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Questions and Answers

Q. I would like to know about the new trend of painless child birth in the US.

A. I am not sure by your question if you are discussing the incredible rise in the requests for epidural anesthesia, or true painless childbirth.

The rise in the epidural request rate is due to a few factors:

• Women's fear of birth.
• The encouragement of the medical establishment.
• Peer pressure.

While the epidural is great pain relief it does have many drawbacks (increase in interventions, slowly labor, postpartum back ache, to name very few.). I try to encourage women to take a balanced approach to pain relief in labor. There are other options and you need to make decisions not based on fear.

Painless childbirth. That's a tough one. I would like to say that there is no such thing, but there are a few women (about 10% of all birthing women) who will say that they did not experience any pain in birth. While another 10% will say it was the most horrible thing ever. As you see most people fall someplace in the middle.

You have to remember where the sensations of birth come from: stretching cervix, baby descending, muscular pain (uterus), possible procedures (IVs, monitoring, epidural), and fear.

My recommendation is that everyone take a balanced childbirth class. Learn all of your options and definitely practice. Even if you plan on using an epidural most women will not get it in the parking lot as they would wish. Find some practical ways to deal with the pain of birth.

Cyndi Klausing, RN, ACCE, has been a childbirth educator and breastfeeding counselor for over 18 years. She currently works as a newborn nursery nurse and is the mother of four sons.

Cyndi will answer your questions on fertility, pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and babies. Her advice does not take the place of your practitioner. Personal answers will not always be possible.