A new way to ease labor pain

When a patient decides to use nitrous oxide during labor, the birth center nurses show her how to inhale it from a handheld facemask and how to time doses for optimal results.

Reduces discomfort and anxiety

“While it doesn’t completely eliminate pain, nitrous oxide can lessen the patient’s perception of pain and help her to relax and conserve her energy. Ideally, the gas should be inhaled before a contraction begins so the relaxing effect is at its strongest at the peak of the contraction,” says Marcy Stapleton, RN, nursing lead in the birth center. The effects of nitrous oxide typically wear off within five minutes of inhaling a dose.

Enables women to walk during labor

Nitrous oxide is safe for the pregnant woman and her unborn baby. It does not slow down the progression of labor or make the infant less able to bond or breastfeed after birth. Another advantage of nitrous oxide is that women can change positions and even get out of bed between doses to move around with assistance from the nursing staff. Doing so can actually help move the labor process along.

Side effects from using nitrous oxide may include dizziness, nausea and vomiting, but these are uncommon. There are also a few situations in which a woman would not be a good candidate to use nitrous oxide during labor.

GRHS obstetrics providers will discuss pain management options during the patient’s prenatal appointments and identify any risk factors that might prevent her from using nitrous oxide, such as a vitamin B12 deficiency or an inability to hold the mask.

Visit grhsonline.org/birth-center to learn more about features of our Best Beginnings Birth Center.

More ways to labor comfortably

Non-medication options

Hydrotherapy. Sitting in a jetted birthing tub filled with warm water for the middle stages of labor can reduce discomfort by relaxing muscles.

Aromatherapy. Diffusers with essential oils circulate scents that encourage relaxation and ease muscle tension.

Water block injections. Nurses may inject sterile water into four spots in the laboring woman’s low back to reduce her perception of back pain.

Massage. A gentle back massage – at the patient’s direction – can help reduce discomfort.

Music. By altering pain perception, music can ease pain and stress. For some women, it also provides a distraction and lifts the spirits.

Additional medication options

Intravenous narcotic. Nurses inject medicine directly into the patient’s bloodstream for all-over pain relief.

Intrathecal narcotic. Also called a saddle block, this is a single dose of narcotic medication that a nurse anesthetist injects into the patient’s lower back. It numbs the buttocks, perineum and vaginal area for about two hours.

Epidural analgesia. Nurse anesthetists inject medication into a catheter placed into the epidural space in the lower back to block the patient’s sensation of pain in the lower body. The catheter will remain in place until after the baby is born.

Patient-controlled epidural analgesia. An epidural set-up that enables the patient to push a button and self-administer an extra dose of medication as needed to maintain good control of pain in the lower body as labor progresses.

Combined spinal epidural analgesia. An anesthesia technique in which a nurse anesthetist uses a catheter placed in the patient’s lower back to deliver pain medication into two different spaces near the spine. It provides very rapid onset of continuous pain relief in the lower body.