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Swelling may be experienced at any point during pregnancy, but it tends to be noticed around the fifth month and can increase while you are in the third trimester. Swelling may be reduced by eating foods that are high in potassium, such as bananas, and by avoiding caffeine.

The natural remedies here are submitted by numerous people from around the world, and we have no way to test or verify every remedy. As such these home remedies should be used for academic purposes only. Never use any home remedy or other self treatment without being advised to do so by a physician.

Drink a lot of water when you are pregnant. You must drink at least six to eight glasses of water per day. Water is the most natural therapy to flush out the excess toxins from the body. Thus, the water will expel all the toxic fluids of the body which would otherwise settle in the feet and cause them to swell. Drinking a lot of water could increase the frequency of urination in pregnant women, but that is actually a good sign, as urination is a way to expel the wastes from the body.

Do not wear tight trousers or jeans when you are pregnant, as this would increase the pressure on the legs. Instead, you could wear somewhat loose stockings or pantyhose to give good support to the feet.

Avoid sitting or standing without moving for prolonged periods of time. When flying, stretch your legs often and get up to walk when possible. When driving, stop to stretch and walk every hour or so. Avoid wearing restrictive clothing or garters around your thighs. Exercise regularly. Lose weight if you need to.

Lying on your side, or elevating your feet when sitting sometimes helps decrease the swelling. The best treatment is swimming or any sort of total body immersion in cool water. The water pressure on the skin forces the tissue fluid back in to the veins. In addition, although salt is necessary in pregnancy, avoiding very salty or spicy foods may help a bit. Water pills should not be used as a treatment for swelling during pregnancy.

Essential oils can help to alleviate swollen legs and tiredness that may overtake your whole body. Their uplifting qualities will help to ease the aches and lethargy, soothe the spirits and put the world back in perspective. Add them to a warm bath or a soothing and relaxing body rub.

A relaxing and uplifting bath is especially beneficial for swollen legs. For this add one drop each of chamomile and lavender oils to the bath water after it has settled.

Stay off your feet as much as possible. Take periodic breaks if you must stand, and elevate your feet above the level of your heart.

Sit on the carpet and stretch your leg in the front, rotate your leg 10-15 times in a clockwise direction and then in the same way rotate in the anti-clock wise direction for 10-15 times. This reduces swelling of feet and improves blood circulation in the feet.

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Many women find the pain of labor too intense to bear without effective pain relief, and an epidural analgesia provides the best pain relief compared to all other methods. In the US, more than 80 percent of first-time moms ultimately have an epidural analgesia, other take a wait and see attitude.

How It Works

Epidural analgesia works by delivering very small doses of an anesthetic through a hollow tube to the epidural space, which surrounds the spinal cord. The anesthetic numbs nerves from the waist down, including the uterus. Epidurals are given by an anesthetist. You will have to bend forward so that he or she can guide the hollow tube through a needle and in to the correct position. You will have a local anesthetic first, which may sting a little, but other than that you shouldn’t feel any pain as the epidural is placed. Once the tube is in position, it is taped to your back to secure it so that more anesthetic can be given easily at any time.

An epidural takes about 20 minutes to administer. Most women notice pain is reduced almost immediately, but the full effect may take 15 to 20 minutes. The benefits of epidural analgesia are that pain control is excellent and that very little medication escapes in to your blood stream. This means that you are mentally alert, and your baby is not sleepy after birth from pain medication crossing your placenta. The other benefit of epidural analgesia is that medication is being given continuously, so you have pain relief for the entire duration of labor.

Types Of Epidural

More modern epidurals, such as the mobile epidural use the least amount of medication possible, allowing you to move your legs (but not usually walk) and to feel pressure as the baby’s head moves down the birth canal. Women who feel pressure can push more effectively, reducing the likelihood that they will need a cesarean or forceps delivery. Some hospitals allow you to control the epidural yourself by pressing a button that slowly releases more of the analgesic. Another type is the combined spinal epidural analgesia, in which a small amount of medication is injected in to the spinal space before the epidural tube is placed. This provides faster pain relief and is often used for women who are close to delivery when the epidural takes place, or when a cesarean delivery is needed.

Timing The Epidural

Many physicians will delay offering an epidural until you are 4cm dilated. However, this is an arbitrary cut off, so if your pain is very intense an early epidural is still an option. Discuss the various scenarios with your care provider before you go into labor.

Side Effects

Like all medical interventions, epidural analgesia has side effects for you and for your baby, although the chance of a serious side effect is very small.

Longer Labor

Most studies of epidural analgesia suggest that contractions are weakened, which means there’s more chance that you will need oxytocin to return your contractions to their normal strength. On average, choosing epidural analgesia will prolong the active phase of labor by about one hour. Epidural analgesia can also prolong the pushing stage of labor by up to an hour. Since the pushing stage is often exhausting, an epidural can make it more likely that your care provider will suggest a forceps delivery.

Increased Use Of Forceps

Epidural analgesia decreases your ability to push effectively and approximately doubles the chances that you will have a forceps or vacuum assisted delivery. Asking for your epidural analgesia to be turned down before you start to push may increase your chances of being able to push effectively and avoid a forceps delivery.

Fever

Choosing epidural analgesia quadruples your risk of developing a fever during labor. Although most experts don’t believe the fever is related to infection, you may end up being given antibiotics during labor. The longer you have the epidural, the more likely you are to have a fever.

Inadequate Pain Control

About 9-15 percent of women still have significant pain despite epidural analgesia. While this can sometimes be treated by giving additional medication, or by replacing the epidural catheter, pain control cannot be achieved in all women.

Itching

Up to 26 percent of women with epidural analgesia will have itching, which is usually treated with IV medication.

