Is there a painless birth?

Natural childbirth, also known as normal delivery, is a biological way of childbirth and a common feature of all living things. Although natural childbirth has many benefits, it can cause great pain to the mother and even put her life in danger. With the development of modern medical technology, the risks of natural childbirth are getting smaller and smaller. But does modern medicine have painless childbirth? Let’s take a look at the explanation below.

What is commonly referred to as "painless childbirth" is medically called "labor analgesia", which is the use of various methods to reduce or even eliminate the pain during childbirth. Labor analgesia can prevent expectant mothers from experiencing the torture of pain, reduce the fear during childbirth and fatigue after childbirth, and allow them to rest during the first stage of labor, which is the longest stage. When the cervix is ​​fully dilated, they have enough strength to complete the delivery due to the accumulated physical strength.

Current labor analgesia methods include two categories: non-drug analgesia and drug analgesia. Non-drug analgesia includes psychological comfort, breathing method, water birth, etc. Its advantage is that it has no effect on the labor process and fetus, but the analgesic effect is poor; drug analgesia includes nitrous oxide inhalation, intramuscular injection of analgesics, intrathecal labor analgesia, etc.

Neuraxial labor analgesia is the most effective method of labor analgesia to date and is performed by experienced anesthesiologists. After the anesthesiologist successfully punctures the lumbar intervertebral space, he injects a small amount of local anesthetic or opioid into the subarachnoid space and inserts a thin catheter into the epidural space. One end of the catheter is connected to an electronic analgesic pump, and the mother controls the medication according to the degree of pain (the anesthesiologist has set an hourly limit, so there is no need to worry about overdose). The analgesic pump can be used continuously until the end of delivery.

During the entire process, the concentration of anesthetics is low, equivalent to 1/5 to 1/10 of the anesthesia for cesarean section. It is highly controllable and safe, and has almost no effect on the movement of the parturient. The parturient is conscious and can actively cooperate and participate in the entire delivery process. This method of painless childbirth is currently the most widely used and most effective method in major hospitals.

When administering labor analgesia and anesthesia to parturient women, the principle of not affecting the labor process and fetal safety must be considered. By strictly administering analgesics and not affecting the regular contraction of the uterus, the transmission of pain nerves during labor can be blocked, thereby achieving the purpose of avoiding or alleviating labor pain and minimizing labor pain, but retaining uterine contractions and mild pain.