The pain during contraction is caused by dilation of the cervix by uterine contractions. Labor pain is different from one mother to the other and is also different from each delivery to the other, this is why different pain control plans have been developed and individualized according to each mother’s sense of pain, personal preference and what is suitable for her and her baby’s health. Some pregnant women change their decision of pain relief during the course of labor itself from one type to another. others think that they don’t deserve to be mothers if they don’t stand the pain of delivery. Our personal advice is not to mix up your pain endurance ability with your sense of motherhood.
- Analgesic drugs :They provide pain relief over the entire body without causing loss of consciousness. Often given as an injection or combined with other drugs to relieve tension or nausea, they act on the whole nervous system. They may cause drowsiness and make it hard to concentrate; because these drugs can slow the baby’s reflexes and breathing at birth, they are usually avoided just before delivery.
- Local or regional Anesthetic drugs: They make you loose sensations and with some kinds you may also lose consciousness.
- Epidural Block: it is a form of local anesthesia which numbs the lower half of the body. It is injected into the lower back, where the nerves that receive sensations from the lower body meet the spinal cord.
- Local anesthesia: it is usually injected into the vagina or area surrounding it and they are useful when the doctor has to make an episiotomy or fix any tears that might have occurred during birth
- General anesthesia: If used the mother will not be awake or feel any pain during delivery. It is given in one of two ways: through a face mask or through IV line. Serious side effects, though rare can occur.
- Alternative methods: Lamaze technique: Lamaze teaches pregnant women that pregnancy is something natural and it tries to change their comprehension of pain by training them to link pain to breathing or meditation so that by time pain can be substituted by positive feeling. It is all supervised by a coach. Bradley method: the coach is the father himself and it consists of the same methods of lamaz plus good nutrition of the mother.