Know Your Options When It Comes to Labor Pain Medication

By Barbara Smith Decker

One of the best ways to reduce pain during labor and delivery is to prepare for it. Knowing what to expect – and understanding your options for managing childbirth pain – will help you feel more relaxed and empowered when the time comes.

The amount of pain a woman experiences during labor depends on the baby’s size and position, the mother’s pelvic dimensions, strength of contractions, cultural and personal expectations and levels of fear and anxiety. Each woman’s labor is different and how she experiences pain is different.

Pain management begins with a positive attitude, knowledge and motivation,” says Dr. William Camann, co-author of the upcoming book, Easy Labor. “The best way to approach labor is with an open mind to ensure the safest outcome for the baby.”

Currently, the most popular approaches to managing pain during childbirth are coping methods (such as labor-coaching, meditation, hypnosis, spirituality or other “natural” methods) and medications (including anesthetics and/or narcotics).

Since the advent of ether 150 years ago, medications have been used to lessen sensation by numbing parts of the body with anesthetics and reduce anxiety and pain perception using narcotics. The choice of drug and its dosage is based on the risks and benefits to both mother and baby.

Research shows that medications are safe when administered at the proper time and dosage during the labor process. Epidural anesthesia, the most commonly used form of labor pain relief in the United States, is currently used in almost two-thirds of labors. Narcotics may be added to an epidural anesthetic to make it take effect faster, last longer and afford the woman more mobility because less anesthesia is needed.

Trends in Pain Medication

As research, technology and drug use have advanced, a number of trends have emerged:

Complementing traditional “natural” childbirth techniques with pain-relief medications has become increasingly mainstream. Breathing and relaxation techniques, continuous labor support from a trained partner, movement and positioning, laboring or birthing in water, massage and hypnosis are among the traditional and most popular non-drug methods of pain management.

Reduced dosage of pain medications allows greater motor function in the legs, ability to push and smoother progression of labor. One example of this lesser dosage, commonly referred to as the “walking epidural,” gives women enough mobility to change position in bed – but, despite its moniker, not enough muscle control to walk.