Birth Pain Relief

Woodland Memorial Hospital is committed to making the birth of your baby as safe, pleasant and memorable as possible. We offer a variety of birth pain relief options to relieve labor discomfort—they can be as simple and effective as breathing techniques, or as sophisticated as a patient-controlled epidural analgesia. Your wishes and your medical condition are important in selecting the type of birth pain relief option you receive, and our team of OB/GYNs are dedicated to helping you make the right choice for you.

Birth Pain Management Options At Woodland Memorial Hospital

Epidural Anesthesia And Patient-Controlled Epidural Analgesia (PCEA)

Epidural anesthesia is a birth pain relief option that blocks pain in a particular region of the body. The epidural provides you with birth pain relief by blocking the nerve impulses from the lower spine, which results in a decreased sensation in your lower half during labor.

 

Our Birthing Center is the only of its kind in Yolo County to offer PCEA as a birth pain relief option. This is a type of regional block like the epidural, but with the major advantage of allowing you, the patient, to be in control of your birth pain management. After the epidural has been placed, you are given a button to push if you need more medication. You cannot give yourself too much medication and you no longer need to continue to ask the nurse for more pain medicine for birth pain management. The control is in your hands.

Nitrous Oxide 

Nitrous oxide, the analgesic known as “laughing gas,” has grown in popularity as pain relief during childbirth. Widely used in dental offices, nitrous oxide used for labor pain is a mixture of 50 percent nitrous oxide and 50 percent oxygen that is inhaled through a mask. The patient holds the mask to her face and inhales the gas when needed. Many women choose nitrous oxide because it is self-administered, giving them more control over how much or how often they use it. With nitrous oxide, pain is not eliminated, but it does take the edge off and can reduce anxiety in laboring moms. Woodland Memorial Hospital is the first hospital in Yolo County to provide nitrous oxide to women. 

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy creates a more holistic environment and increase patient comfort. Essential oils can be used for a variety of conditions such as pain, nausea, anxiety, sleep, headache, rest/relaxation and/or spiritual well-being.

Remifentanil

Woodland Memorial Hospital is one of the first hospitals in the area to offer Remifentanil as an alternative for birth pain relief and birth pain management. Remifentanil is a birth pain relief option that is both fast-acting and quick to metabolize, leaving no traces of the drug in the body after a mere three minutes. Women who choose this birth pain relief option must administer the medication themselves through a patient-controlled intravenous system. Each dose of the short-acting opioid lasts about the length of a labor contraction. The drug is rapidly metabolized, which means by the time it starts to cross the placenta to the baby’s bloodstream, it is already broken down and no longer potent.

Water Laboring

Laboring in water can be very calming and relaxing. We offer tubs in each of our private labor and delivery suites for birth pain relief. Warm water helps muscles relax during labor, which can minimize pain and speed up labor. Once in the tub, you can move about freely in the water. Before you are ready to push, staff will help you in getting out of the tub.

 

At Woodland Memorial Hospital, we want your birth experience to be the best it can be. Call (530) 668-2600 and make an appointment with an OB/GYN today!