Our time I took a hit because I had the nitrous nozzle in my hand and my wife wanted the gas right now as a contraction started so I nearly lost the hand.
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I gave birth in Finland ten years ago, and nitrous oxide was the only pain relief I used during labor. I chose it because it does not cross the placenta (unlike narcotics), and because the effects wear off pretty quickly once you start breathing normal air again. Even ten years ago, epidurals were becoming the norm for births in Finland. The midwife seemed a little surprised when I declined one.
I found nitrous oxide very effective for managing the pain even though my labor was more intense - I decided to induce with pitocin because labor did not progress on its own after my water broke. I think breathing the nitrous oxide also helped me to focus on and control my breathing more than I otherwise would have.
Iām glad nitrous oxide was an option for me, and that women in Finland are trusted to make their own decisions about how to give birth. I think itās a question of culture: the viewpoint that a woman is not the best-qualified person to make decisions about her own body is much more common in the USA. If a woman canāt be trusted to make her own decision about whether to carry her pregnancy to term, how can she be trusted to decide how to give birth?
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I second what robulus said. They donāt give you straight nitrous oxide at the hospital, they mix it with oxygen something like 40/60 or 50/50.
With the mask I used in labor, I had to hold the mask up to my face in my hand. If I somehow managed to pass out, I would have dropped the mask, started breathing normal air again, and recovered. However, if someone uses nitrous oxide without a safety mechanism like that (for example, if they strap the mask to their head), there is the potential for asphyxiation.
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The āsimple, naturalā way of eating is to simply eat whatever is at hand, when you feel like. Our ancestors didnāt go around counting carbs, so basically the current obesity epidemic and nutrition-related disorders stem from that āsimple, naturalā way of eating. Not to mention the āsimple, naturalā approach to medicine in general, which was āheal or dieā.
Sorry, but I tend to get pretty worked up when I hear the adjective ānaturalā used as something positive or aspirational.
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Patient (Tony Robinson) is sitting in a reclinable chair, ready to have dental work done.
Dentist (John Cleese) enters.
D: (hovering over patient, cheering) Good morning, Mr. Candlebottom! How do you do!
P: (sort of sadly shrinking away) Hello, Dr. Winfrey. Itās been a long time, eh?
D: (serious) A long time indeedā¦ Iām surprised you havenāt lost all your teeth yet! AH AH AH! But Iām sure we can catch up right now, eh? AH AH AH!
P: (laughs nervously) Ah ahā¦ what did you have in mind for today, doctor?
D: Oh, a little, less say, exploratory operation, to make sure your back preoptoabscomolars are in tip-top shape. Hopefully it wonāt be too painfulā¦
P: Preoptoā¦? Er, could I have some painkillersā¦?
D: Of course, of course! The nitrous oxide there, just breath it up and you wonāt feel a thing.
P: (hopeful) Can I just get as much as I want, then?
D: Absolutely! No problem what-so-ever. Of course thereās a small risk of death, but itās much smaller than driving a car, these days! AH AH AH!
P: (shocked) A risk ofā¦ death?
D: Death, yes, bit of a bummer that one. Of course, it never happened to me. Except with that patient, what was his nameā¦? Nurse! What was the name of that fellow who burst into flames, yes, that oneā¦?
Nurse: Mr. Spanglemass?
D: Exactly, Spanglemass! That was a funny one, eh? Of course cleaning the surgery afterwards was really painfulā¦
P: (shocked) ā¦ burst into flames?
D: Yes, very rare sight, such an exceptional event. Usually they just fall asleep and never wake up. Not much entertainment that, I tell you! And so many forms to fill up with the police, a real drag. Shall we start then? Hereās your inhaler.
P: āUsuallyāā¦? I think Iāll do without, actually. Itās just a little bit of pain, eh?
D: (gets closer with scalpel in hand, with gleaming eyes) Yes, just a bit of pain, a tiiny little bitā¦
Camera closes on Patient screaming and fades to black.
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Thatās not my experience, but I guess over here they might be worried some entrepreneurial citizen would then break into the hospital the following night, raid NO and resell it to Friday-night clubbers.
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I have a friend who is head of sales at the leading nitrous oxide company in the U.S. and this was his response:
There are 8 hospitals that will be offering N2O and O2 for labor pain by this fall - with several more hoping to go live before the end of the year. There are also approximately 12 Birth Centers that are currently using N2O and O2 - and several in the process of getting started.
