Pregnancy Diary

Years ago, every woman our mothers or grandmothers were in labor, pain relief was not an option, would do it “naturally” without any pain relief. Women of child-bearing age today are lucky because they do not HAVE to go through labor and delivery feeling the amount of pain that their mothers felt,while some women still choose to opt for a natural childbirth, and refuse pain medication upon entering the hospital to deliver their baby.

For those that prefer to use pain relief, there are many choices available today. Some involve medicine administered through an IV; others involve medicine that is administered through a needle in the back. Here are some of the choices:
Narcotics: include Demerol and Stadol. It do not take away the pain completely, but can help dull it for as long as the shot is effective. One of these shots normally provides relief for 30 minutes to 3 hours.
Spinal Block/Epidural: The pain relief from both of these is normally immediate and can last a while. However, after opting for a spinal block/epidural, most of the time, a woman can no longer move or walk around, so she is restricted to bed and given a catheter to empty her bladder. With the epidural a woman may still be able to feel the contractions, although she should not feel any pain.
General Anesthesia: rarely used, and only generally in case of emergency, or if the baby has to be delivered in a hurry via c-section and there is not time to put in an epidural or spinal block. The problem with general anesthesia, and the reason it is not used more often, is that the drug can easily get into the baby’s lungs and affect his ability to breathe, or make him too sleepy to respond properly at birth.

There are many choices for pain relief when you go to deliver your baby. Make sure you research all ahead of time and know your options so when the big day comes you are able to make the best choice available for you and your unborn child.