My husband and I are both shiatsu therapists so we were keen to see what shiatsu (acupressure massage) could do to reduce labour pain. I was pretty annoyed to be overdue – I really wanted to give birth in a birth centre or even at home, rather than in hospital (let’s just say the hospital tour was grim, and so were the tales of recently postpartum pals). But on the eighth day after my due date, I had period-like cramps from midafternoon, which faded away in the evening. I assumed it was nothing and we had a normal evening of eating dinner and watching TV, and went to sleep at about 11-30pm (if we'd only known, we'd have turned in a lot earlier!).
About 1-30am I started feeling mild contractions about 10 minutes apart, and after the sixth figured I should get up and see if the TENS machine worked. I can really vouch for it; I did not think it would work but it really helped a lot. My contractions then became 5 minutes apart, so we phoned the birth centre. By the time we arrived there they were coming 3 minutes or so apart, and that's more-or-less how they stayed for the next 15 hours.
We ( I say ‘we’, but really it was all my hubby’s hard work) used shiatsu throughout my labour (I was a bit busy doing some other hard work). I found that a combination of TENS machine, Entonox (gas-and-air) and strong accurate pressure on points on the foot or on the sacrum was necessary for each contraction. There was a very noticeable (50%) decrease in pain on application of the pressure, which had to be tirelessly applied by hubby’s fingers and thumbs. I think most dads probably get to take a break or two during their partner's labour…but not this one! We also missed three meals, though he fed me mini chocs and apple juice through a straw.) I used the birth pool for four hours while I dilated from 5 to 8 cm, which was great – I obviously could not use the TENS machine while in the water, but the effect of the water was equivalent to the TENS machine. Plus it was easier to move around, and had a refreshing effect so I felt clean. Entonox was also very helpful.
Despite tales of how my personality would suddenly undergo a violent change during the transition from first to second stage, we didn’t really notice it, possibly because I also had pethidine around then. It didn't make me feel queasy luckily, just a bit spaced out, which did help. I think that's also when my waters broke naturally, with a strange popping sound in the middle of a contraction. I had insisted they not be broken artificially in case that led to a ‘cascade of interventions’, ending in an epidural. But by the time I was fully dilated I was too tired to push effectively, sadly. The Hungry Mouth was finally born with the help of a kiwi (ventouse) suction cup as she was still positioned rather high after 2 hours of pushing - sadly with a small episiotomy. Incidentally I accidentally left the TENS machine on full blast all through the stitching, and I'm sure it helped a lot!
I agreed to the syntocinon drip, and the placenta came out within a couple of minutes. The drip took about an hour to run through, which seemed a long time to have a needle in the back of my hand, but we weren't really paying too much attention because we were admiring our baby and giving her her first feed of colostrum. The midwife helped me get her latched, and advised me to stroke her ear if she lost concentration on slurping - a handy hint! After that another midwife came to help me shower and hubby got to dress Samantha Ruth in her very first clothes.
I do seem to have used a lot of different methods of pain relief …but my impression is that my pain was very well managed, all the methods we used were useful and needed, and I never felt that I couldn't cope with the pain, just that I was getting very tired and wanted it to be all over by the time it came to pushing. I had wanted to avoid all interventions, but particularly an epidural, so I feel that all went pretty well on the whole. You just can't plan everything in advance!!
I was given a painkiller after birth, so the first night I was not in pain at all, and it was a wonderful night, in spite of the fact that hubby had to go home without us. I did not sleep much, but I didn't really want to – I felt so comfy and whenever I looked up at the bassinet I could see my brand-new baby. In the middle of the night I was concerned by the snuffling noises she was making (totally normal, but I didn't know that yet), and called a midwife, who kindly helped me change her for the first time. Meconium was everywhere so I was glad I'd packed extra baby clothes for the hospital!
About 1-30am I started feeling mild contractions about 10 minutes apart, and after the sixth figured I should get up and see if the TENS machine worked. I can really vouch for it; I did not think it would work but it really helped a lot. My contractions then became 5 minutes apart, so we phoned the birth centre. By the time we arrived there they were coming 3 minutes or so apart, and that's more-or-less how they stayed for the next 15 hours.
We ( I say ‘we’, but really it was all my hubby’s hard work) used shiatsu throughout my labour (I was a bit busy doing some other hard work). I found that a combination of TENS machine, Entonox (gas-and-air) and strong accurate pressure on points on the foot or on the sacrum was necessary for each contraction. There was a very noticeable (50%) decrease in pain on application of the pressure, which had to be tirelessly applied by hubby’s fingers and thumbs. I think most dads probably get to take a break or two during their partner's labour…but not this one! We also missed three meals, though he fed me mini chocs and apple juice through a straw.) I used the birth pool for four hours while I dilated from 5 to 8 cm, which was great – I obviously could not use the TENS machine while in the water, but the effect of the water was equivalent to the TENS machine. Plus it was easier to move around, and had a refreshing effect so I felt clean. Entonox was also very helpful.
Despite tales of how my personality would suddenly undergo a violent change during the transition from first to second stage, we didn’t really notice it, possibly because I also had pethidine around then. It didn't make me feel queasy luckily, just a bit spaced out, which did help. I think that's also when my waters broke naturally, with a strange popping sound in the middle of a contraction. I had insisted they not be broken artificially in case that led to a ‘cascade of interventions’, ending in an epidural. But by the time I was fully dilated I was too tired to push effectively, sadly. The Hungry Mouth was finally born with the help of a kiwi (ventouse) suction cup as she was still positioned rather high after 2 hours of pushing - sadly with a small episiotomy. Incidentally I accidentally left the TENS machine on full blast all through the stitching, and I'm sure it helped a lot!
I agreed to the syntocinon drip, and the placenta came out within a couple of minutes. The drip took about an hour to run through, which seemed a long time to have a needle in the back of my hand, but we weren't really paying too much attention because we were admiring our baby and giving her her first feed of colostrum. The midwife helped me get her latched, and advised me to stroke her ear if she lost concentration on slurping - a handy hint! After that another midwife came to help me shower and hubby got to dress Samantha Ruth in her very first clothes.
I do seem to have used a lot of different methods of pain relief …but my impression is that my pain was very well managed, all the methods we used were useful and needed, and I never felt that I couldn't cope with the pain, just that I was getting very tired and wanted it to be all over by the time it came to pushing. I had wanted to avoid all interventions, but particularly an epidural, so I feel that all went pretty well on the whole. You just can't plan everything in advance!!
I was given a painkiller after birth, so the first night I was not in pain at all, and it was a wonderful night, in spite of the fact that hubby had to go home without us. I did not sleep much, but I didn't really want to – I felt so comfy and whenever I looked up at the bassinet I could see my brand-new baby. In the middle of the night I was concerned by the snuffling noises she was making (totally normal, but I didn't know that yet), and called a midwife, who kindly helped me change her for the first time. Meconium was everywhere so I was glad I'd packed extra baby clothes for the hospital!
No comments:
Post a Comment