Childbirth Cubby Hot Topic: Alternative Pain Management techniques

[Kathleen]

If you used alternative pain management techniques while in labor, please share with us what worked for you. Were you happy with the outcome? Would you recommend it?

Thank you!

[hpy2bamom]

For every labor I used a TENS unit and would not do a labor it without it. On the last labor I used a TENS and Acupuncture ear needles. The addition of the needles helped take the edge off transition. Stage 1 is totally pain free and stage 2 can be compared to really bad cramping during pms.
I would use the combination again.
I tried self learning hypnotherapy and had no luck. It would be great to have a coach and try again though.

[Kathleen]

Kim, what is a TENS unit? I've heard of them before, but am interested to learn more. Thanks!

[hpy2bamom]

A TENS stands for "Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation". It sends a painless electrical current to nerves. It stimulates the body's natural production of endorphins to trick the brain in its perception of pain (or something like that)

Some key words in a search would be TENS during labor, Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation, electrical stimulation unit, etc.

I guess some people don't have luck with it helping their pain but I don't know if they put the pads in the right place. The electrical current is in the superficial layers of the skin and it causes no harm at all to the baby.

Hope this helps

[hedra]

I used Bradley Method relaxation with my first, and HypnoBirthing with my second and with the twins.

Bradley Method relaxation techniques worked pretty well. Labor was about a 6 out of 10 on the pain scale, and while it took effort to stay relaxed, and it required someone to tell me if I was tensing my face (etc.), with that outside help, I stayed reasonably comfortable through 66 hours of labor, including back labor. Unfortunately, it didn't help G get into position (he was slightly off center line), so my labor was not progressing. I ended up with an epidural, just to be able to sleep (I didn't need it for pain). I know it worked as a method, because any time I tensed up, contractions HURT like merry heck. Break a sweat up your spine kind of hurt. But as long as I stayed relaxed, they were quite tolerable, like a workout that you've gone a bit beyond your weight limit, 'ouchy' but not OUCH.

Next time around, I tried hypnotherapy. I used New Way Childbirth tapes, and then found a HypnoBirthing (Mongan Method) class. I was given pitocin to augment labor (though I probably didn't need it), and so could have expected a very painful experience. Even with the pitocin, I had NO PAIN. None. It was intense, it was hard work to stay with it, and it took a lot of mental effort, but I still had no pain (other than crowning burn, but not bad on that, either). I felt everything, I was aware of everything, I didn't blank out or even go far into the 'labor land' trance. It just didn't hurt at all. It was REALLY cool to feel B's head coming down, slipping slightly back, coming down again, further... I could feel every detail, but none of it was bad. Oh, and again, I had my 'proof that it wasn't just me' - I'd been concerned that I might get 'stuck' in hypnosis at some point when I would need to focus outside me (like talking to a doctor) (granted, getting 'stuck' is not something that really happens, I was just being paranoid), so I'd developed a prompt to pull me out of it if needed. It worked beautifully. Every time anyone touched my knee (the prompt), I was in screaming agony. Take their hand off my knee, and it was like hitting a switch - pain gone. I highly recommend NOT pulling yourself out of hypnosis while in labor. (I guess that should have been a no-brainer! Sigh, live and learn.) Oh, and B was 9 lbs 6 oz and had a 15.5. inch head. BIG baby, no pain.

So, after that one, I swore I'd never ever give birth without hypnosis again. Why have pain if you don't have to (not even a 6 of 10), and I could be pain-free AND not take even the slightest risks with medical interventions. BEST of both worlds, IMHO. I can feel every detail, remember every detail, and take no risks. WOO! Sign me up! I was all set to give it another go, and then I found out I was pregnant with TWINS.

Twins requires some additional work - you really have to be prepared for a c-section, even a crash c-section. So I did hypnotherapy to help me adjust and be prepared. We did hypnotherapy to get the babies to get into good position for the birth (they complied, then changed their minds during labor, sigh). I also ended up using it to manage the INTENSE pelvic pain that is not uncommon in twin pregnancies. By 30 weeks, I was using it nightly to put out the fire in my pelvic bones (it literally felt like someone had poured kerosene on me and lit me on fire). It helped a lot, and I was practicing daily (unlike the 2-3x/week of the previous pregnancy). When I went into labor this time, it was a total cake walk - no pain, and no effort required to maintain the no pain! I have pictures of me grinning like a nutcase ON the gurney, in the OR, minutes before my first daugther was born (she was most of the way down already). They were both breech, which usually means c-section, but labor was so quick, and they flipped to breech less than an hour before they were born, so there was no time to do anything but catch. My cervix tore, and I had a breech extraction (OB reached up and grabbed Rowan by the feet and pulled her out), but the most pain I had was their elbows and chins going by, and that was about the level of stepping on a small toy barefoot (like a lego) - enough to make you say 'ow ow ow ow ow' and hop around (okay, I wasn't hopping...), but that's about it. The entire labor was so easy, despite the contractions being absolute textbook intensity, that I turned off the HB CD that I had, because it was annoying me, and instead just chitchatted with my doula, mom, DH, and the nurses.

