Pain Relief In Childbirth

There is a strong message in childbirth right now … ‘You should have a natural birth’. You’re not only given the message that using pain relief will prevent you from having a natural birth and therefore a positive or empowered birth. You’re told that your baby is put at risk by medical interventions … such as medical pain relief. Once you use an epidural, gas or pethidine in childbirth, you’re a failure … right? Nonsense … childbirth pain HURTS and many of us feel we need pain relief. Even when you use gas, have pethidine or an epidural you can still use your Birthing Better childbirth skills to manage the pain during contractions.
The long and short of this post is simple. Some Birthing Better families used pain relief in childbirth and still used their Birthing Better skills. They just separated these two issues. They used their Birthing Better birth and birth-coaching skills because doing so helped them stay more involved and engaged in their baby’s birth. The other issue was simple … if the pain got overwhelming even when using skills then they wanted some relief from the natural occurring pain in childbirth. That’s fine.
You can use breathing and relaxation skills from Birthing Better Childbirth Preparation Online Course to help manage your childbirth pain.
You can also use these important childbirth skills:
- Learn how to stay open inside your pregnant/birthing pelvis
- Discover the secret of coping with labour pain
- Prepare your birth canal to prevent birth trauma
And don’t forget these birth skills:
- How to work as a team with your birth coach.
- How to work alongside all the childbirth assessments, monitoring, and procedures.
Active or passive?
Epidurals, gas, and pethidine do not need to make you more passive to childbirth. Just because medical pain relief is available does not mean you should not learn how to manage your pain during childbirth. You might be able to avoid using medical intervention to deal with your pain if you learn skills to manage it on your own. Using medical pain relief during childbirth by no means makes your birth worse or less ‘natural’, but even if you require medical pain relief your childbirth skills can make the pain much easier to cope with.
Your Birthing Better Childbirth Preparation Online resource will teach you during your pregnancy how to manage the naturally occurring pain of labor contractions … as a pregnant/birthing woman. The resource also teaches your husband, partner, friend or relative who will be your birth coach, birth support or birth helper EXACTLY how to help you stay on top of the contractions.
Manage well
Many expectant parents have found the Birthing Better childbirth skills sufficient to manage labor pains. Without the right birth skills, the pain of labor might just seem too much. With birth skills, you’ll know what to ‘do’ and how to manage the pain rather than feel that birth is ‘happening to you’. You’ll be thrilled at your own capability and the ability of your birth coach to truly help you.
We know using medical pain relief in childbirth is the trend as is having an elective Cesarean. You can still totally enjoy preparing your pregnant body to become a birthing body even if you plan on using medical pain relief. You can use the Birthing Better childbirth skills in whatever birth you have … including using pain relief or having an elective Cesarean. This is the birth of your baby. You always want to work with your baby’s efforts to be born.
‘Yippy for The Pink Kit Package. We got through labour without pain relief but we were surely planning an epidural. When the nurse asked if I wanted one now, I said ‘No’. Imagine that!
Clare and Benji D …
‘I used gas along with my directed breathing techniques because I wasn’t certain I could cope. Next time, who knows.’
Luca N …
Birthing Better Childbirth Preparation skills awaken your ability to respond to childbirth pain rather than react.
‘I used gas and pethidine in my first two births, and an epidural in my third and The Pink Kit in my fourth. I finally DID IT!’.
Emma and Charles G …
Birthing Better skills were developed by hundreds of fathers and mothers and our online birthing classes are housed in Common Knowledge Trust