Controlling contractions

It’s better not to use gas and air for longer than three hours. After that the body becomes ‘saturated’. This means that you may become disorientated and won’t return to your usual self between the contractions. Some women say that the Entonox makes them feel nauseated, but this usually passes.

TENS

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation – this isn’t a painkiller as such, but has the effect of increasing your tolerance to pain. It’s difficult to estimate by how much, and it seems to work better on some people than others. As a rough guide, it will increase your pain tolerance by 15% to 25 %, which means it won’t give you a pain-free labour but it’s worth a go.

A TENS machine needs to be fitted for you at the beginning of labour, probably when you’re at home. It’s operated by you to produce 2 types of current:
1. Pulsating (low frequency) for use between contractions. Stimulates the production of your body’s own painkillers (endorphins).
2. Continuous (high frequency) for use during contractions. ‘Interrupts’ pain pathways from your contracting uterus to the brain. An easy way to remember this is C for contraction and C for continuous current.

• Allows you to walk around
• Increases your pain threshold and sense of well-being
• Does not cross the placenta or affect your baby

None really. Most hospitals have TENS machines, but it’s better to hire your own, so you can use it before you go into hospital. A company called Pulsar hire them – freephone 0800 515413.

Incidentally, no studies have yet shown that babies born to women who had a ‘natural’ birth end up at better universities than children born to women who had pain relief. There has, however, been a study which shows that if a woman is determined to give birth without any pain relief and it doesn’t happen that way, she’s much less likely to enjoy her baby for the first few months. So don’t be a martyr – if you need relief from pain during labour, it’s there for the asking in various forms. After all, what really matters about giving birth is that the baby is OK and that you then enjoy having him or her with you. For more information - see our article about what to expect in labour