{"id":9611,"date":"2017-02-20T08:11:31","date_gmt":"2017-02-20T15:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=9611"},"modified":"2025-01-17T13:07:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T20:07:00","slug":"mother-first-region-use-laughing-gas-childbirth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mother-first-region-use-laughing-gas-childbirth\/","title":{"rendered":"Providing moms-to-be another safe option for pain: ‘laughing gas’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Krystal Holladay thought she was having false labor \u2014 she\u2019d been having frequent Braxton Hicks contractions\u00a0in the final weeks of her third trimester \u2014 so she sent her husband, Jeremiah, off to work and put her 8-year-old son on the school bus.<\/p>\n

By 7 a.m., she decided that her contractions, which came a minute apart, were real. Holladay lived one hour east of Fort Collins\u2019 UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospita<\/a>l.<\/p>\n

\"Mom
Jeremiah and Krystal Holladay enjoy their new baby, Sheyenne, just hours after she was born on Feb. 1. Krystal was the first women in the region to be able to use nitrous oxide gas for pain management during her delivery of Sheyenne. Photo by Kati Blocker, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Things moved quickly from there. Her father picked her up, along with her 5-year-old daughter, and they rushed to the hospital where Jeremiah met them only minutes after they arrived at 8 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was really no time for an epidural,\u201d said Jennifer Sedmak, a registered nurse at PVH\u2019s Birthing Center<\/a> and Holladay\u2019s delivery nurse.<\/p>\n

Holladay was eight centimeters dilated; delivery was imminent. And by then, Holladay was reporting her pain at a 12 to 15 on a scale of one to 10. Her doctor asked if she\u2019d like to try UCHealth\u2019s new pain management tool: laughing gas.<\/p>\n

Laughing gas, or nitrous oxide, is a nonflammable and odorless gas. Many people know about it from dentists, who use it for minimal sedation. Nitrous brings on a relaxed state that allows people to respond normally to verbal commands. And though it can impair cognition, it doesn\u2019t affect breathing or heart functions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a pain reliever but an anxiolytic, or what we tell people is that it gives them the I-don\u2019t-care factor,\u201d said Nicky Barber, a women\u2019s care charge nurse at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies<\/a>. \u201cSo their pain may still be at a seven \u2014 they just don\u2019t care that it\u2019s at a seven.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Feb. 1 \u2013 the day Holladay arrived at PVH \u2014 UCHealth began offering nitrous oxide gas as an option for pain management during labor and after birth at both PVH and MCR.<\/p>\n

It is a primary aim of UCHealth to allow patients free choice and autonomy in selecting the best form of labor pain management for their particular situation, Barber said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to give our moms-to-be another safe, effective option to choose from,\u201d she said. \u201cUltimately, we want our moms to decide what\u2019s best for them and what they feel most comfortable with, and we\u2019re here to support that choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holladay was the first UCHealth patient in northern Colorado to opt for the new pain management option. Outside PVH and MCR, no other northern Colorado hospital offers this option.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could still feel everything, but on a scale from one to 10, my pain was at a 12 or 15, and when I started using the gas it took it down to a seven during my contractions,\u201d Holladay said. \u201cIt\u2019s not an epidural by any means, but I sure was glad that it was here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this was the perfect situation for using nitrous,\u201d added Sedmak, who\u2019s worked in the labor and delivery unit for 17 years. \u201cKrystal was able to use the nitrous through the delivery \u2014 through the hard pushing \u2014 and was able to control that herself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"laughing
Women in northern Colorado now have nitrous oxide as an option for pain management during labor. Photo by Kati Blocker, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When used in labor or for therapeutic use immediately after birth, the gas is inhaled intermittently at a lower concentration than the dose provided at a dentist\u2019s office. It is most effective when inhaled about 60 to 90 seconds before a contraction, at which time the patient holds the mask to their face, continues to breathe normally, and removes the mask when the contraction is finished. The gas goes to work in as little as 30 seconds and is out of one\u2019s system after a few breaths.<\/p>\n

Patients can expect to feel pain relief as well as a \u201cdon\u2019t care\u201d factor, euphoria and\/or decreased anxiety. Holladay said she felt a bit tired but still in control.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t make her goofy,\u201d Jeremiah recalled. \u201cAt first I thought she was falling asleep, but then I realized she was just relaxing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheyenne Holladay was born at 8:45 a.m. Feb. 1, weighing 7 pounds, 3 ounces, and measuring 19.75 inches long.<\/p>\n

Extensive research has shown that nitrous oxide during delivery has no ill effect on fetal outcomes.\u00a0Nor does the gas hamper the woman\u2019s ability to push during labor. Another benefit is that women can be up and moving around or in water when using nitrous, which isn\u2019t always an option with other methods of pain control.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like my body is more sore without an epidural, but I feel better overall,\u201d said Holladay, who used an epidural during the deliveries of her first two children.<\/p>\n

Jeremiah said he noticed a difference this time around.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, I saw my wife in pain. It is delivery after all, but as an alternative to an epidural, I feel it\u2019s a good option,\u201d he said. \u201cMy wife was my wife after (delivery), where before I could tell she was drugged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patients who want to use nitrous to manage pain during or immediately following delivery cannot be under the influence of any other drugs or alcohol, and there is a specific timeline nurses must follow before providing nitrous if the patient has been given other medications, such as Fentanyl. There are other uncommon conditions, too \u2014 such as vitamin B12 deficiency \u2014 that make nitrous an inadvisable option.<\/p>\n

Barber said that PVH and MCR also have approved the use of nitrous for painful procedures, including the manual turn of a baby in the uterus, also known as an external cephalic version.<\/p>\n

Nitrous oxide is also an option for delivery and after birth at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora. UCH began to offer nitrous for labor and delivery patients in 2014<\/a> \u2013 the first hospital in Colorado to do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Krystal Holladay thought she was having false labor \u2014 she\u2019d been having frequent Braxton Hicks contractions\u00a0in the final weeks of her third trimester \u2014 so she sent her husband, Jeremiah, off to work and put her 8-year-old son on the school bus. By 7 a.m., she decided that her contractions, which came a minute apart, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2164,"featured_media":9612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[25,4010,212],"class_list":["post-9611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovative-care","tag-labor-delivery","tag-pregnancy-childbirth-and-newborn-care","tag-womens-care"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nExpecting moms have 'laughing gas' as safe pain option - 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