This isn't an item used by dads, but since it's got a battery in it, this soon-to-be dad is interested.
In short, the TENS is a pain management device for women going through labour. It is apparently widely used in Europe as an alternative to drugs during birth. With the advantage that it can be used in conjunction with drugs.
A coworker said that she used one for two births and it worked really well. She said the pain was unbearable without the TENS unit - that is why we opted to rent one.
TENS stands for Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation according to the manual. It's basically a Dr Ho's like stimulation gadget. It works on the gate control theory where if there is light pain somewhere along the spine, the severe pain lower down will not register in the brain.
Anyway, the unit arrived in a package that includes 4 brand new electrodes, burst mode button, spare batteries and instruction manuals.
We decided to test it out on her arm first, lest the shock is too much and starts labour prematurely or something.
The unit already had a battery in it so I just hooked up the 4 electrodes into the two channels. The two channels allow you to send two levels of currents to two separate locations on the body.
The electrode pads are wet and sticky, and felt very cold. There is only so much space on her arm so I put channel one on her and channel two on me.
Then we turned and clicked on the dial:
- at level 1 we felt nothing
- and at level 2 it feels tingley
- at level 3 it feels like I touched a wall socket
It was somewhat unpleasant so I took the electrodes off.
She then started to experiment with the bust button, when in contractions she is supposed to use the continuous mode, and when between contractions she should click the button to use the pulse mode. The pulses are supposed to trigger natural pain killers so she is expected to use the TENS throughout the entire labour.
When she was done with on the arm I thought I would be helpful and turn off the unit with the dial.
But the power indicator light doesn't turn off right away so I turned it in the other direction.
Next thing I hear was something between a howl and a scream - I cranked it to the max (lvl 5) and accidentally tortured my wife! She claimed that I tried to execute her, but that's silly - the baby hasn't come out yet!
Anyway she said that it was very painful, this thing is a pain administration device afterall.
Lessons learned:
- leave the control of the device in the mother's hand
- and know that the power doesn't turn off right away!
We then tried it on her lower back, same as when we need it for real. It went the same as before but the back can seem to tolerate higher settings. The instruction said to put the channels one above the other and we did not see what would happen if placed side to side.
The unit rental goes for $90 for 35 days from Birthing Buddies in North Vancouver, you tell them your due date and hopefully it gets to you around the 37th week of pregnancy. When you are done with it just send it back using the prepaid envelope.
It will most likely be covered by extended health insurance, my coworker claimed hers and got money back from the insurance company.
We haven't used it for real yet but it is looking promising and hopefully we can avoid the epidural.
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