I am done having kids, but I recommend hypnotherapy as a pain management method - can't say ENOUGH about how wonderful it was, how perfectly it worked. It took some up-front effort, I had to plan for it, and practice, and work at it, but it paid off a million times. I ended up with a pain free labor, a very easy birth (a few seconds of 'ow ow ow', as my mom said 'I've made more noise when I dropped a book on my foot'), and walking out of there with no side effects, no worries about blood pressure or other impacts from pain meds... marvelous. People tend to think that it is just for 'some' folk, but honestly, it works that well for 60% of the population, and nearly that well for another 20-30% (enough to not want meds, even if it isn't entirely comfy), and the rest are situations that medical help is needed anyway. Not to mention that medical help (pain meds) can still be used at any time if you need them! Win-win, no road blocks, and all alternatives still available. Pretty great method. (You can do it with tapes/CDs, or a teacher - I like having a teacher, but not everyone does.)

[missing]

Heather was a water birth - I cannot explain just how the water helped, but her birth was SO much easier on me physically then Owen's was - even though it was more intense (and a 90 minute labour will do that no matter what pain management technique you use I imagine).

The water really helps to provide something along the line of a constant counter pressure all over - I was on hands and knees until after she crowned, so my bottom and belly were both under water. My DH provided pressure on my lower back while my doula mopped my forehead and talked to me.

I think also, just being at home, surrounded by what was familiar and comfortable to me helped to reduce my pain as well.

[Maribeth]

Any other comments before we archive the thread? I know you all have lots of ideas so share away.

THANKS!
Mari

I used hypnosis, the Hypnobabies Program for my last birth and it was a great tool for having a more comfortable birth!

[Sudonk]

I had three unmedicated and completely comfortable births using self-hypnosis. I took a HypnoBirthing class during my first pregnancy, but didn't really find it to be complete or very helpful. However, I was able to find some good supplemental hypnosis materials that allowed me to have an enjoyable birth.

With my second and third births, I learned Hypnobabies using the Hypnobabies Home Study program, and I can not say enough about how wonderful it was! I learned so much about childbirth and pregnancy and my birthing options! Then on top of all that, I learned such powerful self-hypnosis techniques that I was able to wander through my day as if nothing was happening, spend time working on my taxes and sleep soundly for 4 hours during my birth, before deciding it was time to go to the birth center. I arrived fully dilated, and just waited for about 3 hours until my water broke before pushing my baby out in 6 minutes. I couldn't believe how enjoyable it was to give birth using the Hypnobabies techniques! I was relaxed and chatty as long as I wanted to be, and then easily focused and tuned out the rest of the world when that was what I wanted. The midwives didn't even want to check my dilation when I arrived, because I didn't appear to be in labor at all! They were shocked when they realized I was already 10 cm dilated.

My third birth was even easier. I again used Hypnobabies, and was calm and focused the whole time. I really wanted a water birth, so I actually curled up on the couch and used my skills to keep my baby inside until the tub was ready. My body began feeling pushy with the birthing waves 19 minutes after I got in the tub, and that went on through 2 birthing waves and I felt my baby fall past the cervix and move down the birth canal. With the next birthing wave, I pushed for about 25 seconds, and out came my baby! (I only know it was 25 seconds because I timed it on the video.) It was amazing, and the whole birth was only 3 hours long, despite me "holding him in" for about 45 minutes while waiting for the tub to be ready!

I recommend Hypnobabies to anyone who seems remotely interested in having a truly enjoyable birth. So does my husband. He was so scared of seeing me in pain, and really wanted to get an epidural to avoid that. But in the end, he got to see me birth all three of our children without ever experiencing pain, thanks to learning self-hypnosis! I wouldn't even consider giving birth without Hypnobabies.

I think that both of my labors were intense and painful, but they both were less than 7 hours. So i always tell my self that i did pretty good considering how much child birth really hurts it's really unexplainible. But with both of my labors i used an epidural.But with my second son it work for about 20 minutes then when i did hit the point where i was ready to give birth for some strange reason it just wore off on me. I felt every single pain and it was just very horrible.