By JANE DUNBAR
'You? You had a natural birth? I don't believe it." Not that I'm totally pathetic or anything, but I'm not known among my friends for great physical fortitude. I was always the sickly one, the one who dragged behind.
In my backpacking days, two girlfriends once even decided it was going to be quicker if they carried my pack for me.
So you can imagine that the news that I had had a natural birth was greeted with scepticism.
No pain-numbing epidural injection into the spine. No pethidine. No gas. I could hardly believe it myself. I felt triumphant. A new me. Powerful. Able to withstand any ordeal. And it was all thanks to my trusty Tens machine.
Many people probably haven't heard of a Tens machine - I certainly hadn't until a friend in Sydney said: "You've just got to get yourself a Tens." Given that Tens stands for "trans-cutaneous electrical nerve stimulation," and using one involves attaching electrodes to your back, I was dubious. An epidural seemed the only way to go.
I told my midwife: "I want to have an epidural." To which she replied: "Don't be a wuss."
Well no, she didn't exactly, but she did make it clear she thought I should approach the birth with a more open mind, a greater faith in my ability to cope with the glorious natural process of birth.
"Huh", thought I. "More like: delicate parts being torn apart as baby fights to get out of narrow, restricting and terrifying birth canal."
So yes, I had a bit of an attitude problem. But strangely as the delivery date came closer, I became calmer, and decided that I would at least look into options other than an epidural.
So too apparently are many other women, with hospital physiotherapy departments and Tens-machine hiring agencies (pharmacies and private agents) reporting a steady increase in interest and demand.
Christchurch Women's Hospital is even considering a trial to see if an increased Tens focus and education programme could help to reduce the number of epidurals used in the hospital.
So how does the Tens work? Electrodes, connected by wires to a small battery-powered stimulator, are attached by adhesive pads to the skin on either side of your spine. You then use a handset to regulate the electric current - the theory being that the current blocks the pain impulses conducted by nerves and also stimulates production of pain-relieving endorphins.
There are no national statistics kept on the use of Tens in New Zealand, but my midwife, Kay Faulls, says that midwives have increasingly been recommending Tens over the last couple of years, particularly for first births. (Later labours can be so much quicker there is not enough time to bother with the Tens.) Although it doesn't work for everyone, Faulls says that in her practice in the past two years there has been a 100 per cent success rate for the women who used a Tens.
A crucial element to a natural birth is that there are no complications, no need for intervention. If everything proceeds according to plan, the Tens can be the perfect assistant. And the strange thing is, it's hard to say why exactly.
When my partner first taped the electrodes to my back and I pressed the pulse button, the sensation was so mild I couldn't imagine it would be of any use once the contractions got stronger. But as the labour progressed, and as we turned the dial gradually from 1 to 10, the Tens seemed to keep pace with the pain, keeping it within bearable limits so successfully that we never made it to 10 on the dial. Although the machine was taped to my body, it didn't limit movement in any way. I was able to adopt as many positions as felt comfortable until my daughter was born.
Anyone at the birth might well have been tempted to question whether perhaps a Tens impairs brain function, with me exclaiming incredulously: "It's a baby."
But I'm well-known for such sharpness of perception, so don't be put off.
As a growing number of women around the country are discovering, the nasty-sounding trans-cutaneous electrical nerve stimulation can turn out to be a best friend in the hours of greatest need.
Ten out of ten for this birth
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