There are many approaches to managing pain during labour. At Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, we have many options including supportive coaching, warm baths, changing positions, birthing balls, sterile water injections, entonox, IV narcotics and epidurals. The team of anesthesiologists work closely with our labour and delivery department to offer 24-hour epidural support. 

An epidural is administered by an anesthesiologist through a tiny tube “catheter” inserted into your back and sits close to the nerve roots supplying your birth canal. Infusion of numbing medications through the catheter creates an area of numbness mainly between the belly button and thighs and sometimes all the way to your feet.  While you may still feel contractions and pressure with a well working epidural depending on the stage of labour, the pain drastically decreases, and you remain alert and awake throughout.

At TBRHSC, after counselling, we encourage every pregnant person in labour to make their own choices about what type of pain relief they prefer as their labour progresses.