why we feel pain in labor and pain relief methods

[Smoke Jaguar]

Love it You'll make it do-able!

[blue daisy]

Hey Diva

what a wonderful question...I love the curly ones

everyone works at different levels at every stage of life...pregnancy just being one of them...your body adjusts to the level of hormones that is 'average' for you and works from there....this is why so many women find HypnoBirthing a wonderful too, because you personalise it for your needs, and it becomes an unconcious response (with practice of course)...and we do need adrenaline...Ive got loads of it to diva, but have learnt to use it in a positive fashion

when I do post the HypnoBirthing blurb, just so you know that I teach form a practitioners perspective (BirthSkills) and a personal perspective...and having used the BirthSkills I still did suffer AND and PND with my 2nd pregnancy but it was so much easier to work through it all...so I really do understand

xx yogababy

[Smoke Jaguar]

Diva, I just wanted to clarify something:
Adrenaline pumps when the parasympathetic nervous system is working - that's your fight or flight response. Certain body functions go into a 'freeze', diverting blood flow to only the vital organs so that you can theoretically 'flee' the danger that you're telling your body you are in. Yogababy mentioned this in her post about hormones, I'm just going over it in terms of the parasympathetic nervous system and the function it performs.
Endorphins are released within the sympathetic nervous system, and because the parasympathetic and sympathetic never operate simultaneously, never the twain ought to meet, so to speak. The sympathetic nervous system gets your digestion going, blood flowing etc.
During sex and childbirth (funny how they're related, but pregnant women are not allowed to be sexy!!) both systems do a little dance where they take it in turns to work. It's endorphins for most of it, then right at the end (orgasm and baby expulsion) adrenaline kicks in to finish off the job. And you don't need to work on getting the adrenaline working, it will happen by itself if there's no drug intervention (same for endorphins - drugs interfere with their production by replacing them, it's like sending in drones so that the real thing has no job anymore cos the drones take over). The endorphins, in an age where childbirth stories are riddled with fear and horror messages, need a bit more coaxing and training to come out - hence CalmBirthing and HypnoBirthing and preggy yoga practice etc!
I just thought I'd give you a bigger picture of the adrenaline an endorphin exchange, so that you can have more faith that no matter how big that gland, it can't hurt you while endorphins are playing...kind of like sharks won't hang around where dolphins are, if that helps!
Geez, second year psych has really come in handy!

[sunshine_sieben]

Thank you so much for this series of articles.
My midwife suggested I read the book gentle birth, gentle mothering by Sarah J Buckley when I was pregnant with my first child. I loved her explanations on the role of hormones during birth and the detailed description of what actually happens during the various stages of labour. It gave me so much confidence. I had a very positive attitude to birthing even before I fell pregnant. Despite having been told lots of "horror stories". Probably due to the general attitude of my family to trust in nature and minimise the use of medication (a little unexpected seeing that my father is a surgeon). But knowing the actual workings of my body during labour enforced this general attitude and I found it quite reassuring.

For those who asked about a natural third stage: it is entirely possible. Mine was natural and it probably took 20 minutes from when my daughter was born to when the placenta was expelled. There was no rush. Nobody got anxious waiting for it to happen. I was busy bonding with my daughter until it happened.

I guess, even if you don't do a particular hypnobirthing class, knowing the kind of information as is posted here, has a similar effect. I never did hypnobirthing, but at no stage did I feel the need for pain relief. It didn't even occur to me. Of course it was intense. But I didn't feel it as pain. To me, it was more like the feeling you get when you push past your limits when exercising. You wouldn't think to have pain relief when running a marathon, would you? I really felt like I was giving into my body and just let it do what it needed to do. I was along for the ride.

Reading your posts made me so excited to be experiencing this all again very soon. I can't wait.

If you ever publish that book of yours, i will most likely be buying it too. Even if I won't have any more babies after this one, I would buy it to give it to pregnant friends of mine. I do think every pregnant woman should have this type of information.

