The Most Efficient Pain Relief in Labour
What if I told you that an epidural is not the most efficient pain relief in labour?
Do you know what’s the most efficient? Your feeling of safety.
It’s a good idea to keep this in mind while deciding on where and with whom you’d love to give birth. Do you feel safe here? Are you convinced you can build a mutual trust and respect relationship with these people?
For some of you, it’s going to be a hospital, with its white corridors and modern technologies. For others – a cosy birthing centre with meals like at home and a potted ficus. Others yet will want to stay home, surrounded by whānau and friends, with a broth quietly simmering on the stove.
We are all different and you need to know where and with whom YOU feel safe:
If you feel safe, your brain will produce its own potent pain-relieving chemicals (“happy healthy hormones”)
If you feel safe, your birth has the biggest chance to unfold physiologically, with as less interventions as possible
If you feel safe, you can surrender to your sensations and listen to your body's needs, adjusting your positions and making your baby’s way easier.
That’s why choosing your place and your team is always the main birth prep. And to enhance the analgesic effect safety provides, there is another cool pain relief that is always available to you. Like 24 hours a day no matter where you are.
And it’s this pain relief tool that I invite you to start exploring already in pregnancy, to overcome back pain and other discomforts. [Whisper of warning]: this pain relief has uncommon side effects. Your sleep gets better, you breathe easier, and your trust in your body and its capacity to give birth grows. Proven.
Intrigued? This pain relief is movement, and your ability to move freely while in labour. This is where your needs and the needs of your medical team can be different. This is the part that doesn’t get enough attention when discussing possible medical interventions - or rather their cascade - during labour, for example:
administration of synthetic oxytocin (Pitocin) requires that you have an IV line into your hand or arm;
electronic fetal heart rate monitoring (EFM) requires that you are connected to the monitor continuously to track your baby’s ability to cope with the medication above;
Pitocin produces less-spaced and more intense contractions early in labour than your natural oxytocin, which increases the chance of you asking for medical pain relief;
epidural will further limit your mobility and likely mean you’ll labour in bed; it will reduce the perception of the intensity of contractions for you, but not for your baby who is making his/her way through your pelvis;
lying on your back limits the mobility of your pelvis and the joints within it - which means your baby will have a harder time navigating your bony pelvis and “opening” the right passage at the right time.
As you can see, your freedom of movement during labour is paramount: when your pelvis is unrestricted, your birthing position becomes an attitude. You can respond to pain by changing your position and adjusting your movement to the needs of your baby making their way through the pelvic openings.
If you would love a prescription for this powerful pain-relief combo - safety and movement - then join me and other local hapū māmā's for my next 6-week pregnancy course at River Ridge East Birth Centre where we will explore how movement, safety and [reduction in] pain are related.
This course includes, alongside mindful movement and birth-related education, a session on the neurophysiology of pain and other non-invasive strategies to help you cope with pain in pregnancy and labour.
If the time, place or group setting does not work for you, you could get a package of individual sessions - please read Fleur’s story here and contact me to discuss your options, in-person or online. Or simply book your initial consultation via the Booking page.