The contractions “breathe”

Breathing is an important way to relieve and control labor pains at birth. Correct breathing can be practiced before the birth. One should pay attention to deep, even breaths.

The consequences are dizziness, nausea and a reduced supply of oxygen. The panting that was often recommended in the past should also be avoided for the reasons mentioned above.

Especially during the opening contractions, the inhalation should be about twice as long as the exhalation.
During exhalation it can help to accompany the breathing with deep tones like “Oh” or “Ah”.
During the expulsion phase, on the other hand, the contractions occur at a higher frequency so that inhalation for twice as long is not possible.
One should always take care to breathe in and out in a regular rhythm.
Many women make the mistake here of stopping breathing to push with the contraction.
This can lead to dangerous hyperventilation and panting respiration.

PDA

The PDA is an anaesthesia procedure close to the spinal cord. The abbreviation PDA stands for epidural anesthesia. In medical terminology, the synonym epidural anesthesia is also used.

In this form of anaesthesia, a local anaesthetic is injected into the space between the spinal nerve roots and a ligament of the spine, the ligamentum flavum. This local anaesthetic, when dosed correctly, anaesthetises the pain-conducting nerve fibres, but not the motor nerve fibres – i.e. those responsible for moving the leg. This means that, unlike spinal anesthesia, you can also walk with an epidural.

The local anesthetic is injected between the third and fourth lumbar vertebrae into this so-called epidural space and anesthetizes the important nerve fibers responsible for the pain at birth. This allows pain during birth to be relieved effectively and with as few side effects as possible. The most common side effects of an epidural are

Headaches and nausea of the mother.
This can be quickly remedied by drinking enough after birth.
In rare cases, infections of the injection site can occur after birth.
If the local anaesthetic is injected incorrectly into a blood vessel, the mother may experience cardiac arrhythmia.
However, with the right injection technique, this hardly ever occurs.
An epidural has no negative effects on the newborn.