Advice on suggested pain relief during labour-arms above head????

[spongecake]

hi there

I have been advised by my mw that during labour and contractions I should hold my hand above my head and make a fist to distract me from the pain.When she made us practice my arm just hurt. She also said i could try pinching myself or getting my dp to, but i might get bruises, so she wasn't really advising that this year. Its my first baby, and I am worried about the conflicting advice - nct say to focus on a point in the room, and my sister said that my mw was mental and to relax and count slowly in my head to make me control breathing. Have any of you had this mw advice and has it worked?

I think when you go into labour you will forget all the advice and just go with it!!
Breathing does help and daft as it sounds,,try to relax!!

how ridiculous - thats liek saying sticking yorusefl with a pin will stop you feeling the pain of an amputation

think shes taling about focus poins and self-hypnosis

personally id say take the drugs

I used deep breathing, closed my eyes and imagined climbing a mountain until the peak of the contraction then came down the mountain as it subsided I don't know where I got the idea from (probably on here) but it did help!

What would you like to do? There are lots of ways of relieving pain in childbirth without resorting to drugs. However, it is entirely feasible that you will not know what you want to do until the time comes. And a lot of it might not help.

Walking/changing positions/deep breathing/counting/visualisation/bathing/showering/vocalising/focusing on a point/talking/massage/leaning on partner etc etc. There are lots of methods and it depends on where you birth/what's available/what you are comfortable with.

Have you been to antenatal classes? How far along are you?

I stayed upright - I found that having my feet on the ground gave me sense of power and control. I also used the gas and air mask to focus my breathing even using it without having it over my face.
I just counted as long as it took and felt what was going on.
Stay relaxed and believe in yourself

By vocalising I mean shouting 'B*GGER' at the top of your voice.

For example.

MW clearly bonkers - ignore her

if you are not comfortable doing what she has advised, it is unlikely to work , and i think you need to go with the flow, or find something you are comfortable with, whether it is breathing a certain way, counting or having all the pain relief you can !

Don't know about arms over the head - wierd.

I found making low mooing noises and turning my feet round and round helped no end.

i found biting through the gas and air mouthpiece for 6 hours straight did the trick!

thanks all! -am nearly 36 weeks, so just started to worry about reality of labour. am going for positive thinking and good karma (with all drugs as plan b) I have had the ante natal classes, where she gave this advice. my plan is to try to relax and breathe loudly to stay calm- this is what I have done naturally before when under great stress, so think will be doing it again somehow- it can be scary as have no idea am doing it and sound like horror movie villan

my Best friend swears she neighs like a stallion and visualises a black stallion when she's labouring, so I hope that makes you feel better

godo luck - just remember there are no medals ont he labour ward - so no awards for doing it 'naturally' - no great benefit beyond the pain experienced and overcome imo

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Ah yes! I swear by breathing (my DH would breathe in my ear every time he thought that I had stopped! I actually found that very helpful as I would then just breathe with him).

Also - a water birth is the business. Well, it was for me any way. My DD crowned and there was no pain at all. I was on dry land moments before and lets just say the sensations were quite different.

My midwife did some fab 'light swirly massage' barely touching me - she stood behind me and 1. did this over my hips/buttocks and 2. had her finger tips in a line along my lower spine / tail bone and gently and repeatedly just increased the pressure of one finger. Like tapping but never leaving my skin. Again, she was barely touching me. It sounds mad, but it was amazing. It somehow caught the attention of my brain despite the contractions and gave it something gentle to focus on.

For the most part, I just concentrated. On what I have no idea. Just managing I suppose. And I did. No drugs and no damage.

I'm a fan of hypnobirthing! I recommend it to anyone. Just visualize and breath. Just remember that the pain is for a good reason, and will not last forever.

Funny how you forget about breathing techniques when you're in the middle of the contraction from hell

I found concentrating on breathing helped me and standing up as long as I could, ended up on the bed but spent many hours on my feet. Big noisy breaths in through my nose out through my mouth, sometimes I counted in my head along with them sometimes I didn't, also found it easier to keep my eyes shut while doing my big noisy breaths.
Keeping your shoulders down, rather than hunched up round your ears can help as well.
I just kept telling my self that I was in control and it would all be fine and to keep breathing.

Sounds easy when writing it down and reading it and your not going to know what you'll do/how you'll cope until you're there, iykwim. But you can do this it's what womens bodies are designed for and every contraction brings you closer to your baby arriving, cheesy but very true, I clung to that thought as well.

ha ha to every contraction brings you closer - I remember dh trying this line on me and summoning up all my energy to tell him to eff off in no uncertan terms - it took all my strength but had to be said
the first couple of hours I distracted myself on the internet and stood up for the contractions
then had a bath
then walked around a bit
then decided pain was awful and needed epidural so went to hosp but apparently I was doing very well and didnt need one (didn't feel that way, I can tell you )
then did breathing but I needed to copy it of someone, you know so someone was kind of 'leading' the breaths - otherwise no way could I have concentrated enough
then I remember curling my toes a lot and thinking 'oh, this is where the expression toe curling pain comes from' so that was quite interesting
then it was all more or less over
so maybe some of those ideas will help? mn was quite distracting at the beginning! you could come and chat to us all

had chat with dp last night about how he can help me on the day or night... but as have no idea if will be hysterical pain addled bitch from hell or calm, breathing controlled earth mother its all a bit hit or miss. Looking forward to it anyway, which I guess is a GOOD THING never thought i would think that ever!