Pain Management
Pain-reducing positions
- Squatting with your thighs apart and your butt down helps your pelvis to open as much as possible, allowing gravity to work more effectively to facilitate the progress of labor.
- Sitting cross-legged or squatting helps to open the pelvis and uterine opening. Use bed handles or similar items to support your body.
- If you experience pain while walking or standing, lean against a chair or wall. This position helps the baby descend more easily and also relieves back pain.
- Get into a position with your knees on the floor and your head low. This helps reduce pressure on the uterus and relieve pain, and can prevent force from being applied to the stomach.
Lamaze
- 1. What is Lamaze?
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Lamaze is a method of childbirth that helps to make childbirth as comfortable as possible by reducing fear, tension, and anxiety around the process. It is a method of childbirth not only by the woman alone, but also with the support of the expectant father who actively participates in the birth process. Although Lamaze cannot completely eliminate the pain of childbirth, it can help minimize pain during labor and delivery by actively using your mind and body.
Lamaze pain relief techniques consist of breathing, relaxation, and association techniques. The perfect combination of the three techniques is most effective.Concept and Implementation of Lamaze (Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology)
Epidural
Recently, epidurals have been widely used for pain management. An epiduralis an anesthetic that is injected into the dura mater between the lumbar vertebrae to block the sensation of pain. This anesthesia paralyzes the sensory nerves but leaves the motor nerves intact, making natural childbirth possible. Anesthesia is usually attempted when the cervix is dilated 4 to 5 cm, but in some cases may be attempted earlier.
One advantage is that anesthesia relaxes the muscles and softens the cervix, so you feel much less pain. It also prevents decreased uterine blood flow, abnormal uterine contractions, and fetal hypoxia caused by the mother's hyperventilation. However, disadvantages include side effects such as low blood pressure, headache, vomiting, nausea, urinary retention, cramps, and back pain. Additionally, you may not be able to push properly because you cannot feel pain due to the anesthesia.
Although epidurals do not completely eliminate pain, they can help relieve it for most mothers. However, since epidurals can only be administered when labor is somewhat advanced, the procedure may be difficult if the timing is not right or there are other problems
Epidurals (Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s National Health Information Portal)
Figure. Epidurals (Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s National Health Information Portal)