Want a painless childbirth without surgery? It’s possible

One of the major worries for a pregnant woman going into labour is whether she can bear the pains that come with childbirth.

For this reason, some pregnant women opt to have Caesarean sections to avoid the pain.
However, these comes at a steep cost and a longer hospital stay and associated risks, yet there is an-other painless and more cost-effective way to have a normal (vaginal) delivery. It involves the use of epidural anaesthesia.

“It is possible to have a normal and painless delivery. When you are in labour, we identify a spot on your back, sterilise it, and inject you painlessly to numb the area. After that we put a catheter in your back to deliver drugs to numb the labour pains, giving you a normal (vaginal), but painless birth,” said Kenya Society of Anaesthesiologists secretary Stephen Okelo, during a recent conference in Kwale.

He added that epidurals reduce the length of hospital stay associated with Caesarean sections, yet many Kenyans are unaware of the procedure that offers a painless childbirth.

“The drugs and technique we use ensure that labour progresses normally. They do not interfere with the process. Pain is not necessary, so we take it away,” he added, and urged expectant mothers to ask for options during childbirth, including prevention of pain during labour.

CHEAPER

However, Dr Okelo noted that though the procedure is five times cheaper than C-section, it is only available in some private hospitals, and at a cost of Sh40,000, it might not be considered affordable.

“It can become affordable if there more mothers getting it and if more people are trained to conduct the procedure,” he said, adding that the government needs to invest in human resources including more nurses, doctors and anaesthesiologists, and to make the epidural anaesthesia available to women who give birth in public health facilities.

In recent times, the Ministry of Health has raised the alarm over the rise in Caesarean sections in both private and public hospitals and rural and urban areas.

“There are circumstances when C-sections are intended, and they save lives, but they are associated with higher levels of morbidity.

“If it is not necessary, don’t do it because the mother will stay in hospital longer and there is a risk of infection,” said Dr Peter Cherutich, the head of preventive health at the Ministry of Health, at a past occasion, where he called on doctors to curb the rise of C-sections.

Anaesthesiologists say giving women epidural anaesthesia can bring down cases of elective C-sections.

Dr Nelly Bosire, an obstetrician/gynaecologist based in Nairobi, says that women in Kenya have been denied epidural anaesthesia for far too long, whereas in more developed countries, pain relief is routinely offered to all women in labour.

“One of the reasons is that we lacked specialists to offer the service, but now we have a few who took the initiative to learn and are able to offer the service. Obstetricians should inform mothers of the availability of the service, and if they are willing they can take it up. The public and more women should know about it,” she said.

The World Health Organisation recommends epidural analgesia for healthy pregnant women who request for pain relief during labour, according to their preferences.

Other options for pain relief used in other settings include inhaled gases, injection to relieve labour pains, or hydrotherapy.