Rare Side Effects

There is a small risk that the anesthetist may puncture the sac covering the spinal cord, causing spinal fluid to leak out. This can result in a severe headache that may be difficult to treat.

Myths About Epidural Analgesia

One of the big myths about epidural analgesia is that it is responsible for chronic back pain. But studies have found instead that pregnancy it self is responsible for back pain. Women who have back pain during pregnancy are more likely to have back pain after they have delivered. While you may have a sore spot and a small bruise on your back after epidural analgesia, choosing epidural analgesia does not place you at higher risk for long term back pain. A second popular myth is that it will affect your ability to breastfeed. However, most studies have not found that epidural analgesia affects ultimate breastfeeding success. Your baby is much more likely to be sedated after large doses of narcotics given by injection, than from the small amount of narcotics used in epidural analgesia.

About the author: Author has an experience of more than 4 years writing about pregnancy tests. He also holds experience writing about pregnancy diet and baby care help.
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Although many women over 35 end up having an epidural, there are multiple other options, and it’s good to be informed about these and ask about them when you talk with your care provider. Types of pain relief range from complementary techniques like acupuncture to powerful narcotic drugs.

Tens

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) works by passing a tiny electric current through the skin. This current is believed to block pain messages from reaching your brain. It may also stimulate your brain to produce natural pain inhibitors, called endorphins. Tens devices are about the size of a small radio and are connected to electrodes placed on the skin, usually on your lower back. Electrical impulses result in a tingling sensation, which some women find annoying. The side effects of tens are usually no more than some skin irritation where the pads are stuck to the back. The electrical impulses do not affect the baby. Most studies of tens in labor have found it to be only mildly effective in reducing labor pain.

Acupuncture

Some women find acupuncture helpful in reducing labor pain. There are different theories as to how acupuncture works. In Western medicine, the hair fine needles placed in the skin are believed to stimulate larger nerve fibers, which then block nerve activity in the smaller fibers that transmit pain sensations. It may also release endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers. There is conflicting evidence on just how effective acupuncture is in reducing labor pain. However, it does seem to reduce the chance that you will request epidural analgesia. If you feel strongly about avoiding an epidural, acupuncture may be helpful for you. However, you’ll need to find a licensed practitioner who will be able to be with you during labor, and to check the regulations at your hospital.

Hypnosis

There is some evidence that women who are susceptible to hypnosis may be able to reduce the sensation of pain through hypnosis. Hypnosis is a state of deep relaxation and concentration and is something that you can learn to do yourself (in which case it is called autohypnosis). While hypnosis is not harmful. it is expensive and only effective in women who are most susceptible to hypnosis. It may also only have mild effects on labor pain. If you want to try hypnosis, you should start inquiring about classes early in pregnancy.

Subcutaneous Water Injections

In this technique a small amount of sterile water is injected under the skin in two to four spots in the lower back. The procedure seems to be helpful for women who experience labor pain in their backs, especially if it is given in the early stages of labor. In two studies, treatments were found to provide a small to moderate reduction in pain intensity for up to 45 minutes after the injections. This therapy is safe and can be given by your care provider and may provide some pain relief in early labor. However, there is no evidence so far that water injections decrease the use of epidural analgesia.

Narcotic Analgesia

Narcotic medications, such as morphine and nalbuphine, can be used in labor. They are given either as a shot or intravenously. Narcotics slightly take the edge off the pain, but do not completely relieve it. They have the disadvantage of often causing drowsiness and nausea. Narcotics are most likely to be given in the active stage of labor. Most women can tolerate pain better when they are pushing because they can be active, and are less likely to need narcotics. You also want to be at your most energetic and alert during this stage so that you can push effectively. Some women use narcotics only for labor pain, while others use this type of analgesia as a way to handle pain until they request epidural analgesia (which is frequently delayed until you are more than 4cm dilated). Narcotics affect your level of alertness, and this will take a while to wear off.

Choice Of Medication

Most narcotic drugs are equally effective and have similar side effects. However, there are some that are possibly worse than others for the baby. Make sure you understand what medications you are being given during labor. One particular narcotic drug, meperidine should be avoided. In the body, this drug is converted to a substance called normeperidine, which can stay in your baby’s system for days and affect his or her ability to interact with others. Safer alternatives are nalbuphine and morphine, both of which are more quickly cleared from the baby’s system. However they may still make your baby drowsy and affect the baby’s heart rate patterns.

Since one of the side effects of narcotics is nausea, many care providers will automatically give you a sedative drug called promethazine together with your dose of narcotic. Although experiencing nausea is unpleasant, you may want to ask your care provider not to give you promethazine unless you develop nausea, since it will make you very drowsy with out easing pain.

Spinal Block

Spinal analgesia is often used to block pain during a cesarean delivery. Similar to an epidural, it will usually numb you to pain and light touch from the top of your belly down. It is unlike epidural analgesia in that a needle is placed in to the spinal fluid (rather than outside the spinal sac) and a small amount of local anesthetic is injected in to the fluid. Leaking of spinal fluid occurs with about 1 percent of spinals and can result in a bad headache. Spinal analgesia lasts only 1-2 hours and can’t usually be readministered.

Pudendal Anesthesia

If you don’t have an epidural or if your epidural is not working well (a rare occurrence), your care provider may need to numb your pelvic area for a forceps delivery or to repair a tear. A pudendal block numbs sensation in the pudendal nerve, which supplies feeling to the genitals and inner thigh. To place a pudendal block, your care provider will place his or her fingers inside your vagina to help guide the injection. A small amount of local anesthetic is injected beneath the vaginal wall.

About the author: Know more about pregnancy and nutrition. Also you might be interested in knowing about pregnancy exercises and baby care.
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