Why An Epidural Isn’t Always So Helpful

When women are preparing themselves for childbirth, many request an epidural without really thinking about the negative impacts it might have on their bodies or their children’s bodies. An epidural seems like a dream come true: a way to experience the miracle of childbirth without the excruciating pain. It is important to realize, however, that pain is simply a part of the childbirth process, and there is no way to escape it completely. Once one has embraced this fact, one will be able to make a more educated decision based on the long list of disadvantages of an epidural, which far outweigh its advantages.

In the debate of natural birth vs epidural, the childbirth process, as most women argue, is the most painful experience of their lives. Women feeling this pain, naturally, would do almost anything to make it go away. In the heat of the moment, it can be too much to bear. This is why most women, including those who had previously decided to go without one, wind up requesting an epidural during childbirth. There is no doubt that an epidural provides great relief and protects babies from other medications that could be administered, but its benefits end there.

An epidural is administered into a woman’s spine by means of a very long needle. This process is very uncomfortable, but once the medication takes effect, many would argue that it is worth it. When a woman receives an epidural, however, she loses feeling in the lower half of her body. This means that she also loses a great deal of muscle control. Without this control, women are not able to push as efficiently as normal, and doctors are forced to use many more harsh tools in order to remove the babies from their birth canals.

There are plenty of other risks associated with epidurals including longer delivery time, increased risk of C-sections, increased risk of low blood pressure and fever, and often a need for oxytocin, a medication which stimulates uterine contractions. As one can see, an epidural may require several counteractive medications, which put one’s child at a much higher risk.

In addition to these negativities, however, there is also the risk of an epidural being administered incorrectly. Because these treatments are placed into the spine, one can obtain spinal bruising or even permanent damage from an epidural.

Before one accepts any sort of medication, one should always do the research and make sure that its benefits outweigh its faults; in the case of natural birth vs epidural usage, they certainly do not.

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Photo credit: TschiAe / Foter / CC BY

Labour

Preparing Your Body For Labour

You wouldn’t go for a five kilometer run without some advance training and a specialised diet. Neither should you anticipate labour without spending adequate time preparing. Few people spend much time thinking about physical resistance exercises and stretching, but this is exactly what you should do to help your body prepare. In addition, the right diet can help give you muscular support so that your body is in peak shape when “race day” arrives.

Diet

Protein and fibre are both crucial and lacking in most pregnant women’s diets. After all, it is easy to get calcium. This is present in milk and many vegetable milks and fruit juices are fortified with it, as well. Carbohydrate are also in abundant supply. They are located in many healthy foods, including potatoes, bananas, and obviously well supplied in breads and grains, let alone the sugar in your coffee and soda. Fats require very little effort to get enough of, as well.

Many packaged products contain a great deal of fat to make them taste good. Fiber, though present to some degree in many foods, is especially important for bowel health. For pregnant women especially, it is of utmost importance to get enough fiber to reduce the likelihood of hemorrhoids. Although these are typically annoying regardless of pregnancy status, they can develop bleeding fissures and actually become so painful that they make the delivery of the baby extremely painful during crowning. These fissures can increase the risk of a large tear and can even cause so much pain during examinations that they prevent the doctor from checking the condition of the cervix. Protein is important to support muscles that are being stretched and will be putting forth a lot of effort to bring a baby into the world.

Exercises

Walking is wonderful exercise for pregnant as it does not put a lot of stress on the joints but still gets the blood flowing. However, there are other options for exercise and stretches that can reduce discomfort at delivery. Tailor sitting, or squatting down with the feet flat on the floor and leaned far enough forward that the buttocks do not touch the floor, is a great way to stretch the muscles that will have to stretch for the delivery of the baby. Many women find that this exercise reduces discomfort as the baby moves down during labour, as well.

Do not be afraid to use the internet and search up some other valuable exercises. There are many sample pregnancy diets available as well, and you can print them off to get your physician’s okay. Be sure to have your physician evaluate all diets and exercises that you want to do before you start in on a regimen.

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Labor Pain Symptoms

Labor Pain Symptoms - How Painful is Labor?

 

Just as every pregnancy is different, every labor is different, too. In addition, each person has a different and subjective view of how pain is interpreted. For some people, labor might be no more painful than a typical monthly period whereas for others, it would rank somewhere above dental surgery with no anesthesia. There are many factors that contribute to how painful a labor is considered to be and whether or not labor pain symptoms are tolerable without anesthesia of some kind.

Relative Restfulness Of The Mother

Almost any task is easier if you are well rested to begin with and bringing a child into the world is no exception. Almost no woman goes into labor perfectly well rested due to the increasing frequency of Braxton Hicks contractions and getting up to go to the bathroom at least once in the night. However, going into labor mid-morning after a decent night’s rest is usually considered to be much easier than going into labor at midnight after a shopping marathon or exhausting family holiday celebration.

Pain Tolerance

For some people, pain tolerance is just part of their make-up. If you are someone who runs to the medicine cabinet at the first hint of a headache, then you probably have a low pain tolerance. However, that is not to say that an unmedicated labor is impossible for someone with a low pain tolerance. There are many other factors that go into the perception of how painful labor is.

What Are You Scared Of?

Fear brings tension with it, and tension is the enemy of an effective labor. For the body to prepare to deliver the baby, the cervix has to relax. If you are scared stiff, you will be continually working against your own bodily processes. Learning as much as you can about the labor process can help you take the fear out of the experience. In addition, it can be worthwhile for you to spend time learning relaxation techniques. When you feel your jaw begin to clench up during the laboring process, you can employ the learned techniques to help you relax throughout contractions. Any experienced mother will tell you that relaxation is the key to an unmedicated labor.

The size of the baby relative to the birth canal and a few other physical factors, including the position of the baby, can affect how painful your particular labor is as well as your labor pain symptoms. Much of the perception of pain is affected by how painful the mother expects the experience to be and how tense or relaxed she is during the process.

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Photo credit: Nina Matthews Photography / Foter.com / CC BY