What are the Effects of Painless Delivery on the Baby?

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Pregnancy and birth are full of uneasy things, and pain is one of them.

It is attractive to be able to give birth without feeling much pain, but you may wonder if it has any adverse effects on your baby.

Therefore, let us know about painless delivery so that we can consider it as one of our options in giving birth.

About the “pain” of painless labor

In normal vaginal delivery, contraction of the uterus and stretching of the uterine mouth, vagina, vulva when the baby passes through, is accompanied by severe pain.

According to mothers who have experienced birth describes it as “pain as if the waist was broken”, and “pain that has never been experienced before”.

Painless delivery can paralyze the nerves that transmit pain from the uterus, vagina, vulva with anesthesia so that you can face birth painlessly. 

Because it is so-called partial anesthesia, like ordinary delivery, you are aware of the process, and you can hold your baby immediately after being born.

The difference in administration method and effect of anesthesia

There are mainly two kinds of anesthesia administration methods for painless delivery, and they can be appropriately used depending on the condition of the mother.

Epidural Analgesia

From the back through the catheter to the nerve near the spinal cord, it is sustainably delivered medication at regular intervals. Therefore, even if the delivery time is prolonged, there is no worry that the effect will be cut off on the way. It is a commonly used method because it has a strong effect on relieving pain, and has little influence on mothers and babies.

Analgesia by intravenous drip

If epidural analgesia cannot be used for some reason, you should administer the medication to the vein with drip infusion. The analgesic effect is weak compared to epidural analgesia, and the breathing of mothers and babies may be weakened or sleepiness sometimes occurs, but it does not seem to negatively affect birth when the anesthesia expires.

Side Effect of Painless Delivery

Although there are few side effects of painless delivery on childbirth, mothers, and babies, there are times when you might feel the following symptoms temporarily because you have been anesthetized in parts where many nerves gather.

  • The feeling of the foot becomes dull
  • You may be less able to feel urination and urine may not easily be excreted
  • Blood pressure drops
  • Itching
  • The body temperature rises

In addition, although extremely rare, due to the constitution and abnormality of the body at the time of administration, dura mater may be injured, headache or nausea may occur, or blood clots or pus may accumulate.

Influence on Babies

There are rumors that babies born with painless delivery have learning disabilities and an increased risk of autism, but there is no medical basis and various research results indicate that there is little influence on babies by painless labor.

Also, depending on the amount of anesthesia, there seems to be a dull response to sound and light for a while after childbirth, but it is temporary until the effect of anesthesia is over, so there is no need to worry.

Cases where painless delivery can not be received

In the case of a constitution where the blood hardly clumps, there is a possibility that that painless delivery cannot be performed even if you want painless birth because there is a possibility that blood clumps can occur and you can overcome the “epidural blood type” that squeezes the nerve. In addition, epidural anesthesia may not be delivered if there is abnormality or disease around the back or around the spinal cord where the catheter is injected, or if you are allergic to the anesthesia.

 Other cases where painless delivery might be recommended for medical reasons is when there is a high possibility that the burden on the mother is likely to increase if she goes through normal delivery, such as mothers suffering from pregnancy hypertension syndrome, or mothers who have heart or lung diseases, etc.

Benefits of Painless Delivery

Naturally, the benefit that you get by opting for painless labor is that you can barely feel pain. There are also other benefits besides reducing pain.

  • Low breathing fatigue
  • Mother is calm
  • Because the mother’s breathing is stable, a lot of oxygen reaches the baby
  • By relieving the mother’s anxiety about pain, the vagina becomes flexible
  • The birth of a baby can be greeted while a mother is conscious
  • Early recovery after childbirth

The disadvantage of Painless Delivery

The main disadvantages are as follows. Read them carefully!

Not all maternity hospitals can perform it

There are cases where it may not be possible to have painless delivery in the maternity hospital where you plan to give birth because the number of maternity hospitals that can perform painless delivery is limited. In addition, there are places where painless delivery is conditioned on the basis of the facilities, so if you want painless delivery, consult your doctor regularly.

Expensive

Since it is not covered by insurance, expenses will be at your own cost. The price for painless delivery varies depending on the maternity hospital, so it is safe to check in advance with the hospital where you have chosen to give birth.

Anesthesia sometimes causes labor and weakness

When contraction of the uterus is weakened due to the effect of anesthesia, labor pain is weakened, so a labor accelerator may be administered. Also, if you can not grasp the timing or sensation when the mother loses focus, and the birth is prolonged, the possibility of vacuum-assisted vaginal delivery and forceps delivery also increases.

Sometimes accompanied by pain

There are also individual differences in the effectiveness of anesthesia, so there are cases where you feel pain more than you might imagine, or switch to regular vaginal delivery without anesthesia. Even if you say painless labor, you need to understand that there is still a possibility that you might have to endure some pain.

CONCLUSION

Painless delivery can help you face childbirth with less pain. Although some people sometimes say that, “If you do not know the pain of childbirth, you will never understand what motherhood is”. However, practically speaking, if it helps the mother, then it’s good for the baby.

The most important thing is that both mother and baby get over the ordeal safely. Therefore it should be taken into consideration that there may be mothers who may not be willing to face the pain or opt for a painless delivery for medical reasons.

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