Actually, on a side note. My mother really didn't understand why I was so interested in gettinng all this birth info. She did for a brief while when pregnant with her first and she found it really unhelpful. After talking to her in more detail I realised that the type of info she got was all negative (how horribly painful, scary and dangerous birth is). I give her a lot of credit for trusting her instincts and ignoring this info. My point is: The more books and information is out there on what birth can and should be like, the better. Maybe one day it will become mainstream again and not something mainly for us "alternative birth nuts" :-)

All the best, Sasa
xox

[Taurean]

This thread has been incredibly inspiring and I'm even more determined than ever to birth my first child naturally. I watched Ricky Lake's documentary 'The Business of Being Born' last night and although I knew a lot already (much thanks to Belly Belly!) I found it incredibly interesting and feel I'm even more prepared to go natural.

I just find it so sad that something so natural is often viewed as 'crazy' and I'm sick of people judging me already and telling me I'm trying to be a 'hero' because I'm opting to TRY to birth naturally. I have nothing against the drugs at all and hey, I may just need them or other forms of intervention but my inital plan is to have faith in my body and just let it do what it was born to do. Why am I trying to be a 'hero' for feeling that way? I have no doubt it will be painful, I don't know that I will be able to handle the pain and I cannot predict what the birth will be like but I CAN make the call now to just TRY and go natural. And you know what, I'm sure I can do it

[BeautifulMadness]

what a great thread, really interesting they dont tell u that do they.

[~Trish~]

Hi Natalie! I haven't seen you around for ages, I hope you are well

And yes, I agree with everyone else, this thread is fantastic. I give it lots of credit for helping me have an awesome second labour

[smiles4u]

I was so glad to have had the injection ... as only moments after the injection my placenta expelled ... it truely felt like my birth wasn't over until the placenta was out

It was the strangest feeling like a huge soft blob coming out (it was an easy part of labour) !!

Apart from that i had no other drugs with my 1st birth at 40 years of age

[Smoke Jaguar]

I was so glad to have had the injection ... as only moments after the injection my placenta expelled ... it truely felt like my birth wasn't over until the placenta was out

No, it wouldn't, because the birth of the placenta IS part of the birth - it's the 'third stage' of birth!! It does come out naturally, in most cases, and even if it doesn't take the 20 seconds or so that hospitals allow for this to happen (ok, I'm exaggerating!) it is still a normal birth if it comes out an hour later, all by itself
My third stage was managed because my midwife thought I was bleeding too much (in the water it was ambiguous). I'm not going to second guess her, and it's already happened, so next time I'm going to ask my attending midwife (cos I'll be at home for the next!) if she's familiar with what normal blood loss looks like in a waterbirth before the birth, so that we both know what we're working with and when to pull out the synto.
Anyway, I've since watched Orgasmic Birth and realised that I had one of those If you haven't seen it, it's not about screaming in raptures of pleasure during birth; it's about undisturbed birth (before you get all excited and think I'm saying every woman should feel like she's actually having an orgasm...though some do have just this )

[blue daisy]

hey spice
I certainly do remember you
ahh the book is still in manuscript form...and for now is staying that way
my yoga book is still out there though

hey tobily
yes a new name...better explains me I think, but it wasnt by choice
thanks for missing me Ive been busy with all things birth

[Ginger]

what's coming up next?!?!?!? natural pain relief? i need this as my ob asked me if i'm not going to use an epidural then what am i going to use instead?

