Hey everyone
Just for my own interest, i was wondering how many of you have heard of, or even used Sterile Water Injections for the relief of backpain in labour? For those of you who haven't heard of this, it is a form of pain relief used widely in the Scandinavian countries, and with which alot of positive literature surrounds. It is a very affective and very safe form of relief from back pain in labour. It works extremely well in posterior labours and hopefully diverts the want for an epidural thus resulting in a more active labour and avoiding the whole 'posterior position, back pain, epidural, unable to move off the bed or off your back which prevents babe turning resulting in complicated labour/birth experiece' viscious cycle! The injections are administered by midwives - usually 2 midwives simultaneously, a small amount of sterile water is administered subdermally into 4 spots on the lower back. Apparently there is an intense stinging feeling at the injection sites which lasts for around 20 seconds and that is about as bad as it gets. The theory is that the injections work by 'shutting the gate' on the nerve pathways involved with the pain from the posterior position of baby.
We have just started doing this where i work and we had a woman on Friday who's babe was posterior and she was experiencing back pain of 8 out of 10. She had the injections and almost immediately the pain was 0 out of 10. I'm so excited about this! It's not a drug, so there is no risk of harm to the woman or the baby, it doesn't require any extra monitoring, it doesn't require medical input, it doesn't restrict the woman and it works!!!
So has anyone ever had these injections? Would love to hear any personal accounts of the effects