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, this isn’t gonna help. But then I looked at my husband, who said, why not give it a shot? So, I thought, okay, why not?”, recounted the story Martucci. When she got on the device, the goggles immediately immersed her into a sunny beach scene with pleasing blue ocean waves, and a calm voice started to coach her breath. She completely lost her sense of time, and only heard the interruption “You are ready to push,” then Dr. Anderson took the device off her head.
“I was so engulfed in what was going on in the application, that I didn’t know two hours had gone by. My body was progressing, I could tell that, but I didn’t know where I was in my labor, and when my doctor came in and said – you are ready to push! – I was astounded, but then he took the headset off, and literally, within less than a minute, I delivered my baby”, explained Martucci. “I delivered her naturally, and the bonding experience was immediately so positive!”, she added enthusiastically.
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Is VR a viable choice for childbirth?
“With Erin, it was a home-run!”, started the story Anderson. He said that although he already helped more than forty mothers deliver their kids with VR, Martucci’s case was the most successful. She had the VR device on for the longest time, and she could go entirely drug-free. The obstetrician-gynecologist recounted that in another patient’s case, it was the mother’s third birth and while she needed an epidural and narcotics during the previous births, with VR, she only used the epidural, which was a significant achievement. “We didn’t have the home-run with no pain medicine whatsoever, but we came pretty close,” explained Anderson.
Thus, so far, in many cases, VR cannot yet “fight” the pain completely, and in other cases, the virtual universe might mean such a big distraction that mothers get anxious that they will not know what’s happening to them or around them. “My cousin had a baby two months ago, so I talked to her about the experience. She tried it but she could not wear the VR the whole time because she started to get panicky, so it’s not for everybody. She may have a different experience”, added Martucci.
With Erin, her doctor believes, motivation to deliver the baby drug-free and maturity helped the most. “We have to have a patient willing to try it. Sometimes they are not aware of the technology, and they feel reluctant to try it unless they see a reason for it. They generally are kind of skeptical”, Anderson added. However, he says he walks around in the Orange Regional Medical Center with the device, and whenever there is a procedure, that might cause some discomfort or pain, he offers VR as an option for pain relief. “The most part, when we do use it, it’s something that’s beneficial I’d say 90 percent of the time”, the doctor added.
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Source: Medical Futurist