[blue daisy]

ok to finish off the thread topic...

so I have talked about the uterus, the importance of hormones, the outline of labor and birth and why we feel pain...now natural pain relief

again Kelly has a few different articles for further info

Natural methods of pain relief on a number of factors

1. gate control theory...I have already put this in the thread (somewhere)...but basically you can shut the 'gate' to the cervix nerve impulses in the spinal cord (before they reach the brain and are interpretted as a painful or intense senstation) by stimulating other nerve impulses that flood the 'gate'...these nerve impulses can be triggered by light touch/massage/counter pressure to the skin...in particular the lower back/sacrum...TENS (Kelly has info in the articles)

2. endorphin release...our wonderful natural pain relief...is encouraged by feelings of safety, security, calm etc...so familiar smells (aromatherapy), sounds (music) and regular relaxed breathing (just simple in and out...no holding the breath or tensing the breath)

3. distraction...flooding the brain with other sensory stimulation to process...vocalising/chanting (which also encourages great breathing), rhythmic patting (not 'smacking' your partner on a surface or rocking (pelvic rock), again music, key words that your support person uses to help refocus you during a contraction

I will pop this up...and write one on HypnoBirthing now

xx yogababy

[blue daisy]

HypnoBirthing (im talking in particular about BirthSkills) is a method of learning to relax the conscious mind and release fears surrounding childbirth/pregnancy/mothering, to allow you to work with your body to birth your beautiful baby.

It is sooooo very important to choose and empowered support team...fearless, supportive, encouraging, nurturing...

HypnoBirthing is a different expereince for every woman...every birth. For some it may mean no pain...others it will mean an intense experience but no fear...birth is very personal, and to expect the same result with every labor and birth would not be realistic

Natural methods of pain relief work in conjunction with a calm and relaxed mother, a supportive and nurturing support team/partner and a caregiver who will simply sit and observe, wait and listen, guide and encourage

i hope this helps...please feel free to ask any questions...and thanks for showing interest, I really enjoyed writing up these posts

xx yogababy

[Smoke Jaguar]

Can't tell you how freaky that is, yogababy - just as I read your post I was listening to an online lecture...about gate control theory!
Got a wriggly kid who is NOT helping me write an essay...

[diva-n-dan]

Thanks for all this wonderful information yogababy and mayaness, it's quite hard sometimes to get an objective view of a whole range of things when you're living with disabilities, thank you for helping me stay positive ...

I have two illnesses GAD, and a personality disorder ... (just to tease Mayaness, it's the rarest one , wonder if she can guess) ... so because my brain isn't wired the way everyone elses is, it sometimes throws up little pickadillioes that need dealing with in a special way.

I have never taken drugs for either one, I'm certainly not against them, but I feel that they are a "bandaid solution" for my own problems and instead have slogged through 4yrs of pyschotherapy (so sorry Mayaness again, you're unknowingly teaching someone to "suck eggs" )

So I'd be very interested in hearing all about Hypnotherapy, no doubt I've used some of the techniques in a different guise (I lurve distraction therapy in all it's forms) ... and I suppose I want to hear more about it to make sure that if we did go down that road it's the right "key" to unlock the complicated and messy lock that is my brain ... ...

Phew! Why do I now feel like I've been on the Dr Phil show??? Or perhaps Jerry Springer???

**wanders off to find a chair to throw** ...

[Smoke Jaguar]

In THAT case, Diva, you've got the theory already, so I reckon your pesky adrenal gland can still be quieted with a goodly dose of practice with breathing and visualisation techniques!
Also, have you tried Emotional Freedom Technique? It works on your meridians whilst you unblock inhibitions and fears - worked for me Granted, I didn't have any condition that could be found in the DSM IV...that I know of...
(ETA: what I have posted thus far is paraphrasing what I learned and put into practice from my HypnoBirthing classes in April last year...and have since been confirmed by my study in my Grad Dip since I returned to school )
speaking of which, I'll get my hands on that diagnostic manual and see if I can find which disorder you have been diagnosed with!!
Hijacking thread now, will stop, sorry!

[Ginger]

yogababy- my ob was telling me about the TENS machine, but then she said you can't use them and use water- i'm a big shower person so decided this wasn't a great idea. do you think TENS is really helpful?

[Heaven]

Schizoid Personality disorder?
Avoidant Personality disorder?
I think they're the least common.