Childbirth: Advancement in pain management

On earth, all living creature reproduce to multiply their breed. Childbirth is an exciting as well as fearful event in every woman’s life. Many of them doubt their ability to cope with this great event in their lives. At this time, the mothers need lot of help for the realization and acceptance of child birth as a normal physiological phenomenon. Childbirth is considered to be critical period for mothers. It is the one and only means of existence and continuation of the human race on earth. The phase of pregnancy is laborious, delightful, tiring and thrilling for the mother as well as the whole family. Women suffer from several physical and mental anxieties and ailments through the pre and post-natal period.

Women experiences labour pain when they develop regular painful uterine contractions, which are accompanied by changes of their cervix, these primarily being effacement and dilation. While childbirth is generally experienced as painful, some women have painless labours. The occurrence and duration of these contractions differs from individual to individual. The inception of labour may be unexpected or gradual.

A woman is said to be in "active labour" when contractions have become regular in frequency (3-4 in 10 minutes) and about 60 seconds in duration. The labour may begin with a rupture of the amniotic sac, the paired amnion and chorion ("breaking of the water"). Transition is often regarded as the most tough and intense for the mother. In the second period of labour, the baby is expelled from the womb through the vagina by both the uterine contractions and by the additional maternal efforts. The childbirth may be normal or some woman may develop complicacy due to biological or drug effect.

Some over conscious women prefer anaesthesia to reduce the pain associated with childbirth. Natural childbirth is becoming more accepted because women are responsive and concerned that the anaesthesia and medication given to them is quickly transported across the placenta to the unborn baby. Normal childbirth is also good for normal health of woman.

Today, with the advancement of medical science, effective pain management lessens the severity of stress and pain experienced by females at the time of child birth. Earlier, when childbirth used to occur in home setting, some untrained lady was responsible for managing all the issues and also it was dependent on her skill to deliver baby or help expecting women in her childbirth.

But heavy dose of anaesthesia at the time of childbirth or women who were medicated had difficulty in communicating and difficulty in pushing. Gynaecologists often use Forceps and cesarean sections to complete the birth.

Ways of pain relief during child birth are as under:

-      Local anaesthesia as recommended by treating doctor.

-      Epidural: It is administered by an anaesthesiologist during labour to reduce uneasiness or pain. 

 Pain relieving medicines can be injected into a vein or a muscle to lessen the impact of pain or labour discomfort. These medications do not completely stop pain.

It is a reality that women have frightened feeling and sometimes stressed in delivering baby due to extreme level of pain.  But medical advancement brought myriads of procedures and different medications that woman can take during labour and childbirth.

Important: This article is an expression of writer on the basis of experience and available information. Writer is not responsible for any disagreement