Virtual Reality Can Help Women Get Through Childbirth With Less Pain

Erin Martucci didn’t expect to be among the first women to experience virtual reality during childbirth, she just wanted to deliver her baby girl without epidural, narcotics or any other drugs for the labor pain. However, when her doctor, Ralph Anderson introduced her the equipment, the calming beach scene and the soothing audio giving her breathing instructions really helped her through the most difficult parts of labor. The Medical Futurist asked Martucci and Dr. Anderson what they think about the option of using VR for labor pain. Delivering a baby with VR It was a grey dawn in November 2016, when Erin Martucci woke up with contractions. She got the sense she was close to delivering her second child. At around five-thirty in the morning, she breastfed her firstborn baby boy and went to the hospital with her husband. They were determined to have a natural birth and going completely drug-free. “For my first birth, I did have an epidural, but I wasn’t overall happy with having the side effects of the medication with my baby, because I think it interfered with the bonding experience,” she explained why she decided against the epidural this time. The contractions increased very quickly, and her husband kept helping her breath, but Martucci started to get doubts about the process and got a little panicky. That is when Dr. Anderson introduced her the VR headset (Samsung Galaxy Phone with GearVR) with AppliedVR’s software on it. “I was a little like; I feel terrible, t...
Source: The Medical Futurist - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Virtual Reality in Medicine baby birth childbirth digital health future gynecology pain pain management technology VR Source Type: blogs