Birth, Baby!

Welcome, this is Birth, Baby.

Your hosts are Ciarra Morgan and Samantha Kelly.

Ciarra is a Birth Doula, Hypnobirthing Educator, and Pediatric Sleep Consultant.

Samantha is a Birth Doula, Childbirth Educator, and Lactation Counselor.

Join us as we guide you through your options for your pregnancy, birth, and postpartum journey.

This week, I have a bonus episode for you, and it's going to be about tens units.

How can tens units help in labor?

I did a tens unit training with Doulaversity, and Trisha Blizzard created this training in 2013.

In August of 2020, I started renting units to our Doula clients, and we have had nothing but positive feedback.

So I want to explain to you how and why they work, and maybe that will help you decide whether or not you might want to rent one wherever you are.

So, how and why do they work?

TENZ units stands for a Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation Unit.

There are different types of units.

So some do muscle stimulation, and that's what most people are familiar with.

They've probably, if you've experienced that, you've probably had it at a chiropractor or a physical therapist.

That's going to move the muscles a bit more than what we're looking for with labor.

We want stimulation that's right under the skin.

So some are meant for labor, some are meant for muscle pain.

The quote unquote pain or sensation that you experience during labor is different than that of pulling a muscle in your back or having your shoulders hurt.

The pad sizes are also different, and so are the width and pulse of these machines.

There's a certain pulse that we want for labor, and the size of the pads is important.

So it's three and a half by two and a half for the labor tens, whereas the ones that you have at the chiropractor are probably two by two inch.

Think of it like a shower head.

So if you had a shower head that was set to the position where it's one strong stream coming right out of the center, it's very intense in that one little area.

That's what's happening with the tens that you get at the chiropractor.

The one that we receive with the labor tens is more spread out, so it's not as intense, and this is also safer for the baby and feels better to the user.

It doesn't get that jumpy sensation that you might feel at the chiropractor.

The pulse helps release endorphins, which are our nature's pain reliever, and it's important to put this on in early labor to increase those endorphin levels.

To be most helpful in labor, the tens has to have a boost button.

So the labor tens specifically, they all should have a boost button, and this changes it from being a pulse to being a continuous sensation.

Every time you have a wave or a contraction, you push the boost button during the wave and then you can push it again to move it back to the regular pulse once the wave is over.

This works using the gate control theory.

So our spinal cord is a conduit for different roads.

We have an A fiber that's like a freeway where the information goes 250 miles an hour up to our brains.

The C fiber, which is actually what labor sensations are on, is kind of like a little dirt road and information goes about five miles an hour up to our brain.

The gate control theory says that whatever gets to your brain first is the thing that your brain is going to pay the most attention to.

What comes in slower behind the first information coming in, the brain can't really pay as much attention to.

So the brain only can really pay attention to one thing at a time, not two.

Here's kind of a silly example.

So have you ever been driving and it starts to rain and you have to turn down the music so you can see better?

Or you're driving and the music's on and you smell something and you're not sure if it's your car or someone else's car or maybe a grass fire and you have to turn down the volume of the radio so that you can smell better and figure out where it's coming from?

That's because the information coming from the radio is coming in on an A fiber, so that's the 250 mile an hour, whereas the smell is coming in on the B fiber.

The brain can't do both of those things at once, so once you turn the radio down, it's able to focus more on that B fiber information.

Again, the labor sensations come in on a C fiber.

So, the tens for labor comes into the brain on the A fiber.

The ones that use the chiropractor usually come in around the B fiber because they're on a different pulse and width.

The sensations of labor, like I just said, come in on the C fiber.

So the A fiber information coming from the specific labor tens is optimal.

The one for the chiropractor could be somewhat helpful, but it's not going to be the same, the same amount of help.

The labor tens are also more handy because they usually have a neck lanyard, so you don't have to hold it.

The person who's using it gets to kind of drive the tens unit and it's easy to reach.

It's just always around your neck.

And then you can also always have access to pushing that boost button whenever you're having a wave.

And then you also can change the intensity up or down of the sensation coming from the tens unit.

Many people really like using the tens unit during labor because it gives them something to do.

They get to push that boost button.

I feel that my type A mamas or families tend to like it a little bit more because we often talk about surrendering during birth and kind of just being a passenger to your body.

But when you get to push that boost button, it gives you a job and you get to actually do something.

Remember again that it's really important that you put it on in early labor much before your doula would even be joining you.

So your birth partner is the one that applies it early on in labor.

When people rent a unit from us, I send a demo video for the partner to watch so they can watch it while they're applying it.

A question that we also get is, can everyone use a TENS?

Well, the answer to that is no, and I think that people generally think I'm going to say yes.

Anyone with a history of epilepsy or a cardiac pacemaker or defibrillator should not use a TENS unit.

Some people with high blood pressure will be advised not to use it by their provider.

If their blood pressure is under control, usually it will be approved.

Anyone coming off of drugs or any condition that could lead to a seizure will not want to use a TENS unit.

You also can't use it before you're in labor.

So there have been a few studies done that show that it is safe to use during labor, but there hasn't been anything done showing whether it can be used beforehand safely.

So we do give the TENS unit to families right around the 36-week mark, but not so they can use it at that point.

It's just so they can put it on early labor whenever that starts, which is usually sometime after 37 weeks.

It is possible that if you used it beforehand, it could cause waves or contractions, which we don't want to do before your body is ready to be in labor.

So we do require a provider consent form to be signed before we give the TENS unit to a client, and that is because it's important that we might not know all of the medical situations going on with someone.

So it's really important that they get that little nod of approval from their provider.

It's also important to know that even though your provider might be okay with it, some birthing places are not okay with it.

In the Austin area, we actually have a hospital that quote unquote does not allow the use of TENS units in their hospital, which that's funny because in California, I've actually heard of some hospitals renting units out to people or allowing people to use those units that they already have there.

I do want to warn against just kind of blindly renting any sort of unit from anyone.

It really should be a labor TENS, which is usually an L or an OB.

It should have those two and a half by three and a half size pads with it.

Don't forget that you're going to need an extra set of batteries just in case those run out.

And if it is someone that is giving it to you, let's say the hospital has them for you to use once you arrive.

Remember that piece that I said about it's really important to put it on in early labor.

You're usually not showing up to your birthing place in early labor.

So you're going to want one that you're going to be allowed to use at home before you ever go to your birthing place.

It also can't be used in the tub or the shower, but it can be placed back on once you're all the way dried off and get out of the shower.

So if you already are using it and then you're going to get in the shower or the bath, make sure you just put those little pads back on the plastic that they came on so that you can have them reapplied to your back once you are completely dried off after you get out of the bath.

So I told you that studies have shown that it's safe to use in labor, but studies have also shown that babies who are born after a labor using a TENS unit have better Apgar's and they're less likely to go to the NICU.

We do need more studies done on this, but it's believed that this is because people who are laboring with a TENS tend to go longer without pain medication, which can have a positive impact on the health of a baby.

I hope this was helpful for you to kind of learn more about the TENS unit, why it works, why you might want one or maybe you don't want one.

And if you have any questions, please always feel free to send us an email at birthbabypodcast.gmail.com.

We'll also link some things in the show notes and we'll talk to you next week.