As the big day approaches, you are probably getting more concerned about the pain of childbirth. Outlined below are the most common pain relief choices available at most hospitals, with risks and benefits defined.
Epidural
Epidurals are the most popular form of pain relief in the United States as they block pain but do not enter the bloodstream.
“Epidurals are fantastic for pain relief. Overall, serious risks of an epidural are extremely low,” says Kristen Innes, M.D., an obstetrician running her own practice in Dallas, Texas. Over the years, physicians have honed the epidural by reducing dosages and combining drugs that minimize side effects. Some are known as “walking” epidurals that allow you to get up and walk the halls during labor. Not all hospitals offer these, so you need to ask your physician. Some hospitals also offer the patient-controlled epidural, allowing the laboring woman to control the amount of medication delivered by pushing a button.
What happens: An anesthesiologist injects a needle with a catheter into your spinal column. The catheter stays in, delivering medication continuously into the covering around the spinal cord, called the dura.
Pros:
- Blocks most pain in the lower body and usually allows some lower extremity movement
- Can be used continuously for several hours
- Doesn’t make you drowsy, but relaxes you since the pain is gone, so you are able to rest or even sleep until the pushing stage
- May help some anxious women dilate, as a result of the relaxation
- Doesn’t cause significant slowing of labor
Cons:
- May provide uneven pain relief, affecting one side of the body more than the other. “They can be uneven because the medicine is essentially distributed by gravity. For example, if a patient is tilted with a particular side down, that side will be more numb,” explains Innes.
- May decrease blood pressure, which can slow the baby’s heart rate
- May increase the length of time you push as it can decrease your ability to use your pelvic floor muscles
- May cause a “spinal headache” if spinal fluid leaks during or after the procedure. Also may require the placement of a “blood patch” over the leak to prevent more fluid from leaking and causing persistence of the headache
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