There has been quite a bit of interest - but one of the main issues was that the equipment that was needed was not available up until January of this year - when Porter Instrument launched their Nitronox system (a special device used to mix Oxygen and Nitrous Oxide at a 50/50 ratio)- which is a perfect fit for Labor applications. Medical Nitrous Oxide
It will take some time before this becomes more widely accepted - but use will grow. One thing that will help is patients like yourself asking for it - and showing that it is a readily available option. Iām sure if you contact Porter they would be happy to let you know if there is a facility in your area that is offering this - or planning to offer in the near future
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Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville began offering nitrous oxide back in 2011. One of my friends was the first to have a birth using nitrous oxide there. This is a YouTube video Vanderbilt made that features her and discusses its adoption by Vanderbilt . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPyuerAoKg8
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When I had my wisdom teeth out, I got nitrous for a few minutes - then the IV stuff kicked in and I was off to dreamland - and the dose was turned down so low it didnāt seem to do anything at all to me. I canāt imagine the second-hand nitrous would have affected the dentistā¦
I was actually wondering if the nitrous was turned on at all. Iād done whippets a year or so previously, so I knew excessive amounts of nitrous had very strong effect on me, and the dentist office stuff had no perceptible effect.
My wife also gave birth without drugs - she took an aspirin the next day because her wrist was sore from spending so much time on all fours. She later remarked that childbirth wasnāt nearly as painful as grad school (granted, if it had been as bad as her experience at grad school, strong opiates would have been totally appropriate).
There were a few moments when she had to briefly lie on her back, and she found them extremely uncomfortable and returned to squatting or kneeling the moment the midwivesā checks were finished. I wonder to what extent many obstetriciansā preference-to-the-point-of-insistence that birthing mothers spend the entire time on their backs is contributing to the experience of childbirth pain as so intense that going through it without painkillers would be a feat of superhuman toughness.
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As you point out yourself in the thread, the nitrous used in medicine is delivered as a mix with 30 to 50% oxygen - Earthās atmosphere is only about 20% oxygen. If you were in danger of asphyxiation due to partial breathing obstruction or something, the nitrous mask might actually be a reasonable source of oxygen-enriched air.
There might be other untoward effects from overdoing the nitrous, but asphyxiation isnāt a danger.
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Thereās also just the interruptions of the hospital staff prevent most women from getting into the zone where they can focus and ride the waves of pain. Imagine having sex in a hospital room. Hard to get into the mood? Same thing for a laboring lady; she needs a soothing private place, not stirrups and florescent lights. At around 8, 9 centimeters, though, no amount of preparation can get you through. You need a strong guide - an experienced midwife, labor and delivery nurse, or doula - to carry you through those last few moments of delivery.
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Isnāt carbon dioxide required to be in the mixture to stimulate breathing?
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IANA anaesthetist. Iām just going off stuff like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxide_and_oxygen
Yeah, I guess I should start a separate thread for us husbands to discuss nervously pacing around hospital waiting rooms with cigars in our jacket pockets.
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Noticed the same thing. Just as I can never really know how it feels to kicked in the nuts, all the fathers chiming in explaining how a birthing mother should manage her labor pain have no fucking clue what kind of pain their partners endured. Kick me in the shins all day and it wonāt hurt more than back labor did. Iām not a motherhood failure because I accepted an epidural before I passed out from the pain. Anyone who thinks otherwise can go fuck themselves. If I hadnāt taken it I wouldāve ended up with a c-section, and avoiding that was much, much higher on my priority list than earning ātoughnessā points for delivering drug-free.
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So glad to hear about your pregnancy and due date! I read your post about miscarriage and abortion last year with such sorrow for your pain and loss; as well as thankfulness for your excellent writing on a complex and painful topic. I would like to mention a wonderful organization for whom I have done pro bono work in the past serving the pro-choice and pro-voice community for women who choose abortion. Exhale (https://exhaleprovoice.org) gives women a place to feel safe and sorrow. Thank you Maggie for your excellent writing and honest heart.
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Bam, problem solved. http://www.amazon.com/Nitrous-Oxide-Cracker-Dispenser-Aluminum/dp/B0085EE3AQ/ref=pd_sim_k_4
Turns out you can also bring in a hip flask. Food for thought.
Thatās unfortunate to hear, since I was considering it, partly for the NO availability. What was bad about it?
