What is painless birth?

Painless natural childbirth is not completely painless. Painless childbirth can be performed underwater or with the use of analgesics. The breathing methods or mental comfort methods invented by psychologists can also effectively help pregnant women reduce pain. No one can guarantee 100% painlessness, but the only thing we can do is to divert the pregnant woman's attention during childbirth so that she can give birth more comfortably.

What is painless childbirth

Painless childbirth in the usual sense is medically called labor analgesia. The purpose of labor analgesia is to use various methods to reduce or even eliminate the pain during labor. During childbirth, the uterus contracts and the uterine blood vessels are compressed, causing uterine ischemia. When the cervix opens wider, the muscles become thinner, the ligaments stretch, and the nerve endings of the muscles and ligaments naturally change. Moreover, during delivery, the fetus will also exert pressure on the mother's birth canal, which will cause the mother to feel severe pain during delivery. Painless childbirth can free expectant mothers from the pain, reduce the fear during childbirth and fatigue after childbirth, and allow expectant mothers to rest during the longest first stage of labor and accumulate physical strength. When the cervix is ​​fully dilated, there is enough strength to complete the birth.

"Painless childbirth" originated abroad and has a history of more than 100 years. It has been widely used abroad. The childbirth analgesia rate in the United States is >85%, and in the United Kingdom is >90%. Many domestic hospitals have introduced painless delivery, and some have accounted for 30% to 40% of normal births. Expectant mothers can rest assured to choose painless delivery, which is a simple, safe and mature technology.

Labor analgesia methods include two categories: non-drug analgesia and drug analgesia. Non-drug analgesia includes psychological comfort, breathing methods, water birth, etc. Its advantage is that it has no effect on the labor process and the fetus, but the analgesic effect is poor. Massaging the painful area during delivery or using methods such as traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture can also relieve pain during delivery to varying degrees. This also belongs to non-drug labor analgesia. Drug-induced analgesia includes nitrous oxide inhalation, intramuscular injection of analgesics, and intrathecal labor analgesia. Neuraxial labor analgesia is the most effective method of labor analgesia to date and is truly "painless labor."