Natural pain management for a natural birth?
ByIf you had a natural birth (No drugs whatsoever) what helped you the most? Have any of you done water birth, bradley or hypnobabies? What do you recommend? This will be a homebirth with a CNM and I am planning on a water birth.
I would like advice from moms who have done drug-free natural births, please. If you have only given birth with an epidural or are going to recommend one this question is NOT for you, drugs are not an option for me for health reasons so even if I was giving birth in a hospital I would have to do it without en epi.
I will not get an episiotomy, my midwife almost never does them because most research shows tears heal better than a cut.
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10 Comments
April 6th, 2010 at 11:25 am
i did …nothing at all…
learn to breathe…and a little downward pushing helped releive me…
do all the lamze you can and use it ….congrats and best of luck
April 6th, 2010 at 11:48 am
Natural through and through. Just do your breathing as taught at ante natal classes, a bit o walking around in between contractions also helps
April 6th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
I’m allergic to all opioid pain killers so it’s natural for me, too. In England we have Entonox, which is gas and air (50% nitrous oxide mixed with 50% air), pumped through the walls of the delivery room — there is a hose with a mouthpiece and you inhale on it right before a contraction starts, and it takes ‘the edge’ away from the pain. Lots of women manage to get through labour with only that, and as the birthing pool at my hospital is broken it looks like I’m going to have to be one of them!
You may be able to arrange for a few tanks to be brought in? In hospitals here that don’t have it pumped through the walls, they do have large canisters of it that they put beside your bed and most midwives will bring them to a homebirth – it might be worth asking. We do consider using gas&air to be ‘natural childbirth’ in the UK.
April 6th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Unfortunately i couldnt go through my labour without pain relief. However, i did try and was successful for the first 13 hours. I found the best thing was walking around and breathing techniques. Its going to sound really bizarre but a friend of mine who had no pain relief said to “moo” really loudly. I tried it and it does work, if you get enough breath in you to last the whole contraction. My sister in law had a water birth and she seemed to like that, said the water did make her feel calmer.
Good luck anway im sure you will do fine!!
April 6th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
That all depends on you. When you are stressed out or in pain, how do you cope now? Do you go lay down and relax? Distract yourself with company? Vocalize through it? Do you take a bath or a shower? Do you move around?
I would say statistically, a birthing tub reduces pain the most. It’s often called the “midwives’ epidural” and is really effective, especially if you can get in a tub that the water line completely covers your belly. That water pressure really helps a ton.
Movement is also extremely helpful. Following your body’s instincts to move in the way you need to can help tremendously.
Finding a rhythm and a ritual during your contractions is absolutely key. Look it up in “Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn” or “The Birth Partner” for more information on that concept.
Also hiring a doula greatly reduces pain statistically – although if your midwife is really hands-on and stays with you your entire labor you might not need one. Counterpressure techniques can actually help reduce the pain up to 30%.
I’m Lamaze trained so I’m sort of biased (Lamaze is SO not about breathing anymore and teaches a variety of coping techniques such as massage, heat, cold, counterpressure, aromatherapy, visualization, etc.) I don’t even teach breathing. I’ve sat in on a hypnobirthing class and really thought it was interesting and teaches you how to relax completely and visualize, however you pretty much stay still in birth if you follow it strictly. I also recommend you take a look at Birthing From Within as an option. They use ice work to explore what techniques will be most useful to you in birth, as everyone is different and has different experiences with pain and how to cope. And I know people love their Bradley classes. Everyone is different, and there is a class for every mama.
April 6th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
I had natural childbirth with my second (almost on the side of the road lol) but was in labor at home for almost 5 hrs . But practice a lot of breathing techniques and it helped and warm bath helped with contractions as well. But I was told when I finally arrived at the hospital by other nurses that my breathing was key, slow deep breathes they said. I agree with above about position as well, the way you lay also. I think helped me alot to deal with pain although it was still very painful. It was all worth it ….Congrats to you!
April 6th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
I did two natural and plan on doing this one natural as well. My best advice to you is breathe through the pain. It’s a short time that you have to spend in pain for a lifetime of joy. Just keep thinking of the end result.
April 6th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
I had natural childbirth.
After the baby’s head leaves the cervix, what you’ll feel is a lot of pressure to push which has to be controlled, as to not incur tears, as the baby’s head emerges. An episiotomy may have to be performed if the head is large, so you may want to talk about that to the CNM as to how you want to handle it, insofar as being numbed in the area or medicated or not.
I didn’t experience the water birth because I’m not educated in that aspect, yet, and couldn’t understand the logic and I feared my baby would drown or inhale water and I didn’t want to take a chance.
It’s a such thing as “Dry drowning” you know….but to each their own.
May God bless you and your family, in your delivery.
April 6th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
I had my daughter without drugs and she was a healthy 7lb 9oz baby. Being in labor wasnt too awfully hard for me and Im 19…. and as a young mother tend to have more complications that higher age groups. I didnt do a water birth but would have if the faciltiy had offered it. I enjoyed being on my side and just holding onto the rail of the bed. Its better not to have an Epi in fact because they tend to slow labor. Hard to say but just try not to stress out. I was calm and just blew away my contractions. I did take any birthing classes and I had my daughter in a total of 4 hours!! I have heard that birthing balls are amazing if you have back labor as well as tennis balls. I hope that all goes smooth!!! And If I think of anything else I will update my answer~!!!
HOPE IT HELPS!!!
J~
April 6th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
I assume you’re going for a home birth? See if you can rent a birthing pool, the water works wonders. And learn a relaxation technique to manage your breath. Also, choose a position where gravity will help you. Flat on your back it’s going to take unnecessarily longer. Squatting or on all fours work better.