Pain relief during labor is a personal choice. You can try any combination of the following methods. Whether you choose to follow a particular breathing routine during labor or just need to do some low vocalizations to help you through the more intense contractions, focusing on your breathing can help you manage the pain. Being in water has been found to be particularly effective in the first stage of labor. It can help relieve both pain and anxiety.
If you have access to a moveable showerhead, aiming warm water directly onto the lower back may feel especially pleasant. Many different types of massage can help manage pain during labor.
Foot, hand, back, and shoulder rubs may all appeal to you. One study from found that a minute massage each hour during labor helped alleviate pain and was even associated with shorter labor. Additionally, perineal massage can help protect and prepare the perineum for the stretching involved in birthing a baby.
In addition to massage, many women enjoy pressure being strategically placed on parts of their body to help counteract the discomforts they may be feeling. Music can lower stress and blood pressure.
It can also improve your mood! But can it really help with pain during labor? Yes — a large meta-analysis found that music interventions helped alleviate pain and anxiety during labor. Guided imagery, hypnotic tracks , and other visuals can all help relax a mother in labor and relieve pain.
Walking, rocking on a birthing ball , or even slow dancing with your partner can help labor progress and relieve some of the discomforts you may be feeling.
Experimenting with different positions, including sitting, standing, or squatting, may also help reduce pain. One study found squatting offered the most pain reduction, but you can experiment with what feels best for you. Research shows that having a doula present at your birth can lead to a better birth outcome.
Not sure where to find a doula? Start here. Many people have found some pain relief during labor by stimulating their lower back with a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation TENS unit.
Some hospitals even have TENS devices that you can borrow during labor! Intravenous IV narcotics offer some of the pain relief of an epidural for a more limited time.
As in the case of an epidural, nausea, headaches, drowsiness, and the transmission of medication to the baby are potential risks. For a woman seeking a brief reprieve from the intensity of birth, an IV narcotic can be a very appealing pain relief option. While you may have seen it during dental visits, in the United States nitrous oxide is less commonly used as a pain relief option during childbirth.
Nitrous oxide has been used for over a century and is generally considered safe for the mother and baby. The most common pain medication for birthing mothers in the United States, an epidural can relieve the pain a mother is feeling within 10 to 20 minutes.
First one, I had a non-working epidural, and it felt like I was being stabbed a million times with a dull knife from my butt to my stomach! With second and working epidural, labor felt like no big deal. It is that feeling — times 10, encompassing a circumference from the bottom of your rib cage to your tailbone. The discomfort gets worse and worse until it crests, then eases back down. Visualizing actual waves and then breathing through them helped me. Now, I had one induced with max doses of Pitocin and one totally [unmedicated].
No pain meds for either. It felt like my body was literally being torn in two directions. Blinding pain. I felt nothing for seven hours. Not a thing. Then for two hours after that, I felt noticeable tightening, but that was it. Broke water next, and things picked up, but it was never bad enough that I wanted an epidural. My recovery, even with a second-degree tear , wasn't awful. I have never [had] such intense paralyzing pain in my life.
With my second, I had a precipitous delivery, so there was no time for one. When it eventually comes time to push, many people say that they feel a great pressure in the rectal area, as if they need to have a bowel movement.
For many people the act of bearing down and pushing also feels like having an intense bowel movement. Pushing itself can be extremely tiring physically, like an incredibly physically demanding workout requiring intense focus. And despite the great deal of discomfort many people experience before getting ready to push, often the pushing can feel like it brings some relief.
The crowning can feel like burning, stabbing, stretching, tearing, or intense pressure on your groin area, vagina, and rectum as your baby gets ready to make their way out into the world. You may, however, still need to push out the placenta. Following this, you may need to get some stitches down below if you experienced any tearing as your baby was born.
Soreness and pain throughout your body — most notably in your groin, vagina, rectum, and your uterus — is common, as is bleeding from your vagina.
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