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Delivery Decisions

Know Your Pain Relief Options Before Childbirth

By Catherine S. Moore

Pages: 1 2 3

"The pain of childbirth." You've heard the horror stories. You've watched Hollywood movies dramatizing labor and birth with mothers-to-be screaming in agony.

No wonder you're afraid.

Fortunately, there are ways of coping with labor pain. Knowing what you can do to deal with the pain can help alleviate some of the dread and make the childbirth experience more rewarding – and less frightening.

"Thinking about how to deal with the pain of labor is best done prior to the actual labor," says Nancy H. Sullivan, a certified nurse-midwife in Portland, Ore.

Understanding your options for pain relief places you at an advantage as you head into childbirth. Having unrealistic expectations about labor and coping with the pain of labor can lead to disappointment. Every woman's labor is unique and the way each woman experiences labor pain is unique.

Angela Warner* of Brooklyn, N.Y., never doubted she would have a natural birth. Her water broke at 11 p.m. and by 1 a.m. her contractions started. "They were eight minutes apart right away," Warner says. She walked, took a long shower and drank some tea. "The shower felt great," says Warner. "It really helped to ease the pain."

By 5 a.m., Warner was in the hospital. When her midwife checked her, she was 8 centimeters dilated. "I was lucky," says Warner. "It all went very quickly. But it was very intense. I can't say what would have happened if it had gone on longer." At 7:20 a.m., she gave birth to her first daughter, drug free.

Pages: 1 2 3

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