Pregnancy - contractions and labor: the plan of childbirth

During the planned visits to the doctor, find out what will happen during childbirth. Think about what you would like and write down an approximate plan of action that you can learn at the school of young parents or compose yourself. Samples of this plan can be downloaded from the Internet.

Prepare for the fact that not everything can go according to plan, be patient. Your impressions after birth can be completely different than expected. In the event of an unforeseen situation, the decision is made by the doctor for your safety and the safety of the child. You can still somehow influence some decisions, but the last word for the doctor.

Do not forget to choose a hospital, a doctor who will take delivery, and also think, I would like you to have someone close to you. If before you did not attend the school for young mothers, it's time to sign up, starting from the sixth or seventh month of pregnancy.

Think about what kind of anesthesia you would like to apply, what medical procedures may be needed, including monitoring the heartbeat of the fetus, and also how you would like to spend the first hours with a newborn.

Ways of relaxation

• Natural childbirth: pain control without the use of pain medication, for example, concentrated breathing, distraction, massage, presentation and constant support during childbirth. In some cases, acupuncture and hypnosis are very effective.
• Childbirth in the water contributes to reducing the intensity of pain and stress, and also facilitates and speeds up the birth process.
• Movement during delivery, in spite of that, is monitored continuously or from time to time. Most women want to move around during labor, which reduces discomfort, but with difficult births, you need to constantly monitor the fetus.
• Eating food and fluids during labor. Some maternity hospitals allow you to drink water or suck ice, but eating is prohibited because solid food is slowly digested during labor, and there is a possibility of vomiting, and if necessary, surgical intervention, anesthesia is used only on an empty stomach.
• Listening to a pleasant melody.
• Change the position of the body during attempts.

Medical Pain Relief

• Epidural anesthesia: the continuous administration of an anesthetic in the epidural region of the spinal cord to partially or completely block the sensitivity of the lower body. Light epidural anesthesia allows the woman in labor to feel what is happening and gives the chance to push, reducing the need for a cesarean section or termination of labor.
• Pandemic or paracervical anesthesia: the administration of an anesthetic in the abdominal region. Pandemic anesthesia is considered one of the safest forms of anesthesia, since only the ancestral tracts are anaesthetized. Paracervical anesthesia is less commonly used than pudendal anesthesia, which is considered more effective.
• Narcotic drugs, mainly dimerol, are used to relieve anxiety and pain, but they have a limited degree of analgesia and cause side effects in both the mother and the baby.

There are other types of anesthesia, but they can be prescribed only by a doctor in the process of giving birth. They, as a rule, are an integral part of other medical procedures that are carried out in emergency cases. These include:

• Local anesthesia: subcutaneous administration of an anesthetic to relieve sensitivity before the introduction of epidural anesthesia.
• Spinal blockade: injection of an analgesic in the spinal fluid, which quickly and completely removes the sensitivity of the lower part of the body during the application of forceps for extraction of the fetus or caesarean section, with no attempts.
• General anesthesia: a woman inhales or receives an intravenous anesthetic drug, as a result of which she loses consciousness. This type of anesthesia is considered unsafe and faster than epidural or spinal anesthesia. It follows that general anesthesia is used only in emergency cases when fast fetal extraction is necessary, and when the epidural catheter has not yet been established.

Medical support procedures during childbirth

• Stimulation of labor, including rupture of the bladder and the use of drugs to open the cervix and stimulation of contractions. This is caused by medical necessity, for example, with high blood pressure of the mother or other dangerous conditions.
• Fetal heart rate monitoring can be constant, as in the case of severe births, or periodic in order to determine the condition of the fetus.
• Episiotomy - dissection of the perineum to facilitate the flow of labor and reduce the time of delivery. To prevent a crotch impulse, massage is used or the attempts themselves are controlled.
• The application of forceps or vacuum extraction of the fetus at the termination of labor, when you need to push, or when there is a distress syndrome of the fetus.
• Cesarean section.

If you have previously had a cesarean section, you can try to give birth vaginally or plan a repeat cesarean section.

Care of the newborn

• You can preserve cord blood for the possible use of stem cells for the purpose of treating a child in the future, but this should be planned early in pregnancy.
• A child may be with you for at least an hour immediately after birth. In some maternity homes, the mother and child are in the same room throughout the stay in the hospital.
• You can delay the introduction of vitamin K, a blood test and the use of ophthalmic drugs in order to calm the child after childbirth.
• Think about when and whether you want to receive visitors in general, including other children in your family.

You can ask not to give the child water and dry mixes during feeding, to avoid problems with breastfeeding.

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