Childbirth
Childbirth is the culmination of the pregnancy and highly expected event for the pregnant women as well as for their partners, family and friends. However, the thought on labor itself is often very intimidating because of the fear from pain. Fortunately, there are many ways to give birth more comfortably although opinions of experts are very divided.
The majority of women today still gives birth on the natural way, without the use of any pain reliving measures or methods. The levels of pain during childbirth greatly vary from woman to woman, while all methods of labor have their advantages and disadvantages. First of all, it is impossible to determine which method of childbirth is the least painful and the safest for the child because different pain control methods have different success and different levels of risk for both pregnant woman and child. Analgesic medication such as nitrous oxide gas, pethidine and others might result of respiratory depression of the child, while regional anesthetics such as epidural anesthesia are relatively safe and effective but can also result series of side effects and complications for both pregnant women and infant: prolonged labour and risk of instrumental delivery, hypotension (low blood pressure), decreased fetal heart rate and neurological complications, while there have been also reports over backache, fecal and urinary incontinence, loss of other modalities of sensation, loss of muscle power, and some other side effects which may last for several minutes or hours but in some cases even for a longer period.
Because all pain control methods can result side effects and even result serious complications many women still prefers to alleviate pain during childbirth with prior psychological preparation and education, or choosing squatting or crawling position to be able to push more effectively and thus relieve the pain and the length of delivering. Very popular, uncomplicated and safe method is also water birth. Either way, every woman has to decide for herself and to be well informed, especially over potential side effects and complications before finally deciding for any option of childbirth.