[HP4GU-FAQ] Re: "Push, Honey! It's Almost Here!"

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

In a message dated 15/01/2003 18:15:03 GMT Standard Time, 
cindysphinx at comcast.net writes:


> Cindy -- veteran of three births with all the pain relief money 
> could buy, and wondering what the sam hill "gas-and-air" and "TENS" 
> could possibly be but hoping it helped Eloise with the pain
> 
> 


Just FYI (I hadn't realised there might be a cross-cultural dimension here), 
gas-and-air is mild inhalational anaesthesia. A mixture of nitrous oxide 
(laughing gas) and oxygen, IIRC. It just takes the edge off things. It's 
quite nice, as I recall!

TENS is Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation. You have this thing 
taped to the small of your back which stimulates the nerves and is supposed 
to confuse the pain signals. I'm told it's very good, but it didn't really 
work for me. 

I had the next two in Japan, where it's epidural or nothing, and I wasn't 
having anyone sticking ruddy great needles in *my* inter-vertebral spaces, 
thank you very much! Don't get me started on Japanese birth practices. The 
last one was born at home, on our bed, after a long soak in the bath, which 
was exactly what I wanted.

~Eloise


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