So, another thing to think about when you're wondering what the best birth environment is for you, is water. Water is a natural muscle relaxant, so it's a really, really important thing. There's, water can be used in different ways. Sometimes just the sound of water can be relaxing, so think about maybe a small desk fountain, something like that, where you just hear the sound of trickling water. Also, putting on a nature CD that has the sound of water, that can immediately just relax a person. So, one of the ways to deal with labor pains is water. Water is a natural muscle relaxant, so get in the bathtub, if your water has broken, or you don't like baths, you can take a shower. You can sit on the bathroom floor, and let the water just cascade over you. Also, if you have a small stool, you might want to have the woman sit on that, or if a woman wants to, she can just lean against the wall, it's whatever is comfortable for her. You want to make sure she doesn't get too overheated. If it's too hot or you're in there too long then you can get too tired and get almost lethargic, and then that's not going to do you any good when you're trying to work hard. So about ninety nine to a hundred degrees is a good temperature. When you're at home you have control over that, you can get in the bath or shower whenever you want to. Once you're at the hospital, you are going to be monitored at times, and not be able to get into the shower, but when you're not being monitored, feel free to get into the shower, as much as you want. You can get out when they need to monitor you, and then you can get back in. If you do not have access to a shower, you can make a hot pack. You can get a washcloth, you can run it under hot water and then you can just apply that, maybe you want to put that on the woman's lower back. Maybe you want to put it wherever she's feeling pain. Also, when you're in the bathtub or the shower, you want to keep your body still cool, so you would probably want to do the opposite of a hot pack and make a cold pack. Get a washcloth, run it under cool water and you can put it on a womans forehead, you can put it on a womans chest and that's going to help keep her cool. Another thing is to offer a cool beverage to her, give her some water, give her some juice, and just offer her sips every so often, and that's going to help keep her body cool, while she's still enjoying the warm water. So, something that's usually really important to women in a birth environment is water, whether it's the sound of water, or the feel of water on them."