Keeping Your Pain Relief Tool Box Full

Posted by Brenda Lane Sep 3, 2006

Every time I turn around, I run into more mothers who take only the abbreviated childbirth class offered in their local hospital or worse yet, no class at all. My guess is that 90% of the parents I talk to who take a hospital-based class are disappointed in it. In fact, many of them come to me or other local educators the second time around since they want to be sure they are better prepared. That is one of the reasons I wrote an article, Choosing the Best Childbirth Class that includes questions to ask the childbirth educator before you sign up.

Many of the best classes are offered in the educators' homes and are smaller. Mothers learn in class that there is more to labor than just getting an epidural. Although epidurals have a reputation for being very effective at pain relief, they can also introduce many interventions and possible complications to labor. For help avoiding some of those complications, see Epidural Anesthesia for Birth.

Since more people responded to our recent poll that they planned to use only other technqiues for labor, I decided to write an article that highlights some of the most effective methods for pain relief available beyond getting an epidural. Take a look at Pain Relief Techniques for Labor. In this article, I also discuss some of the important reasons why every mother should "keep her pain relief tool box full" before going into labor.

Have a great week and let me know if you have any requests for future articles.

Brenda