PORTLAND, Ore. -- In a first this week for a Portland hospital, Laughing gas, or nitrous oxide, is now being offered to mothers giving birth at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.
It's an old pain-relieving technique that now is getting a new purpose in the delivery room. Some midwives and clinics use it, but Emanuel is the first hospital in Portland to offer it as another option for pain relief to new moms.
Cheryl Thiele wanted a natural birth for her second son, Russell. No epidural, no heavy drugs. Her midwife had told her the hospital would be offering a brand new option in the delivery room, but she might give birth a few days before they launched it.
But baby Russell was a few days late, arriving Monday.
"Sure enough, they said today is the day we go live!" Thiele exclaimed as she held her newborn in their hospital room.
The gas isn't as potent as what you'd get at the dentist. But unlike an epidural, it's totally safe for mom and baby. The mother can walk around and use it in all stages of labor. Thiele was sold, and when she felt a contraction coming on, she had all the control; taking deep breaths in for as long as she needed comfort.
"It relaxes your whole body and I felt this can-do attitude of I can get through this and it doesn't have to be as painful as I thought and have all these invasive procedures done," Thiele said.
Her husband David was a little apprehensive at first. "Once she started inhaling the gas, there was that calm that came over her, and I was able to relax too and know she was okay."
Legacy will slowly roll out the nitrous oxide option to its other hospitals, and more providers are soon to follow. Experts say more women are opting for a natural birth.
"I think it's a better understanding that labor and birth is a natural process and the pain associated with labor does not indicate there's a problem with your body," said the Thiele's midwife Wendy Berger.
Berger says mothers who would rather go with an epidural wouldn't need the nitrous oxide.
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